It is universally agreed that every Muslim, man and woman, must offer five prayers every day, consisting of a total of 17 rak’ahs. A rak’ah is a unit of Islamic prayer, consisting of reading of the Qur’an and glorifying God’s name and extolling His praises, together with specific movements starting with standing upright, bowing and standing up again followed by two prostrations with a short sit between them. In addition, we are recommended to offer other prayers, in the same form, at the same times that we offer our five obligatory prayers. These are known as Sunnah prayer. The Prophet did not maintain the same numbers of Sunnah, or voluntary prayer. However, he was keen to do some of these far more regularly than others. When he consistently prayed a particular Sunnah prayer, it became strongly recommended, but when he prayed a Sunnah infrequently, it became recommended but not very strongly. This latter type is known in some circles as nafl prayer, although the term actually applies to all prayers other than what is obligatory.
We have for example a Hadith mentioning the Sunnah prayer the Prophet always offered. Aishah, his wife, reports: “The Prophet was never so keen to offer any voluntary prayer more than the two rak’ahs before Fajr.” (Related by Al-Bukhari and Muslim.) Another Hadith describes these two rak’ahs as “better than the whole world and all that it contains.” These two rak’ahs are offered before the obligatory Fajr, or dawn prayer. The Prophet practically never omitted them.
Since following the Prophet’s example is highly rewarding, particularly in matters of worship, it is only right that we should learn what the Prophet offered in voluntary or Sunnah prayer. People in the early days of Islam used to ask those who were very close to the Prophet about his practices in order to emulate them. Abdullah ibn Umar reports: “God’s Messenger used to pray two rak’ahs before Dhuhr and two after it, as well as two rak’ahs after Maghrib in his home. He offered two rak’ahs after Isha, but on Friday, he would not offer any voluntary prayers before leaving, when he would offer two rak’ahs in his home. (Related by Al-Bukhari, Malik, Al-Nassaie, Abu Dawood and others.)
This report by Ibn Umar gives us the smallest number of voluntary prayers the Prophet did throughout the day. It only mentions eight rak’ahs that do not include the two before Fajr. Apparently Ibn Umar was describing what the Prophet did during the day. We have other reports that give us a more comprehensive description of the Prophet’s daily Sunnah prayers. Many of these reports are given by Aishah, the Prophet’s wife. Abdullh ibn Shaqeeq mentions that he asked Aishah about the Prophet’s voluntary prayer and she gave him the following answer. “The Prophet used to offer four rak’ahs before Dhuhr, or midday, prayer in my home. He then went out to the mosque and led the congregational prayer before returning to my home and offering two more rak’ahs. He used to lead the Maghrib congregational prayer and return to my home to pray two rak’ahs, and he would lead the Isha congregation and then come to my home and pray two rak’ahs. During the night he would pray nine rak’ahs that included the Witr. He might pray long at night standing up, or he may pray long seated. If he recited the Qur’an standing up, he would do his bowing, or ruku’, and his prostration from the standing position; and if he recited while seated, he would do the bowing and the prostration from that position.” (Related by Muslim and Abu Dawood.)
This Hadith mentions four rak’ahs before Dhuhr or midday prayer, but limits the voluntary night worship to nine rak’ahs including the Witr, which means either six in night worship and three for Witr, or that the Witr was in one rak’ah and eight for night worship or tahajjud. However, all night worship, including the Witr, was completed before dawn, or Fajr. Hafsah, the Prophet’s wife, reports: “When Fajr was due, the Prophet never offered more than two short rak’ahs of voluntary prayer.” (Related by Muslim and Ibn Majah.)
Night worship is particularly important in Ramadan, but the Prophet used to do it much more often. There are several Hadiths that mention the answers of members of the Prophet’s household concerning this prayer. In one Hadith, Aishah answers the question about the Prophet’s night prayer in Ramadan. She says: “The Prophet did not pray more than eleven rak’ahs at night in Ramadan or at any other time. He would pray four rak’ahs, but you need not ask about their perfection and length. He would then follow these with four more rak’ahs, and again you need not ask about their perfection and length. He would then pray three.” (Related by Al-Bukhari, Muslim, Malik and Al-Nassaie.)
This Hadith mentions that the Prophet offered the Witr in three rak’ahs, but it also highlights two facts: 1) that his prayer at night was particularly long, not only in reading the Qur’an, but also in its other movements and glorification of God; and 2) that he limited himself to eleven rak’ahs at night. However, this does not mean that this is the maximum on any one night. There is simply no maximum, but this practice was the one the Prophet did more often. Indeed the Prophet varied the number of rak’ahs in voluntary prayer and also varied the length of his prayer, sometimes making it very long while offering short rak’ahs at other times. He did so in order to make it clear to us, by practical example, that all types are acceptable to God and highly rewarded by Him. Therefore, we may choose what suits us. Voluntary, or Sunnah, prayer remains voluntary. No one will be questioned by God if he did not offer it. However, he will miss out on the rich reward God gives for such prayer.
