(وَعَنْهُ مِنْ طَرِيقٍ ثَانٍ) أَنَّهُ كَانَ يُصَلِّي أَرْبَعَ رَكَعَاتٍ قَبْلَ الظُّهْرِ، فَقِيلَ لَهُ: إِنَّكَ تُدِيمُ هَٰذِهِ الصَّلَاةَ؟ فَقَالَ: إِنِّي رَأَيْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِهِ وَسَلَّمَ يَفْعَلُهُ فَسَأَلْتُهُ، فَقَالَ: ((إِنَّهَا سَاعَةٌ تُفْتَحُ فِيهَا أَبْوَابُ السَّمَاءِ فَأَحْبَبْتُ أَنْ يَرْتَفِعَ لِي فِيهَا عَمَلٌ صَالِحٌ))
(Second chain) Sayyiduna Abu Ayyub (may Allah be pleased with him) used to regularly perform four rak‘ahs before Zuhr. Someone said to him: “You perform this prayer very regularly?” He replied: “I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) doing this, so I asked him about it, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ‘This is a time when the gates of the heavens are opened, and I like that my righteous deed is raised up at that time.’”