Bulugh al-Maram

Takhrij:
«أخرجه مسلم، صلاة المسافرين، باب استحباب صلاة الضحي، حديث:719، وحديث: ((لا إلا أن يجيء من مغيبه)) أخرجه مسلم، حديث:717، وحديث: "ما رأيت رسول الله صلي الله عليه وسلم)) يصلي سبحة الضحي قط" أخرجه مسلم، حديث:718.»©Explanation:
➊ Whether the Ishraq prayer, Salat al-Duha, and Salat al-Awwabin are three separate prayers or whether the same prayer is referred to by three different names—there are differing opinions on this matter. The Arabic language is vast and expansive; a single thing can be expressed by many words. Thus, from a narration of Tabarani, it is understood that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam performed prayer in the house of his paternal cousin Umm Hani radi Allahu anha and called Umm Hani radi Allahu anha to inform her that this was the Ishraq prayer.

➋ And from a narration of Anas radi Allahu anhu, its name is known as Salat al-Duha. This prayer is performed from the rising of the sun until a quarter of the day has passed. The time for the Awwabin prayer is when the heat of the sun has made the ground so hot that a young she-camel begins to feel the heat, as is mentioned in the narration following this one. A young camel does not care about mild warmth, but when the heat increases a bit, it begins to feel it. Thus, the time for this prayer is after the sun has risen considerably high. In this way, according to some, all three prayers are actually the same, with different names.

➌ And one opinion is that Ishraq and Duha are two names for the same prayer, but Salat al-Awwabin is separate from them. Now, as for the issue of how many rak‘ahs are in the Duha prayer, there is evidence from authentic hadith that its minimum is two rak‘ahs and its maximum is eight rak‘ahs.