Daraqutni

Abdullah bin Buraidah narrates from his father that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Between every adhan and iqamah, two rak'ahs (of nafl or sunnah) should be performed, except for the Maghrib prayer."

Hayan bin Ubaidullah Adawi narrates: Once we were sitting with Hazrat Abdullah bin Buraidah (may Allah be pleased with him) when the muezzin gave the call to prayer (adhan) for the Zuhr prayer. When Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) heard the adhan, he said: "Get up and perform two voluntary (nafl) rak'ahs before the iqamah." Because my father has narrated this: The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Except for the Maghrib adhan, between every two calls (i.e., between the adhan and the iqamah), two rak'ahs should be performed before the iqamah." Abdullah bin Buraidah says: I have seen Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar performing these two rak'ahs even at the time of Maghrib; he would never abandon them under any circumstances. The narrator states: We got up and performed two rak'ahs before the iqamah, then we waited until the Imam arrived, and then we performed the obligatory prayer behind him. Husain Mu'allim, Sa'id Jariri, and Kahmas bin Hasan have narrated contrary to this; all these narrators are trustworthy, whereas the narrator named Hayan bin Ubaidullah is not very reliable. And Allah knows best.

Abdullah bin Buraidah narrates from Sayyiduna Abdullah Muzani that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Perform two units of voluntary prayer before the obligatory Maghrib prayer." Then the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Perform two units before the obligatory Maghrib prayer, this command is for whoever wishes." (The narrator says) The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said this out of concern that people might adopt it as a Sunnah. (Imam Daraqutni, may Allah have mercy on him, says) This narration is more authentic than the previous narration.

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mughaffal (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Between every adhan and iqamah, (nafl) prayer should be performed." (He repeated this statement twice) and then said: "This command is for the one who wishes to perform it."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mughaffal (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever wishes may perform (optional) prayer between the adhan and the iqamah."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Buraidah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates from his father that the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Between every adhan and iqamah, (optional) prayer should be performed; between every adhan and iqamah, optional prayer should be performed; between every adhan and iqamah, whoever wishes may perform optional prayer."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Zubair (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Two rak‘ahs (Sunnah or Nafl) will be performed before every obligatory prayer." These are the words of the narrator named Ibn Dawud: The narrator named Isma‘il has reported the word "maftubah" in place of "maktoobah."

Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: Sometimes a stranger would enter the mosque of Madinah and find people performing prayer at the time of Maghrib, and it would seem as if the congregational prayer had already been offered, because there were so many people performing two rak‘ahs before the Maghrib prayer.

Abdul Aziz Lubnani narrates: I heard Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik saying that it was the practice of the companions of the Prophet (peace be upon him) that when the muezzin would give the call to prayer for Maghrib, they would hasten towards the pillars so that they could perform two rak'ahs before Maghrib. If someone had been there at that time and seen the number of people performing these two voluntary prayers, he would have thought that perhaps the obligatory prayer had already been offered.

Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: When the Companions heard the adhan for Maghrib, they would get up and start performing nawafil as if these were obligatory.

Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: During the blessed time of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), we used to perform two rak‘ahs (units of prayer) before Maghrib. The narrator says: We asked Sayyiduna Anas: Did the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) see you performing this prayer? So Sayyiduna Anas replied: "The Prophet saw us performing this prayer, but he neither ordered us to perform it nor ever forbade us from it."

Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: In Madinah Munawwarah, it was our practice that when the adhan for Maghrib was called, we would quickly rush towards the pillars and perform two rak‘ahs (as nafl before the obligatory prayer), to the extent that if a stranger entered the mosque, he would think that the prayer had already been performed, because those performing these two rak‘ahs were so many in number.

Shaykh Abul Khair narrates: Shaykh Abu Tamim Jaishani stood up and began to perform two rak‘ahs before Maghrib prayer, so I said to Sayyiduna ‘Uqbah bin ‘Amir: Pay attention to him; which prayer is he performing? Sayyiduna ‘Uqbah (may Allah be pleased with him) turned towards him, looked at him, and said: "This is the prayer that we used to perform during the blessed time of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)."