It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah al-Muzani (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Pray two rak'ahs before Maghrib." Then he said: "Whoever of you wishes may pray two rak'ahs before Maghrib." He said these words fearing that people would take it as a Sunnah.
(b) In the narration of Abd al-Warith it is that he (peace and blessings be upon him) used the words "whoever wishes" the third time so that people would not take it as a Sunnah.
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الصلاة / 4488
Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mughaffal (may Allah be pleased with him) said that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said three times: "Between the adhan and the iqamah there is a prayer." The third time he said: "It is for whoever wishes."
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الصلاة / 4489
Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mughaffal (may Allah be pleased with him) said that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Between the adhan and the iqamah there is a prayer, for whoever wishes." He said it three times.
Hayyan bin Ubaydullah narrated it from Abdullah bin Buraydah and erred in its chain, and he brought an addition in which no one corroborated him; the narration of Husayn al-Mu'allim contains what invalidates it and testifies to his error in it.
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الصلاة / 4490
Abdullah bin Buraydah (may Allah have mercy on him) narrates from his father (Sayyiduna Buraydah, may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Between the adhan and the iqamah there are two rak'ahs of prayer, except at Maghrib."
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الصلاة / 4491
Abu Bakr Muhammad bin Ishaq, that is Ibn Khuzaymah, said following this hadith: This Hayyan bin Ubaydullah erred in the chain, because Kahmas bin al-Hasan, Sa'id bin Iyas al-Jurayri and Abd al-Mu'min al-Ataki narrated the report from Ibn Buraydah from Abdullah bin Mughaffal, not from his father. To my knowledge, this is of the kind about which al-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him) used to say: 'He took the road of the Milky Way (the well-trodden path).' When this shaykh saw the reports of Ibn Buraydah from his father, he imagined that this report too was from his father. And perhaps, when he saw that the common people did not pray before Maghrib, he imagined that no prayer is offered before Maghrib, so he added this phrase to the report. A further proof that this narration is a mistake is that Ibn al-Mubarak said in his narration from Kahmas: Ibn Buraydah used to pray two rak'ahs before Maghrib. Had Ibn Buraydah heard from his father, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), this exception that Hayyan bin Ubaydullah added to the report, "except the Maghrib prayer", he would not have gone against the report of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الصلاة / 4492
Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mughaffal (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Between the adhan and the iqamah there is a prayer." Then the third time he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "It is for whoever wishes." The narrator said that Ibn Buraydah (may Allah have mercy on him) used to pray two rak'ahs before Maghrib.
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الصلاة / 4493
Ibn al-Mubarak and Abu Usamah (may Allah have mercy on them both) narrate from Kahmas (may Allah have mercy on him): "Between the adhan and the iqamah there is a prayer," and the third time he said: "It is for whoever wishes." The narrator said that Ibn Buraydah (may Allah have mercy on him) used to offer two rak'ahs before Maghrib, as in the previous narration.
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الصلاة / 4494
Yazid bin Abi Habib said: I heard Abu al-Khayr say: I saw Abu Tamim al-Jayshani (Abdullah bin Malik) offering two rak'ahs after hearing the adhan of Maghrib. I came to Uqbah bin Amir al-Juhani (may Allah be pleased with him) and said: It amazed me that Abu Tamim prays two rak'ahs before Maghrib. Uqbah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: We used to pray them in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). I said: Then what has stopped you now? He said: Being busy.
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الصلاة / 4495
Mukhtar bin Fulful said: I asked Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) about prayer after Asr, and he said: Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) used to strike people for praying after Asr. He said: In the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) we used to pray two rak'ahs after sunset, before the Maghrib prayer. The narrator said: I said: Did the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) pray two rak'ahs? He said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to see us praying (them), and he neither ordered us nor forbade us.
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الصلاة / 4496
Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) said: We were in Madinah; when the mu'adhdhin called the adhan for Maghrib, the people would hurry to the pillars of the mosque and offer two rak'ahs, so much so that if a stranger entered the mosque, he would think, because of the great number of people praying those two rak'ahs, that the prayer had already been offered.
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الصلاة / 4497
Sa'id bin al-Musayyib (may Allah have mercy on him) said that the Muhajirun did not pray two rak'ahs before Maghrib, while the Ansar used to pray these two rak'ahs. The narrator said: Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) used to pray them.
(b) Another narration is from Sayyiduna Abd al-Rahman bin Awf (may Allah be pleased with him); he said: We used to pray two rak'ahs before Maghrib. And he was one of the Muhajirun, so it seems that he (Sa'id) meant others besides him, or most of them.
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الصلاة / 4498
Abd al-Rahman bin Awf (may Allah be pleased with him) said: We used to pray these two rak'ahs when we stood between the adhan and the iqamah at Maghrib.
(b) In al-Sukkari's narration it is: when we stood, meaning between the adhan and the iqamah at Maghrib.
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الصلاة / 4499
It is narrated from Zirr (may Allah have mercy on him) that Abd al-Rahman bin Awf and Ubayy bin Ka'b (may Allah be pleased with them both) used to pray two rak'ahs before Maghrib.
(b) It is narrated from Amr bin Amir (may Allah have mercy on him): I heard Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) say that the senior Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would hurry to the pillars of the mosque, for they used to pray two rak'ahs before Maghrib.
(c) It is narrated from Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him) that Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him), Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) and Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) did not pray two rak'ahs before Maghrib.
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الصلاة / 4500
Hadith Gradingمحدثین:صحيح
Hadith Takhrij«صحيح۔ اخرجه الطحاوي في مشكل الاثار 14/122»
It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Umamah (may Allah be pleased with him): In the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) we never left the two rak'ahs before Maghrib.
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الصلاة / 4501
Zughban, the freed slave of Habib bin Maslamah (may Allah be pleased with him), said: I saw the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) (may Allah be pleased with them), preparing for the two rak'ahs before Maghrib just as they would prepare for the obligatory prayer.
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الصلاة / 4502
Rashid bin Yasar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I bear witness concerning five men from among those who pledged allegiance to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) under the tree, among them Mirdas or Ibn Mirdas (may Allah be pleased with him), that they used to pray two rak'ahs before Maghrib.
[Da'if (weak). Abu Nu'aym in Ma'rifat al-Sahabah: 6198]
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الصلاة / 4503
Ibn Tawus narrates from his father that Abu Ayyub al-Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him), with whom the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had stayed, used to pray two rak'ahs after sunset, before the prayer, with Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him); he did not pray them with Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), and he used to pray them with Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him). This was mentioned to him, so he said: I prayed this prayer with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), then I prayed it with Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him); then I was afraid of Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), so I did not pray it with him; and I have prayed these two rak'ahs with Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him), because he was gentle. Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) neither prayed them himself nor considered praying them correct, so Abu Ayyub al-Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him) also did not pray them with him.
(b) It is reported from Suwayd bin Ghafalah (may Allah have mercy on him) that he said: We had abandoned them during the caliphate of Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), then we resumed them during the caliphate of Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him).
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الصلاة / 4504
Tawus (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) was asked about the two rak'ahs before Maghrib, and he said: I did not see anyone in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) praying two rak'ahs before Maghrib; and he permitted praying two rak'ahs after Asr.
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الصلاة / 4505