Ruling on Two Rakʿāt Before Maghrib Prayer — Supported by 8 Evidences
📘 Source: Fatāwā ʿIlmiyyah, Vol. 1, Kitāb al-Ṣalāh, p. 420
❖ Question
Is it Sunnah to offer two rakʿāt (non-obligatory) prayer before the Maghrib Ṣalāh? A publication titled “Ḥadīth aur Ahl-e-Ḥadīth” has claimed that this act is not Sunnah and has presented a few narrations in its support. Are those narrations valid?
✅ Answer
الحمد لله، والصلاة والسلام علىٰ رسول الله، أما بعد!
✿ Narration ➊: Ṭāwūs from ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar (رضي الله عنه)
❝ I did not see anyone offering two rakʿāt before Maghrib during the time of the Prophet ﷺ. ❞
(Sunan Abī Dāwūd, vol. 1, p. 182, ḥadīth 1284)
✔ Chain is ḥasan
✔ Absence of practice witnessed by Ibn ʿUmar does not negate the actual occurrence of this act
✔ The latter part: “He permitted two rakʿāt after ʿAṣr” is often omitted, possibly due to sectarian bias
🟢 Contrary Practice Found in Ṣaḥīḥayn:
- Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī: 503, 635
- Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim: 836, 837
➤ Anas ibn Mālik (رضي الله عنه) and others offered these two rakʿāt and the Prophet ﷺ saw them and did not forbid it.
✿ Authentic Prophetic Ḥadīth
❝ صَلُّوا قَبْلَ الْمَغْرِبِ ❞
“Pray before Maghrib!”
(Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī: 1183)
◈ The phrase “لِمَنْ شَاءَ“ (for whoever wishes) indicates that this prayer is recommended, not obligatory.
✿ Testimony of ʿAbdullāh al-Muzani (رضي الله عنه)
❝ The Prophet ﷺ offered two rakʿāt before Maghrib. ❞
(Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān, Mawārid al-Ẓamān: 617)
◈ Chain is ṣaḥīḥ ʿalā shart Muslim
◈ Also mentioned in Mukhtaṣar Qiyām al-Layl by Marwazī, p. 64
◈ Al-Nimawī: Isnād is ṣaḥīḥ (Āthār al-Sunan, ḥadīth: 694)
✔ Rule of testimony:
One who saw something is a stronger witness than one who did not see it.
✿ Narration ➋: Ḥammād from Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaʿī
“The Prophet ﷺ and the two Caliphs did not offer it (before Maghrib).”
(Kitāb al-Āthār by Abū Ḥanīfah via Imām Muḥammad, p. 32)
⛔ Invalid for Several Reasons:
➊ Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Shaybānī is graded liar (kadhdhāb) by:
- Imām Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn
“Muḥammad is a Jahmī and a liar.”
(Al-Ḍuʿafāʾ by ʿUqaylī, vol. 4, p. 52)
➋ Ḥammād ibn Salamah—due to his memory deterioration in old age, only reliable through certain narrators:
- Shuʿbah
- Sufyān al-Thawrī
- Hishām al-Dastūʾī
(Ref: Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid, vol. 1, p. 119)
➌ Similar narration found in Muṣannaf ʿAbd al-Razzāq (2/435, ḥadīth 3985) is also weak
✿ Narration ➌: ʿAbdullāh ibn Buraydah from his father
“Between every two adhāns (adhān and iqāmah) there is a prayer — except Maghrib.”
(Kashf al-Astār, vol. 1, p. 334)
⛔ Invalid due to Weak Narrator:
➤ Ḥayyān ibn ʿUbaydullāh — declared weak with memory issues
(Al-Majmaʿ, vol. 2, p. 231)
→ This narration contradicts authentic ones and is rejected (munkar)
→ No major muḥaddith has declared it ṣaḥīḥ or ḥasan
✅ Conclusion Based on All Evidence
✔ Out of the three narrations presented against the practice:
- Two are weak and unacceptable
- One is ḥasan, but only proves that it’s not obligatory, not that it’s invalid or a bidʿah
✔ Multiple authentic ḥadīths and practices of the Ṣaḥābah affirm that:
Two rakʿāt before Maghrib are recommended (mustaḥabb), not obligatory
⚠️ On the Author of “Ḥadīth aur Ahl-e-Ḥadīth”
The author Anwār Khurshīd is accused of:
➊ Mocking Ṣaḥābah’s method of standing shoulder-to-shoulder
➋ Falsely attributing lineage of Imām Abū Ḥanīfah and Imām al-Bukhārī to Salmān al-Fārsī
➌ Self-correction in later editions confirms unreliability
→ His writings are riddled with fabrication and distortion
✅ Summary
➊ The practice of offering two rakʿāt before Maghrib is established from authentic Sunnah
➋ It is mustaḥabb (recommended), not wājib or fard
➌ All claims rejecting this Sunnah lack valid ḥadīth support
➍ Fabricated or weak narrations cannot outweigh the Ṣaḥīḥ narrations
وَالْحَقُّ أَحَقُّ أَنْ يُتَّبَعَ
ھذا ما عندي، والله أعلم بالصواب
