The Sunnah Prayers

Five prayers a day are obligatory. But when a man asked the Prophet ﷺ whether there was any more prayer than those five, the answer opened a door rather than closing it:

Nawafil (singular nafl) are voluntary prayers. The ones the Prophet ﷺ kept regularly are usually called sunnah prayers — "sunnah" meaning his established practice. They are recommended, not required: praying them is rewarded, and leaving them is not a sin.²³²⁴²⁵ They are prayed exactly like any other prayer — see How to Pray — usually as units of two rak'ahs, quietly, and on your own.

The sunnah prayers around the fard (rawatib)

The most important are the rawatib — the "regular" sunnah prayers attached to the five daily prayers, prayed just before or just after the obligatory one. Umm Habibah reported the Prophet ﷺ saying:

Another narration of the same hadith spells the twelve out: four before Dhuhr and two after it, two after Maghrib, two after Isha, and two before Fajr.³

The twelve emphasised sunnah rak'ahs placed around the five obligatory prayers: two before Fajr; four before Dhuhr and two after it; none attached to Asr; two after Maghrib; and two after Isha — with the obligatory rak'ahs of each prayer (2, 4, 4, 3 and 4) between them.

1. Fajr2 sunnah before · 2 fard
2. Dhuhr4 sunnah before · 4 fard · 2 sunnah after
3. Asr4 fard
4. Maghrib3 fard · 2 sunnah after
5. Isha4 fard · 2 sunnah after

fard (obligatory) sunnah (emphasised)

Asr has no emphasised sunnah attached to it, and nothing is prayed after Fajr or after Asr — those are two of the times when voluntary prayer is avoided (see Beyond the Five).

Ibn 'Umar, who prayed alongside the Prophet ﷺ for years, remembered ten rak'ahs rather than twelve — with two before Dhuhr instead of four.⁴ Both reports are authentic, and 'Aisha confirms the four: he "never missed four rak'at before the Zuhr prayer and two rak'at before the Fajr prayer."⁵ The schools weigh them differently:

The Maliki school singles out the two rak'ahs before Fajr and treats the rest as recommended voluntary prayer, without fixing their number as strictly.²³²⁴²⁵

The two before Fajr

Of all the sunnah prayers, none was kept more faithfully. 'Aisha said the Prophet ﷺ was "never more regular and particular in offering any Nawafil than the two rak'at (Sunna) of the Fajr prayer,"⁸ and he said of them:

They are short, prayed after the adhan for Fajr and before the obligatory two.

At home is best

Ibn 'Umar noted that the sunnah prayers after Maghrib and Isha were prayed in the Prophet's ﷺ house.¹¹ He encouraged the same for everyone, telling the people of Madinah:

Praying them in the mosque is still perfectly fine — but a home where prayer is seen is part of the point.

Lighter extras

Beyond the twelve, a few more were encouraged without the same emphasis:

• Four before Asr. "May Allah show mercy to a man who prays four rak'ahs before the afternoon prayer."⁹
• Two before Maghrib. The Prophet ﷺ said "Pray before the Maghrib," and the third time added "Whoever wants to offer it can do so" — so that people would not take it as a fixed obligation.¹⁰

Duha, the forenoon prayer

Duha is prayed in the morning, after the sun has risen clear of the horizon and before it reaches its height at midday.²³²⁴²⁵ It is the prayer of the long morning gap between Fajr and Dhuhr — and it is tied to gratitude for the body itself:

Abu Hurayrah counted it among the three things his "friend" ﷺ advised him never to leave: fasting three days a month, the Duha prayer, and praying Witr before sleeping.¹⁴

How many rak'ahs? Two is the minimum.¹³ 'Aisha said the Prophet ﷺ prayed it as "four rak'ahs, but sometimes more as he pleased,"¹⁵ and on the day of the conquest of Mecca he prayed eight.¹⁶

When is best? Later in the morning, once the day has warmed up:

"Those who are penitent" translates al-awwabin — so the hadith itself names late Duha as "the prayer of the awwabin." Avoid the moment of sunrise itself, which is one of the times voluntary prayer is set aside.¹⁸

Two short prayers for special moments

Greeting the mosque (Tahiyyat al-masjid). When you walk into a mosque, pray two rak'ahs before you sit down:

If you arrive as the congregation is starting an obligatory prayer, join it instead: "When the prayer commences, there is no prayer but the obligatory one."¹⁹ (What to do if the Friday sermon has begun is covered in Jumu'ah.)

Two rak'ahs after wudu. The Prophet ﷺ told Bilal he had heard his footsteps ahead of him in Paradise, and asked him about the best deed he had done since accepting Islam. Bilal said that whenever he made wudu, by day or by night, he prayed after it as much as was written for him.²¹ 'Uthman taught the same after showing how the Prophet ﷺ made wudu: whoever washes like that and then prays two rak'ahs without letting the mind wander, his past sins are forgiven.²²

In short

The sunnah prayers are the Prophet's ﷺ own daily rhythm around the obligatory five: two before Fajr, four before and two after Dhuhr, two after Maghrib, two after Isha — then Duha in the morning, two rak'ahs on entering a mosque, and two after wudu. None of them is required. All of them are, in his words, worth building a house in Paradise for. To see where they sit next to the night prayer, Witr, and the rest, start at Beyond the Five.