Hadith Lesson: Sunnahs Before Fard Prayers

As-Salāmu ‘Alaykum wa RaḥmatuLlāhi wa Barakātuh. A‘ūdhu BiLlāhi Minash-shayṭāni r-rajīm. BismiLlāhi r-Raḥmāni r-Raḥīm. Wa ṣ-Salātu wa s-Salāmu ‘alá Rasūlinā Muḥammadin Sayyidi l-Awwalīna wa l-Akhirīn. Madad yā RasūlAllāh, Madad yā Sādāti Aṣḥābi RasūliLlāh, Madad yā Mashāyikhinā, Dastūr Mawlana Sheikh Abdullāh al-Fā’iz ad-Dāghistāni, Sheikh Muḥammad Nāẓim al-Ḥaqqānī. Madad.

1Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “If you leave your home, pray two rak’at to prevent you from entering into evil. If you enter your home, pray two rak’at to prevent you from entering into evil.” So, these nāfilah prayers are very important for the believers especially people of ṭarīqah. Those who are not from the people of ṭarīqah don’t give much importance to Sunnah, let alone nāfilah prayers. Whereas, these prayers are for your benefit, for the benefit of people, for the benefit of Muslims. Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla has no benefit from this. The benefit is yours. So before leaving your home or when entering; and not only when exiting or entering but before going to work in the morning, pray two rak’at with the intention of Duha prayer. And when you return if it’s not a Makrūh time for prayer, you can also pray. These prayers are both barakah and protection for you from evil things.

2Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “The gates of heaven are opened for four rak’as containing no taslim before the Dhuhr prayer.” So this is a Sunnah Mu’akkadah already; four rak’āt before Dhuhr prayer. Shukr to Allāh ﷻ, they pray these Sunnahs here

anyway. But in some Muslim countries, they neglect them. Or they enter directly into Fard then leave; or don’t pray at all. So they don’t give them much importance. However, this is very important.

3Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “The four rak’ahs before Dhuhr prayer are equivalent in thawāb to the four rak’ahs after Isha prayer,” So, many people ask, “You pray four rak’ahs after Isha prayer. And after Dhuhr prayer, you pray 4 rak’ahs. Why do you pray so?” Because their virtue is very big. Praying four rak’at after Isha has the same thawāb as the four rak’at Sunnah before Dhuhr. “The four rak’ahs after Isha prayer are equivalent in thawāb to the four rak’at prayer of Laylatul Qadr.” The thawāb of the four rak’ahs after Isha prayer are the same of the prayer of Laylatul Qadr.

4Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “The gates of heaven are opened at high noon,” High noon is when the sun is exactly in the middle. Normally, as our Prophet ﷺ in Mecca Mukarramah and Madinah Munawwarah - those who had the opportunity to go there for Hajj and Umrah will have witnessed that during Dhuhr prayer time. There is a time when the sun reaches a point when there is no shadow at all. But it doesn’t happen here. It happens there; you look at the floor and see no shadow at all at that time. After the high noon, when the sun starts declining, that is when the time for Dhuhr prayer has entered. Then, our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam says, “Then they are unlocked until the midday prayer is performed, so I love to have a good deed ascend on my behalf during that time.” So to directly pray at that time is very virtuous, says our Prophet ﷺ.

5Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “Between each Adhan and Iqāmah there is a nāfilah prayer, for whoever wants to do it.” So after Fajr prayer, after Dhuhr prayer, after Maghrib and Isha prayer, it can be after all these prayers.

6Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “Between each Adhan and Iqāmah there is a prayer, except for Maghrib prayer, for those who wish.” So that of Maghrib is nāfilah. It is not necessary to pray it according to our Madhhab (Hanafi). But we’re doing so as an imitation to the mashāyikh. According to other Madhhabs, they pray Sunnah before Maghrib, and they don’t pray after Maghrib. As our Holy Prophet ﷺ said, as a Sunnah and not nāfilah, the Sunnah after the Fajr adhān is the closest to wājib. Praying the Sunnah of Fajr is nearly wājib, it is Sunnah Mu’akkadah. The prayer after Dhuhr adhān and before Iqāmah is also Sunnah Mu’akkadah. Although that of Asr is not Sunnah Mu’akkadah but it is a Sunnah. That of Isha is the same. As for Maghrib prayer, some brothers think it is Sunnah Mu’akkadah. No, it is not. It is nāfilah. Because our mashāyikh prayed it, we pray it imitating them.

7Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “May Allāh ﷻ show mercy to a man who prays four rak’as before the Asr prayer; may He ﷻ treat him with His ﷻ mercy.” Most people don’t pray it since it is not Sunnah Mu’akkadah. Whereas every Sunnah Mu’akkadah and nāfilah should not be missed. It isn’t coming to my mind the name of

the Sultan who once opened a mosque. He said, “Let an Imam come here.” They looked around, there wasn’t anyone. He said, “Let someone who has never left a Sunnah come here.” The Sultan himself prayed it. No one came out, not even any scholar. Many people leave the Sunnah because they are in a hurry or so. The Sultan hadn’t left any Sunnah, even that of Asr prayer. So he became the Imam then.

8Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “The two Rak’at at dawn (Fajr) are better than this world and what it contains.” So all the things now, cars, skyscrapers, ferry, yachts and whatever there is are not important. These two rak’ahs are better than the whole world and what it contains.

9Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “Two short rak’ahs are better than the whole world and everything in it. If you were to do what you have been commanded to do, you would’ve lived without trouble or misery.” So now people think, “We are praying and doing so. Why is that happening? Why isn’t our work going well? Why is there distress?” That means you are neither praying properly, nor have a truthful īmān, nor have anything. Because this word you say is already erasing them all. You must know that everything is from Allāh ﷻ. You must not use the prayer as a bargain. You must not use it as blackmail. “I did so but it didn’t happen,” and this and that. It means that’s why it didn’t happen. Have your creed and intention be truthful. Have adab towards Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla and our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam. These troubles are nothing. The troubles we see, may Allāh ﷻ protect us, the Muslims in Gaza are the ones in hardship. And even they do not rebel against Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla at all. But the people here start crying out if a small thing happens. May Allāh ﷻ protect us.

10-Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “A man increases his deeds with these two short rak’ahs of what you consider insignificant and nāfilah, are more beloved to him than the rest of your whole worldly life.” So the man prayed two rak’at. What he prays from a short light prayer is better than this whole world and all it contains. Because this world is like a dream, like a mirage. It flies away. Nothing is left of it. What’s left is those two rak’ahs you do not value. What you think is easy is better than all of dunyā. May Allāh ﷻ grant us all from what’s true and beautiful. May He ﷻ grant us to do what our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam told about, in shā’a Llāh.

Sadaqa RasuluLlah fi ma qal, aw kama qal. The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ says the truth in what he ﷺ said or as he ﷺ said.

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Ihda’ – Dedication:

Ziyadatan ila sharafi’ ‘n-Nabi, sallaLlahu `alayhi wa sallam wa Alihi wa Asahabihi l-kiram, wa ila arwahi jamee’i al Anbiya’i wa l-Mursalin wa Khudama’i sharai’ihim wa ila arwahi al ‘Aimmati al arba’a, wa ila arwahi Mashayyikhina fi t-Tariqati nNaqshbandiyyati l-Aliyyah, khassatan Imamu t-Tariqah wa Ghawthu l-Khaliqah Khwaja Bahauddin Muhammad al-Uwaisiyi l-Bukhari, Sayyidina Abdul Khaliq al Ghujduwani, Mawlana Shaykh Sharafuddin al Daghestani, Mawlana Shaykh Abdullah al Faiz al Daghestani, Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Adil al Haqqani, wa sai’ri Sadatina wa s-Siddiqiyun, wa man nahnu fi hadratihim wa jiwarihim, for the souls of all our past ones, for the souls of all Shaheeds. For goodness to come and evil to be gone. For happiness here and hereafter. Li-Llahi Ta’ala, Al-Fatiha.

[(Translation) To the honor of the Prophet, Prayers and Peace be upon Him, and his family, and his companions, and the souls of all the prophets as well as of His messengers and of those who served their Sharia, and to the souls of the four Imams. And to the souls of our Mashayikh of the Most Distinguished Naqshbandi Tariqa, in

particular to the soul of the Imam of the Tariqa Ghawth al-Khaliqa (the Help of Creation), Khwaja Bahauddin Muhammad al-Uwaisiyi l-Bukhari, Sayyidina Abdul Khaliq al Ghujduwani, Mawlana Shaykh Sharafuddin al Daghestani, Mawlana Shaykh Abdullah al Faiz al Daghestani, Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Adil al Haqqani, and the rest of our masters and Siddiqiyun, and to whom we are in their presence and near them, for the souls of all our past ones, for the souls of all Shaheeds. For goodness to come and evil to be gone. For happiness here and hereafter. To Allah Almighty. Al Fatiha.]

Mawlana Sheikh Muhammad Adil ar-Rabbani 19 August 2025/ 25 Safar 1447 Beylerbeyi Dergah, Istanbul