Among the non-emphasized Sunnah practices

His statement under number 1: “As for limiting oneself to only two rakʿahs—meaning before ʿAṣr—the proof for this is the general wording of the Prophet’s ﷺ saying: ‘Between every two calls to prayer there is a prayer.’”

I reply: The author failed to notice what Abū Dāwūd narrated in the chapter “The Prayer before ʿAṣr,” and what al-Ḍiyāʾ al-Maqdisī likewise transmitted in al-Mukhtārah 1/187 from the Ẓāhiriyyah manuscript, on the authority of ʿAlī (may Allah ennoble his face): “The Prophet ﷺ used to pray two rakʿahs before ʿAṣr.” Al-Nawawī states in al-Majmūʿ 4/8, “Its chain is sound.”

I add: That is indeed so, were it not that this particular wording is anomalous; the reliably preserved version reads: “four rakʿahs.” I have explained this in Ḍaʿīf Abī Dāwūd 235 and al-Rawḍ al-Naḍīr 691.