Chapter on the Regular Sunnah Prayers that Accompany the Obligatory Prayers

Know, dear brothers, that performing the regular sunnah prayers is strongly encouraged, while neglecting them is disliked. Whoever continually abandons them—according to some leading jurists—loses his moral reliability and incurs sin, for habitual omission betrays a weakness of faith and a lack of concern.

The regular sunnah prayers total ten rakʿahs (units of prayer), detailed as follows:
• Two rakʿahs before ẓuhr. A number of scholars hold that four rakʿahs are to be prayed before ẓuhr; on their view the total of the regular sunnahs becomes twelve rakʿahs.
• Two rakʿahs after ẓuhr.
• Two rakʿahs after maghrib.
• Two rakʿahs after ʿishāʾ.
• Two rakʿahs before the dawn prayer (ṣubḥ) after daybreak has appeared.

The proof for these sunnahs in the order just given is the hadith of Ibn ʿUmar, who said: “I memorized from the Messenger of Allah ten rakʿahs: two before ẓuhr, two after it, and two after maghrib in his house,”