It is recommended to keep the two sunnah rakʿahs before Fajr brief, for al-Bukhari and Muslim report from ʿĀʾishah (may Allah be pleased with her) that “the Prophet used to shorten the two rakʿahs offered before the dawn prayer.” In the first rakʿah he would recite, after the Opening Chapter, “Say, O disbelievers” (Qur’an 109), and in the second “Say, He is Allah, the One” (Qur’an 112). He was also narrated to recite in the first rakʿah the verse, “Say, ‘We believe in Allah and in what has been sent down to us…’ ” (al-Baqarah 2:136), and in the second rakʿah, “Say, ‘O People of the Book, come to a word that is equitable between us…’ ” (Āl ʿImrān 3:64).

He would likewise recite al-Kāfirūn and al-Ikhlāṣ in the two rakʿahs after Maghrib. Al-Bayhaqī, al-Tirmidhī, and others relate from Ibn Masʿūd (may Allah be pleased with him): “I cannot count how many times I heard the Messenger of Allah recite in the two rakʿahs after Maghrib and the two rakʿahs before Fajr, ‘Say, O disbelievers,’ and ‘Say, He is Allah, the One.’ ”

If you miss any of these regular sunnah prayers, it is recommended that you make them up; the same applies if you miss the witr at night—it is recommended to make it up during the day. The Prophet made up the two rakʿahs of Fajr along with the Fajr prayer when he had slept through them, and he made up the two rakʿahs that