and he urged the believers to perform them.

2 – By collating all the reports, we determine that the regular sunan (rawātib) comprise sixteen rakʿahs: four before Zuhr and four after it, two after Maghrib, two after ʿIshāʾ, two before Fajr, and two after the Friday prayer.

3 – The hadiths emphatically encourage keeping up these rawātib and not neglecting them. Their virtues, benefits, and legal rulings include the following:

(a) It is preferable to perform the rawātib of Maghrib, ʿIshāʾ, Fajr, and Jumuʿah at home. Muslim (730) narrates from ʿĀʾishah: “The Prophet ﷺ used to pray four rakʿahs before Zuhr at home, then go out and lead the people, after which he would return home and pray two rakʿahs.” This shows that offering the rawātib at home is superior to praying them in the mosque—even his own blessed mosque—because praying at home carries the added merit of greater sincerity.

(b) The two rakʿahs of Fajr are kept light; ʿĀʾishah even said, “Did the Messenger of Allah ﷺ recite Sūrat al-Fātiḥah in them or not?”

(c) These two rakʿahs before Fajr are the most excellent of all the rawātib: they are better than the world and everything in it, and the Prophet ﷺ never omitted them, whether resident or travelling.

(d) As for voluntary prayers other than the rawātib, the Prophet ﷺ did perform them while travelling: he prayed Witr, stood for the night prayer, offered Duḥā, performed the prayer of istikhārah, and made unrestricted nawāfil even on his mount. What is not reported from him on a journey are the rawātib linked to the obligatory prayers that are shortened—those about which ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar said, “If I were to add supererogatory rakʿahs, I would have completed the obligatory prayer.”

4 – His statement “four before Zuhr” does not contradict Ibn ʿUmar’s report mentioning “two before Zuhr.” The reconciliation is that at times he prayed two rakʿahs and at other times four; each narrator related what he had witnessed, and this variation is common in many voluntary acts of worship.