two rak‘ahs; this is the more likely explanation. Alternatively, he may have done both, with ‘Ā’ishah and Ibn ‘Umar each reporting what they had witnessed. Both hadiths are authentic, and neither can be faulted.
It may also be said that these four rak‘ahs were not the regular Sunnah prayer before the noon prayer, but a separate prayer that he performed after the sun had passed its zenith. Thus, Imām Ahmad (1) reported from ‘Abdullāh ibn al-Sā’ib that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) would pray four rak‘ahs after the sun had passed its zenith, saying: “This is a time when the gates of heaven are opened, and I love for a righteous deed of mine to ascend during it.”
The Sunan (2) also reports from ‘Ā’ishah that whenever the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) did not pray four rak‘ahs before the noon prayer, he prayed them afterwards. Ibn Mājah reported: Whenever the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) missed the four rak‘ahs before the noon prayer, he prayed them after the two rak‘ahs following the afternoon prayer (3).
(1) No. (15396). Also reported by Ibn Abī Shaybah (878), al-Tirmidhī (478), whose wording is quoted here, and al-Nasā’ī in al-Kubrā (The Major Collection) (329). Al-Tirmidhī graded it hasan gharīb (good, singular in transmission), and al-Albānī graded it authentic in al-Ajwiba al-Nāfi‘a (Beneficial Answers), p. 53.
(2) Al-Tirmidhī (426), from ‘Abd al-Wārith al-‘Atakī, from Ibn al-Mubārak, from Khālid al-Hadhdhā’, from ‘Abd Allāh ibn Shaqīq, from ‘Ā’ishah. Al-Tirmidhī said: “Hasan gharīb.” The reason for its singularity is explained by Imām Ahmad in his Masā’il (Questions), as transmitted by Abū Dāwūd (1876): several narrators transmit this hadith from Khālid through the same chain but omit this detail, mentioning only that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) regularly observed four rak‘ahs before the noon prayer and two afterwards. Al-Tirmidhī also said: “Qays ibn al-Rabī‘ transmitted something similar from Shu‘bah, from Khālid al-Hadhdhā’. We know of no one other than Qays ibn al-Rabī‘ who transmitted it from Shu‘bah. Something similar has also been transmitted from ‘Abd al-Rahmān ibn Abī Laylā, from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace).” I say: Qays is a weak narrator; his report is found in Ibn Mājah (1158). Ibn Abī Laylā’s mursal report (a report attributed directly to the Prophet without naming an intervening Companion) was reported by Ibn Abī Shaybah (6026).
(3) This is the reading in all manuscript copies. It may be a slip of the pen in the author’s original copy. The correct wording is “after the noon prayer,” as in the al-Risālah edition, which corrected the error.