two rak‘ahs after the Friday prayer in his home. The Sunnah prayer after the Friday prayer and prayer before it will be discussed when we describe his practice concerning the Friday prayer, Allah willing. This accords with his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): “O people, pray in your homes, for a person’s best prayer is the prayer offered at home, except for the obligatory prayer” (1).
His practice (peace and blessings be upon him) was to perform Sunnah and voluntary prayers at home unless some circumstance prevented him, just as his practice was to perform the obligatory prayers in the mosque unless travel, illness, or some other circumstance prevented him from attending the mosque.
He was more diligent and consistent in observing the Sunnah prayer before the dawn prayer than any other voluntary prayer. Thus, he never omitted it or the Witr prayer, whether at home or travelling. When travelling, he regularly observed the Sunnah prayer before dawn and the Witr prayer (2), but not the other Sunnah prayers (3). There is no report that he (peace and blessings be upon him) performed any other regular Sunnah prayer while travelling.
Likewise, Ibn ‘Umar would pray no more than two rak‘ahs, saying: “I travelled with the Messenger of Allah (4) (peace and blessings be upon him), Abū Bakr, and ‘Umar, and they would pray no more than two rak‘ahs while travelling” (5). Although this could mean that they did not pray four rak‘ahs, rather than that they (6) did not perform the Sunnah prayers, nevertheless it has