while another holds that they are recommended. As for the disagreement concerning the two units before the dawn prayer, this is explicitly recorded. Abū Zayd related from Ibn al-Qāsim that they are a sunnah. This is also Ibn al-Qāsim’s position in al-Mudawwana, as indicated by his stipulation that an intention is required for them. The same view appears in Ibn al-Qāsim’s transmitted reports in al-ʿUtbiyya. Ashhab related from Mālik that performing them is recommended, but that they are not a sunnah. The same view appears in ʿĪsā’s transmitted reports in Asbagh’s Book of Brigands and Apostates.
As for the two units when entering ihrām, the correct view according to Mālik’s school is that they are voluntary, since he does not prohibit adding further units. Rather, it is recommended that one enter ihrām only immediately after a voluntary prayer consisting of at least two units. According to the body of our scholars, a voluntary prayer whose number of units is not fixed, admitting neither addition nor reduction, is not called a sunnah. A sunnah is precisely a prescribed pattern to be followed, without addition or reduction.
Our scholars have differed over the characteristic that makes a voluntary prayer a sunnah. Some hold that only those prayers which the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, performed publicly, assembled his community to observe, and prescribed in congregation are called sunnahs, such as the two Eid prayers, the eclipse prayer, and the prayer for rain. Those who hold this view do not count the two units before the dawn prayer among the sunnahs. Others hold that a voluntary prayer is called a sunnah if its number of units is fixed, admitting neither addition nor reduction. Those who hold this view consider the two units before the dawn prayer a sunnah. Do you not see that neither the night prayer nor the mid-morning prayer is counted among the sunnahs, since their number of units is not fixed?
As for the two units following circumambulation, they form part of the circumambulation: if it is obligatory, they too are obligatory; if it is voluntary, they too are voluntary.
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Meritorious prayers likewise comprise five: the prayer upon entering a mosque, the lunar eclipse prayer, the Ramadan night prayer, the night prayer, and prostration upon reciting the Quran. All other prayers are voluntary, such as the units offered before and after the noon prayer, before the afternoon prayer, after the sunset prayer, before and after the night prayer, the mid-morning prayer, and similar prayers.
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Thus, all prayers other than the five obligatory prayers are non-obligatory, though some are sunnahs, some are meritorious, and some are