Fourth Chapter
On the Two Rakʿahs Performed upon Entering the Mosque
The majority of jurists hold that the two rakʿahs offered upon entering the mosque are recommended rather than obligatory, whereas the Ẓāhirī school considers them compulsory.
The root of their disagreement lies in whether the Prophet’s—peace and blessings be upon him—instruction, “When any one of you comes to the mosque, let him pray two rakʿahs,” should be construed as a recommendation or as a binding command, for the ḥadīth is unanimously sound.
Whoever adheres to the principle—endorsed by most scholars—that an unrestricted command is presumed obligatory until a proof shows it to be merely recommended, and who finds no such proof in this instance, concludes that the two rakʿahs are obligatory.
By contrast, anyone who does discern evidence here that the command is intended as a recommendation, or whose foundational rule is that commands are presumptively recommendatory until evidence establishes obligation (an approach adopted by some), maintains that the two rakʿahs are not obligatory.
The majority interpret the command as recommendatory because it appears to conflict with other aḥādīth whose wording or explicit meaning restricts obligatory prayer to the five daily prayers mentioned at the beginning of this book, such as the ḥadīth of the Bedouin and similar reports. If the command here were taken as obligatory, the prescribed prayers would exceed five.
Those who deem these rakʿahs obligatory argue that the obligation is tied specifically to entering the mosque, not absolute like the five daily prayers. Jurists reply that limiting an obligation by place is analogous to limiting it by time. The Ẓāhirīs counter that a designated place is not a condition for the validity of an obligatory prayer, whereas time is essential to the validity of the prescribed prayers.
Scholars further differed about someone who enters the mosque after having already performed the two pre-dawn rakʿahs at home: should he still pray two rakʿahs upon entering?
Al-Shāfiʿī said that he should, and this is also related from Mālik by Ashhab.
Abū Ḥanīfah said that he should not, and this is also related from Mālik by Ibn al-Qāsim.
The basis of their disagreement is the apparent tension between the Prophet’s—peace and blessings be upon him—statement, “When any one of you comes to the mosque, let him pray two rakʿahs,” and his statement, “There is no prayer after Fajr except the two rakʿahs of dawn.” Thus two generalities and two particularities confront one another—one concerning time, the other concerning the prayer—because the ḥadīth