al-Ṭabarānī, no. 365, and both al-Ḥākim and al-Dhahabī declared it authentic.

This in no way conflicts with offering two rakʿahs before Maghrib, for those two cycles have been established from the Prophet ﷺ both by explicit statement and by tacit approval. He ﷺ said, “Between every two calls to prayer there is a prayer; between every two calls to prayer there is a prayer,” and the third time he added, “for whoever wishes.” The report is found in the Six Books and in Ibn Naṣr (26).

In another wording he said, “Pray two rakʿahs before Maghrib, pray two rakʿahs before Maghrib,” and the third time he added, “for whoever wishes,” disliking that people should take it as a binding sunnah. Reported by Aḥmad, al-Bukhārī, al-Dārimī, and al-Dāraquṭnī.

Anas related: “When the muʿadhdhin gave the adhan, some of the Prophet’s Companions would hasten to the pillars, and the Prophet would come out while they were praying two rakʿahs before Maghrib; nothing at all separated the adhan from the iqama”—in another wording, “except a brief moment.” Reported by Aḥmad, al-Bukhārī, and Ibn Naṣr.

Another narration states that someone asked Anas, “Did the Messenger of Allah ﷺ himself pray them?” He replied, “He used to see us performing them and neither ordered us to do so nor forbade us.” Reported by Muslim, Abū Dāwūd, and al-Dāraquṭnī (100). A corroborating report comes from ʿUqbah and is found with al-Bukhārī, Aḥmad, al-Dāraquṭnī, and Ibn Naṣr.

As for the lone report recorded by Abū Dāwūd (202)—through Shuʿbah, from Abū Shuʿayb, from Ṭāwūs—that Ibn ʿUmar was asked about the two rakʿahs before Maghrib and replied, “I never saw anyone in the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ performing them,” it is merely a negation, and it is a fundamental principle that an affirmative report overrides a negative one. Moreover, its chain is not as sound as the preceding evidence, for Abū Shuʿayb—whose given name is Shuʿayb—is not well known; Abū Zurʿah said about him: