(1) The stronger view is that the four rak‘ahs before Asr are among the regular Sunnah prayers. This was the position chosen by Abū al-Khattāb al-Kalwadhānī, as stated in Ibn Qudāmah’s *al-Mughnī* (2/125). It is one of the positions unique to Abū al-Khattāb, as noted in *Dhayl Tabaqāt al-Hanābilah* (1/120). In *al-Muharrar* (1/88), Majd al-Dīn Abū al-Barakāt Ibn Taymiyyah reported two views on the matter within the Hanbalī school. Among the Shāfi‘īs, al-Shīrāzī explicitly stated in *al-Muhadhdhab* that the four rak‘ahs before Asr are among the regular Sunnah prayers associated with the obligatory prayers and that observing them is the most complete practice. Al-Nawawī concurred in *al-Majmū‘ Sharh al-Muhadhdhab* (4/8). (2) A *hasan* (sound) hadith. It was recorded by Ahmad in *al-Musnad* (4/203), al-Tirmidhī in the Book of Prayer, chapter “What Has Been Reported Concerning the Four Rak‘ahs before Asr” (hadith no. 430; 1/329, *Tuhfah*), and Abū Dāwūd in the Book of Prayer, chapter “Prayer before Asr” (hadith no. 1271; 1/490, *Awn*). It was authenticated by Ibn Khuzaymah (no. 1193) and Ibn Hibbān (no. 616, *Mawārid*; 6/206, no. 2453, *al-Ihsān*). Al-Tirmidhī said of the hadith: “It is *hasan gharīb*.” End quote. [p. 37] The hadith was also graded *hasan* by al-Albānī in *Sahīh Sunan Abī Dāwūd* (1/237), the editor of *Jāmi‘ al-Usūl* (6/26), and the editor of *al-Ihsān* (6/206). I say: Those who criticized this hadith on the grounds that Ibn Umar did not mention these rak‘ahs in the preceding hadith—“I memorized ten rak‘ahs from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him…”—were mistaken. Ibn Umar was merely reporting what he had memorized of the Messenger of Allah’s practice and did not state that there were no other prayers. Thus, there is no contradiction between the two reports, as Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah explained in *Zād al-Ma‘ād* (1/312).