(1) Know that the apparent import of the commands in the two hadiths is that the two rak‘as must be performed at home. Several considerations, however, indicate that they are not obligatory: First, the regular Sunnah prayer after Maghrib is itself recommended, not obligatory. How, then, could a subsidiary matter be obligatory when the principal act is merely recommended? Another consideration may be inferred from the following: After citing in *al-Musnad* (5/428) the aforementioned hadith of Mahmūd ibn Labīd, Abd Allāh ibn Ahmad ibn Hanbal said: “I asked my father, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, about a man who said, ‘If someone performs the two rak‘as after Maghrib in the mosque, they do not suffice unless he also performs them at home, because the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said: “This is the prayer of the homes.”’ He asked, ‘Who said this?’ I replied, ‘Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahmān.’ He said, ‘How excellent is what he said!’—or, according to another wording, ‘What an excellent inference he drew!’” End quote. I say: Abū Hafs—perhaps al-Barmakī or al-Ukbarī; I do not know which—explained this statement of Ahmad as follows, according to Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya in *Zād al-Ma‘ād* (1/313): “Its basis is that the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—commanded that this prayer be performed at home. Al-Marwadhī asked, ‘Is someone who performs the two rak‘as after Maghrib in the mosque sinful?’ Ahmad ibn Hanbal replied, ‘I know of no basis for that!’ I said to him, ‘It is related that Abū Thawr said he is sinful.’ He replied, ‘Perhaps he based that on the Prophet’s words: “Perform them in your homes.”’ Abū Hafs said: ‘The proper explanation is that if a person performed the obligatory prayer at home and did not attend the mosque, his prayer would still be valid; the same therefore applies to the Sunnah prayer.’” End quote. Ibn al-Qayyim responded: “That is not Ahmad’s reasoning—may Allah have mercy on him. Rather, his reasoning is that Sunnah prayers are not conditional upon a particular location or a congregation; they may therefore be performed either at home or in the mosque.” End quote. I say: Another indication is found in the chapter heading that Ibn Khuzayma placed over the hadith of Mahmūd ibn Labīd: “Chapter concerning the command to perform the two rak‘as after Maghrib at home. Because it is expressed as a ‘command,’ some who lack a deep grounding in knowledge may suppose that whoever performs them in the mosque is sinful, since the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—commanded that they be performed at home.” He then placed after it the following chapter heading: [p. 42] “Chapter mentioning the report that explains the Prophet’s command—peace and blessings be upon him—that the two rak‘as after Maghrib be performed at home, and the evidence that this is a recommendation rather than an obligation, since voluntary prayers performed at home are superior to voluntary prayers performed in mosques.” He then cited a hadith to this effect. See *Sahīh Ibn Khuzayma* (1/209–210).