of the voluntary and the regular sunnah prayers that accompany the obligatory prayers.

Know that one of Allah’s favors is that He has legislated for His servants additional voluntary prayers beyond the prescribed prayers so that the obligatory acts may be perfected thereby, for obligatory deeds are seldom free of shortcomings. Had Allah not legislated these prayers, they would have been an innovation; yet, out of His grace, He prescribed them to make up for the deficiencies found in the obligatory worship.

Voluntary prayers are of many kinds and categories. Among them are the regular sunnahs linked to the obligatory prayers; they are twelve rakʿahs: four before Ẓuhr, ending with salām after every two rakʿahs, two after Ẓuhr, two after Maghrib, two after ʿIshāʾ, and two before Fajr. Whoever performs these every day and night, Allah will build for him a house in Paradise, as related in the hadith of Umm Ḥabībah, may Allah be pleased with her.

It is preferable for both the follower and the imam to perform these regular prayers at home, because the Prophet ﷺ said, “The best prayer a person offers is in his house, except for the obligatory prayer.” Even if you are in Mecca or Medina, it is still better to offer these regular sunnahs in your house, for the Prophet ﷺ used to pray them at home and would say, “The best prayer a person offers is in his house, except for the obligatory prayer.”

There are also voluntary prayers attached to the obligatory prayers that are not of the same status as these regular sunnahs. This is what ʿAbd Allah ibn Mughaffal, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated: that the Prophet ﷺ said, “Between…"