As for ʿIshāʾ, it too has Sunnah rakʿahs both before and after it. The rakʿahs before it are not a regular confirmed Sunnah (rātibah); rather, they fall under the general rule of the Prophet ﷺ: “Between every two calls to prayer there is a prayer.” After ʿIshāʾ, however, two rakʿahs are specifically recommended.

From this it becomes clear that, with respect to the five daily prayers:
• Fajr has a Sunnah before it and none after it.
• Ẓuhr has Sunnah rakʿahs both before and after.
• ʿAṣr has no rātibah Sunnah either before or after, though there is a non-rātibah Sunnah before it, while the time after it is one in which voluntary prayer is discouraged.
• Maghrib has a rātibah Sunnah after it and a non-rātibah Sunnah before it.
• ʿIshāʾ has a rātibah Sunnah after it and a non-rātibah Sunnah before it.

These are the Sunnah prayers that accompany the obligatory prayers, and one of their benefits is that, if any shortcoming occurs in the obligatory prayers, these Sunnahs make up for it.