A Neglected Prayer That Should Be Revived

3174 — “He would never omit the two rak'ahs before the dawn prayer or the two rak'ahs after the afternoon prayer.”

Ibn Abi Shaybah recorded it in al-Musannaf (2/352): “Affan narrated to us; Abu Awanah narrated to us; Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn al-Muntashir narrated to us from his father that he used to pray two rak'ahs after the afternoon prayer. He was asked about this, and he replied: ‘Even if my only basis for praying them were that I saw Masruq praying them, that would be sufficient warrant; but I asked Aishah, and she…’” He then cited the hadith.

I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission meeting the criteria of al-Bukhari and Muslim. All its narrators are trustworthy and beyond reproach. I have included it because of its authenticity, the rarity of its chain, and because it shows Muhammad ibn al-Muntashir acting upon it in emulation of Masruq, the eminent Successor. Otherwise, the hadith has been recorded by al-Bukhari and Muslim and others, as I indicated in the preceding hadith.

The version of this report attributed to the Prophet was also recorded by al-Tahawi in Sharh al-Ma'ani (1/177), through another route from Abu Awanah with the same report.

Shortly before this, Ibn Abi Shaybah also narrated with an authentic chain from Ash'ath ibn Abi al-Sha'tha, who said: “I went out with my father—whose name was Sulaym ibn Aswad al-Muharibi—together with Amr ibn Maymun, al-Aswad ibn Yazid, and Abu Wail; and they used to pray after the afternoon prayer.”

He then narrated the same from another group among the early predecessors, including al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam and his son Abdullah, as well as Ali and Abu Burdah ibn Abi Musa.

Moreover, Ibn Hibban (1568–1570), as well as al-Bukhari and Muslim, narrated from al-Aswad and Masruq, from