What are the sunnahs that a traveler leaves off?

The questioner : Honorable Shaykh, peace be upon you, and Allah's mercy and blessings.

The Shaykh : Peace be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings.

The questioner : Some people come from different regions to perform i'tikaf (spiritual retreat in the mosque) in the last ten days of Ramadan in the Sacred Mosque, but they leave off the rawatib (the regular voluntary prayers attached to the obligatory ones). I ask for a detailed answer, and may Allah preserve you.

The Shaykh : In truth, if Allah grants a person the ability to reach this mosque, he should increase his prayer, whether it is the prescribed prayer or other permissible voluntary prayers.
The person who is in this place has absolute voluntary prayers available to him. That is, if we say that a traveler does not pray the rawatib of the midday prayer, the sunset prayer, or the night prayer, that does not mean we say he should never pray. We say: pray, and increase in prayer. Prayer is a goodly thing, and as Allah the Mighty and Majestic said: . Therefore, we encourage our brothers to increase in the voluntary prayers in this mosque, even if they are travelers, because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was not prevented by travel from offering voluntary prayer. Rather, travel prevented him from praying the sunnah of the midday prayer, the sunnah of the sunset prayer, and the sunnah of the night prayer—these three. The rest of the voluntary prayers remain recommended. Thus, there is no difficulty in the issue.