The Sunnah of the 'Isha' Prayer
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Q4: Do we pray four rak'ahs of the Sunnah before the obligatory 'Isha' prayer, then the obligatory four rak'ahs, then four rak'ahs after the obligatory prayer, then we pray the Shaf' as six rak'ahs, and then we conclude with the Witr rak'ah?
A4: The Sunnah is to pray two rak'ahs after the 'Isha' prayer, and this is among the regular voluntary prayers (rawatib) mentioned in the hadith of Umm Habibah (may Allah be pleased with her) cited in the third answer. It is also recommended to pray two rak'ahs between every adhan and iqamah, whether for the 'Isha' prayer or any other, based on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):Jami` at-Tirmidhi 185Sahih (Darussalam), narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim, As for the night prayer, including the Shaf' and the Witr, the Muslim prays as many rak'ahs as he wishes, then concludes his prayer with a single rak'ah. As for specifying the Shaf' as only six rak'ahs, that is not correct. Rather, the minimum prescribed is one rak'ah, the minimum of perfection is three rak'ahs, and the maximum is thirteen rak'ahs, where one says the taslim after every two rak'ahs and then prays one rak'ah as Witr. And if one prays more than that, there is no harm; based on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): Sunan Abi Dawud 1326Sahih (Al-Albani), which is agreed upon as authentic. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not specify a certain number of rak'ahs, which indicates that there is flexibility in this matter.
A4: The Sunnah is to pray two rak'ahs after the 'Isha' prayer, and this is among the regular voluntary prayers (rawatib) mentioned in the hadith of Umm Habibah (may Allah be pleased with her) cited in the third answer. It is also recommended to pray two rak'ahs between every adhan and iqamah, whether for the 'Isha' prayer or any other, based on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):
Between every two calls (to prayer) there is a Salat
بين كل أذانين صلاةPrayer during the night should consist of pairs of rak'ahs, but if one of you fears the morning is near he should pray one rak'ah which will make his prayer an odd number for him.
صلاة الليل مثنى مثنى فإذا خشي أحدكم الصبح صلى ركعة واحدة توتر له ما قد صلى
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.