What is the difference between the confirmed sunnah and the absolute sunnah, and does a person sin by leaving them?

Question : The questioner says in this question: I have heard that the prayer has confirmed sunnahs and others that are not confirmed, so what is the difference between them? And does the one who leaves these sunnahs get held accountable for leaving them?

Answer : The difference between the confirmed sunnah and the absolute sunnah is that the confirmed sunnah is close to the obligatory, meaning that it is emphasized for the person to do it, but it is less than the obligatory. The absolute sunnah is what is below that. A person does not sin by leaving the sunnahs, whether they are confirmed or not confirmed. However, for the confirmed ones, we tell him: it is not befitting for you to leave them. The unconfirmed ones are easier than that. Then, the sunnahs may be in the obligatory act of worship itself, or they may be among its accompanying acts. For example, a person adding to the recitation of al-Fatihah is a sunnah in the prayer itself. His adding to the tasbih beyond the regular tasbih is also a sunnah. But the rawatib (regular voluntary prayers) that are done before the prayer, such as the rawatib of Fajr and the rawatib of Zuhr, and the rawatib that are done after the prayer, such as the rawatib of Zuhr, Maghrib, and 'Isha', are a sunnah outside the prayer. What is befitting for the person is to strive to do the sunnahs and the obligatory acts, because the sunnahs complete the obligatory acts on the Day of Resurrection, and because the person needs worship. Indeed, a day will come to him when his deeds are cut off, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: So let the person take advantage of the opportunity in this world to do righteous deeds, so that his obligatory acts are completed by them and his ranks are raised in the Gardens of Delight.