The time of the Duha prayer and the number of its rak'ahs

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Question:
The questioner says: Is it from the Sunnah to perform the Duha prayer daily, or to perform it one day after another? May Allah reward you with good, and may He benefit us through you?

Answer:
The Duha prayer is a confirmed Sunnah, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) advised Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) to do three things:

to fast three days a month; (2) to pray two rak`at of Duha prayer (forenoon prayer); and (3) to pray witr before sleeping.

صِيَامِ ثَلاَثَةِ أَيَّامٍ مِنْ كُلِّ شَهْرٍ وَرَكْعَتَىِ الضُّحَى وَأَنْ أُوتِرَ قَبْلَ أَنْ أَنَامَ

Sahih al-Bukhari 1981

. He (peace and blessings be upon him) also said:

In the morning charity is due from every bone in the body

يصبح على كل سلامى من الناس صدقة

Sahih Muslim 720

Every tasbih is a charity, every tahmid is a charity, every takbir is a charity, every tahlil is a charity, enjoining good is a charity, forbidding evil is a charity, and two rak'ahs prayed in the Duha are sufficient for all of that

فكل تسبيحة صدقة، كل تحميدة صدقة، كل تكبيرة صدقة، كل تهليلة صدقة، والأمر بالمعروف صدقة، والنهي عن المنكر صدقة، ويكفي من ذلك ركعتان يركعهما من الضحى،

So the Duha prayer is a confirmed Sunnah every day, with a minimum of two rak'ahs. If one prays four, six, eight, or more, all of it is good. It is established that he (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed it as four rak'ahs and as eight rak'ahs, saying the taslim after every two rak'ahs. The best time to pray it is when the Duha is intense, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The prayer of the repentant is when the young camels are scorched by the heat." This occurs two or three hours before the midday prayer. Yes.

Source قناة «إذاعة القرآن الكريم»، نور على الدرب مع معالي الشيخ صالح الفوزان ح7539 — youtube.com (15:13)

The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.

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