Questions: Most of the people you see before you are travelers, but is it better for us to pray the pre- and post-prayer sunnahs and the voluntary prayers we desire, or is it better not to pray anything except the witr and the sunnah of Fajr?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Praise be to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah.
The questioner says: Most of the people you see before you are travelers, but is it better for us to pray the pre- and post-prayer sunnahs and the voluntary prayers we desire, or is it better not to pray anything except the witr and the sunnah of Fajr?
The Shaykh : It is recommended for the traveler to perform all voluntary prayers, including the night prayer, the two rak'ahs of Duha, the prayer for guidance (istikharah), and all other voluntary prayers, except for the regular voluntary prayers (rawatib) of Zuhr, Maghrib, and Isha. The Sunnah is that the traveler should not pray these specific regular voluntary prayers. As for the rest of the voluntary prayers, it is prescribed for him to perform them, because the Sunnah only mentions leaving off these three regular voluntary prayers, while the others remain prescribed. Furthermore, as long as a person is in this Sacred Mosque, if he volunteers and increases his voluntary prayers, there is no blame on him, and it is not said that he is contradicting the Sunnah. This removes the difficulty in one's mind, as some people find it difficult and say, "I do not like to leave off the voluntary prayers." We say: Do not leave them off, but it is better for the traveler to leave off the specific regular voluntary prayers that follow Zuhr, Maghrib, and Isha. This does not mean that we say, "Do not pray voluntary prayers," but rather, pray as much as you wish.
The questioner says: Most of the people you see before you are travelers, but is it better for us to pray the pre- and post-prayer sunnahs and the voluntary prayers we desire, or is it better not to pray anything except the witr and the sunnah of Fajr?
The Shaykh : It is recommended for the traveler to perform all voluntary prayers, including the night prayer, the two rak'ahs of Duha, the prayer for guidance (istikharah), and all other voluntary prayers, except for the regular voluntary prayers (rawatib) of Zuhr, Maghrib, and Isha. The Sunnah is that the traveler should not pray these specific regular voluntary prayers. As for the rest of the voluntary prayers, it is prescribed for him to perform them, because the Sunnah only mentions leaving off these three regular voluntary prayers, while the others remain prescribed. Furthermore, as long as a person is in this Sacred Mosque, if he volunteers and increases his voluntary prayers, there is no blame on him, and it is not said that he is contradicting the Sunnah. This removes the difficulty in one's mind, as some people find it difficult and say, "I do not like to leave off the voluntary prayers." We say: Do not leave them off, but it is better for the traveler to leave off the specific regular voluntary prayers that follow Zuhr, Maghrib, and Isha. This does not mean that we say, "Do not pray voluntary prayers," but rather, pray as much as you wish.