Is making up the regular voluntary prayer after 'Asr specific to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), or is it general?

The questioner : The honorable Shaykh (may Allah preserve him), the questioner asks: Is making up the regular voluntary prayer after 'Asr specific to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), or is it general? I ask for clarification, and may Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : The answer is that making up the voluntary prayer in the time of dislike is not specific to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family); rather, it is a ruling that includes all the individuals of the Ummah. This is because it is established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) that he said: . Here, "prayer" includes both the obligatory and the voluntary, because he did not say (peace be upon him), "Whoever forgets the prayer" with the definite article. If he had said that, it would have come to mind that he meant the obligatory prayer. Instead, he said: .
This comprehensive, general meaning is confirmed by another hadith narrated by al-Tirmidhi from the hadith of Abu Sa'id al-Khudri, in which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: . Also, . It is known that the Witr prayer is not obligatory (fard) nor required (wajib) according to those who do not distinguish between the obligatory and the required.
As for the Hanafis, they held the view that the Witr prayer is obligatory, but they have no evidence that stands to prove their claim. Now is not the place for a detailed discussion of that. The point is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) included the Witr and brought it under the generality of the first hadith: . The stronger position is that the Witr is a confirmed Sunnah, and it, along with the two rak'ahs of Fajr, are the most emphasized of the Sunnahs. The evidence is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) did not leave them, whether resident or traveling. Therefore, this hadith indicates to us that the Sunnah is made up just as the obligatory prayer is made up. But was the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) making up of the Sunnah that he missed after 'Asr a making up of it in a disliked time, such that we ask that question and say: Is it specific to him, or does it include all his Ummah?
His prayer (peace be upon him) was not in the middle of the time of dislike. Here, one should pause for a moment to learn the details of the disliked time after the 'Asr prayer. This is because there are some hadiths that, by their generality, indicate that the time of dislike after 'Asr begins after the 'Asr prayer.
For example, his saying (peace be upon him), which is a hadith agreed upon for its authenticity: . When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) was occupied with the delegation of Qays and missed the Sunnah, he prayed it after 'Asr. When he was asked about that, he said: . So, it comes to the mind of the person who has the agreed-upon hadith in mind that he prayed it in the time of dislike, because the hadith said: . So, he prayed it after 'Asr, and therefore the question arose. But for Allah (Mighty and Majestic), as came in a hadith we are not now in the position to mention, also because the time is very short, from the hadith of Ibn Mas'ud, he said: He (peace be upon him) said: , meaning in His religion, whatever He wills. . So, Allah (Mighty and Majestic) used to send down, or rather, He used to reveal the Shari'ah and the revelation to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) in stages and on various occasions. So, speaking during prayer was permissible, then He prohibited it with this hadith: .
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: . But it came in other hadiths: or . So, with this hadith, the first hadith was specified; the first hadith was absolute: . As for this second hadith, it said: . And this hadith is authentic; it is reported from Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) and from Anas (may Allah be pleased with him).
If that is the case, then when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) prayed the Sunnah that he missed after 'Asr, he did not pray it in the time of dislike, except based on the hadith: . But since this exception entered it: , then at that time, the prayer that the Messenger (peace be upon him) missed, or the Sunnah that he missed, when he prayed it after 'Asr, he prayed it in a prescribed time that is not disliked. Therefore, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) did not leave that Sunnah which he made up after 'Asr, but he persisted in it. The evidence is what Imam Muslim extracted in his Sahih from the hadith of Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her), who said: , except that he would pray two rak'ahs, meaning after he prays 'Asr, that they should pray this Sunnah. As I mentioned earlier, he prayed it in a time of dislike, and finally, because he persisted in it.