Their saying: "An increase in good is good"

Al-Halabi : Shaykh, regarding the issue you kindly mentioned a moment ago, the matter of "An increase in good is good." This, Shaykh, means that matters are often between excess and deficiency, and there must be guidelines. It would be nice to hear, for example, many people face objections where they are told, "We are now between the two adhan calls, why don't we pray on Friday?" Even though we tell them, "Before the adhan, you may pray as much as you wish, but why do you single this out?" So, guidelines are needed so that the other brothers know when it is permissible to worship with expansion and when it is permissible to be restricted to what was transmitted as worship and definition. May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : This issue is well known, and praise be to Allah, and it does not go beyond what came in the Shari'ah. It is expected of the Muslim that not everything that is obligatory becomes a reality, but the Muslim must ensure that his reality always and forever aligns with the rulings of the Shari'ah, whether they are commands or prohibitions. As you all know, if Allah wills, commands and prohibitions are divided into categories. Commands include what is within the limits of obligation (fard) and what is within the limits of recommended practice (sunnah). Prohibitions include what is in the category of forbidden (haram) and what is in the category of disliked (makruh). Just as the command that falls under the first category, which is obligation, or the recommended practice or sunnah, where its doer is rewarded for doing it and not punished for leaving it, so too is the second category of what is prohibited. We said the first category is forbidden and the second is disliked. If the Muslim refrains from this disliked act, he is rewarded for that, and if he does it, he is not punished, but it remains disliked for him. So, which category does the issue of increasing in worship fall under? Is it from the category of forbidden or from the category of disliked? The answer is that it is from the forbidden category. This is for many reasons, the most important of which at this moment is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): This warning concerning the one who commits an innovation or in which there is an innovation, with the Fire, necessitates that committing an innovation is not among the things disliked by way of disapproval (makruh tanzihi), but rather it is disliked by way of prohibition (makruh tahrimi), as the Hanafi scholars say. Accordingly, the acts of worship in Islam are either restricted or absolute. As for what is from the first category of acts of worship, i.e., restricted, it is not permissible to increase beyond this restriction. Here, it is said what the common people say in some lands, which is a word of truth: "The one who increases is the brother of the one who decreases." This means that if a man prays the Fajr prayer with three rak'ahs like the Maghrib prayer, this word applies to him: "The one who increases is the brother of the one who decreases." Likewise, the opposite is the case; if he prays the Maghrib prayer with two rak'ahs, he is also "the one who increases is the brother of the one who decreases." In both examples, his prayer is invalid. Whoever prays Fajr with three rak'ahs, his prayer is invalid, and whoever prays Maghrib with two rak'ahs, his prayer is invalid. "The one who increases is the brother of the one who decreases." This is in restricted acts of worship. However, it must be noted that there is no difference between what is restricted in obligatory acts and what is restricted in voluntary acts, because our discussion is still about restricted worship. We gave an example earlier of the two rak'ahs of the Fajr obligation, and we said if he prays it with three, his prayer is not accepted because he contradicted the restricted Shari'ah. Now we are talking about the voluntary prayer before this obligation, which are the two rak'ahs of the Fajr sunnah. These are the two rak'ahs about which he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: If a person says, as we said at the beginning of this speech, "My brother, an increase in good is good, I will pray four instead of two, not three," is this from the good? The answer is no. Why? Because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) spent his entire blessed life maintaining these two rak'ahs, not decreasing from them or increasing over them. So his action (peace and blessings be upon him), which he persisted in, is a practical proof that "the one who increases is the brother of the one who decreases." Just as it is not permissible to pray the two rak'ahs of Fajr with one rak'ah, it is not permissible to pray them with three or four. "The one who increases is the brother of the one who decreases." This is an example in voluntary prayer, which I mentioned so that it does not occur to any listener that the previous discussion was specific to obligations, and some might say, "My brother, this is in the obligation, and it has been said repeatedly, but as for the voluntary prayer, the matter is broad in it." Some lean in this issue to his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): But this is in the context of what will be discussed later regarding absolute acts of worship. As for the restricted act of worship, whether it is an obligation or a voluntary prayer, here you are now facing the Fajr obligation and the Fajr sunnah. Just as it is not permissible to increase over the Fajr obligation, it is not permissible to increase over the Fajr sunnah. The proof is the persistence of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) with these two prayers, two rak'ahs, two rak'ahs. So, distinguishing in the issue of increasing between the obligation and the voluntary prayer is a distinction that contradicts the Shari'ah.