Does the pre-Zuhr sunnah prayer fulfill the greeting of the mosque? And what is the ruling on combining the two intentions?

The questioner : Combining intentions in prayer, is it sufficient... If a man enters and prays the two rak'ahs of the pre-Zuhr sunnah, for example, but it was not in his intention that he would combine the intention of the mosque greeting with the intention of the pre-Zuhr sunnah; are these two rak'ahs sufficient to fulfill the obligation of the mosque greeting prayer?

The Shaykh : No, an intention is necessary.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : Why are you getting at me? It has a meaning, this thing, be clear here... [The Shaykh laughs!].

The questioner : ... .

Another questioner : What I understand from the Shaykh's hadith is that the mosque greeting has an intention that stands on its own.

The Shaykh: Of course.

Another questioner : So what is the evidence for that?

The Shaykh : The evidence is that it is obligatory, and that the intention of a sunnah does not fulfill an obligation, whereas the reverse; yes.

Another questioner : ... I used to understand that the hadith: means that what is intended or prescribed here is the prayer before sitting, so if it is a regular sunnah or with an obligatory prayer, the mosque greeting is fulfilled, and this obligation is dropped!

The Shaykh: Good.

Another questioner : Does one need to combine two intentions in this regular sunnah prayer?

The Shaykh : No, we are telling you now, no two intentions, so that the ruling is clear, one intention, a man enters the mosque and intends the sunnah of the time or intends the recommended sunnah, like the Maghrib sunnah, for example; does this intention suffice for the intention of the obligation?

Another questioner: No.

The Shaykh : So then?

Another questioner : But this greeting, of course, the word is from... this came from the terminology of, the word is from the jurists or from the hadith scholars?

The Shaykh : No, no problem, we stand with you at the text of the hadith, and we develop the question now; he prayed two rak'ahs, if you asked him at that moment, what is your intention now?

Another questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : May Allah forgive you! , and he wanted to answer frankly and said to you: By Allah, I do not know; is this prayer valid?

Another questioner : No, an intention is necessary!

The Shaykh : An intention is necessary, okay; he said to you: It is an intention for an obligatory prayer, and he does not want to pray with the intention of an obligatory prayer; because the obligatory prayer is after, he will pray it with the congregation; is this an explicit intention?

Another questioner: No.

The Shaykh : So then? An intention is necessary, meaning, okay; so if he wants to pray, meaning two acts of worship, he wants to pray the mosque greeting and he wants to pray the sunnah of the time, and naturally, as the hadith you mentioned indicates, he must prioritize the mosque greeting over the sunnah of the time; is that not so?

Another questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : If Allah wills you will understand, why don't you understand? The important thing.

Another questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : I know... the one who wants to pray, we said two acts of worship, he wants to pray the mosque greeting and then the sunnah of the time; is this permissible for you or not permissible?

Another questioner : I do not understand this... .

The Shaykh : I am not asking you to understand this... .

Another questioner : It is not permissible.

The Shaykh : How is it not permissible?

Another questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : Glory be to Allah! I want to pray the sunnah of the time, four rak'ahs, okay? But I want to separate between every two rak'ahs, so I want to pray two rak'ahs and say the taslim, then two rak'ahs and say the taslim, this is of course permissible?

Another questioner : Yes, this is permissible.

The Shaykh : Okay; so if I intended in the first two rak'ahs only the mosque greeting, is it permissible or not permissible?

Another questioner : It was permissible.

The Shaykh: All right.

Another questioner : But I do not see the mosque greeting as a sunnah that stands on its own, rather it becomes obligatory upon sitting; if you want to sit, pray these two rak'ahs, whatever they are; whether they are a sunnah or an obligatory prayer, they suffice for sitting, whereas for the mosque greeting to stand on its own, this is what, meaning the implication of the statement, if we want two intentions, it is necessary - also - that we distinguish between two prayers; because this mosque greeting sunnah is one that stands on its own, and likewise the obligatory one stands on its own; so two prayers are not combined.

The Shaykh : Okay; we are telling you now: we do not combine, and you refuse us, I told you: we pray two rak'ahs for the mosque greeting and we pray two rak'ahs for the sunnah of the time, we did not combine.

Another questioner : This action also... .

The Shaykh : This is what I said: No; why?

Another questioner : ... .

Another questioner : I am clarifying what I have, nothing new.

The Shaykh: Go ahead.

Another questioner : I say that the mosque greeting, this word itself, did not come from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), rather it is from the terminology of the jurists.

The Shaykh: Correct.

Another questioner : So the hadith: we say to him: these two rak'ahs are not obligatory upon you unless you want to sit, so if you do not want to sit, the two prayers are not obligatory upon you, you passed by a mosque, we say to him: if you prayed the regular sunnah, it has sufficed you for the mosque greeting... .

The Shaykh : Even if he did not intend?

Another questioner : If its time had not entered.

Another questioner : Of course, I intended the regular sunnah; so its obligation has been dropped from me.

The Shaykh : I mean what I am saying; even if he did not intend the greeting?

Another questioner : Yes, because we do not see the greeting as a prayer that stands on its own.

The Shaykh : How, my brother? If a prayer of the prayers does not have a pre-sunnah; does he not want to pray the mosque greeting?

Another questioner : Here we say: if you want to sit, pray two rak'ahs!

The Shaykh : Your saying: if you want to sit, does he not need to bring to mind the intention?

Another questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : Can the desire be present without an intention?

Another questioner: No.

The Shaykh : So then, whether there is a prayer - may Allah bless you - before the obligatory prayer, as the Hanafis say, for example, that in the Maghrib prayer there is no sunnah with them, they dislike it and state that explicitly, so if he wants to pray the mosque greeting; the word "wants" can we imagine it not accompanied by an intention?

Another questioner : No, it is not valid.

The Shaykh : So then, the intention must be present for the act of worship to be achieved; this is from one aspect, from another aspect, I do not know if you are with us in distinguishing in the ruling between the regular sunnahs and the voluntary prayers and the mosque greeting?

Another questioner : Yes, the latter is obligatory, and the former is recommended.

The Shaykh : Okay, so how can the intention of a voluntary prayer take the place of the intention of an obligatory one?

Another questioner : This is not obligatory upon me unless I want to sit, if there is a regular sunnah before the prayer.

The Shaykh : I understood you - may Allah bless you; because this repetition has no benefit, let us circle around the point of disagreement; meaning, when I want to sit, do I not want to bring to mind the Prophetic command in my mind?

Another questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : And how is this if I did not bring it to mind as you say?

Another questioner : The action is not valid.

The Shaykh : So then, bringing the intention to mind is necessary.

The questioner : It is possible in another way; for example, a man missed the Fajr obligatory prayer in the mosque with the congregation, so he entered the mosque and did not pray the two rak'ahs of the mosque greeting, and the adhan and iqamah were called and he prayed Fajr; was it dropped from him?

The Shaykh : He entered the mosque, the adhan and iqamah were called?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : He prayed the obligatory prayer?

The questioner : He prayed the obligatory prayer.

The Shaykh: Of course.

The questioner : Why was it dropped here?

The Shaykh : Because this is stronger than the greeting itself, our topic is completely reversed, this is an obligatory prayer, so this came with the obligation and more, and this is specifically for those who do not distinguish between the obligatory and the mandatory; but we, although we do not distinguish because this is a terminological matter; but we believe that just as we believe that a sin is more sinful than a sin; we also believe that an obligatory prayer is more emphatic than an obligatory prayer, for example, the obligatoriness of the Friday prayer is more emphatic than the obligatoriness of the Zuhr prayer, and although we do not distinguish between the obligatory and the mandatory because this is a terminology in the Hanafi school and not the others; but we believe that the obligatoriness of one of the five prayers is not like the obligatoriness of the mosque greeting; so this entered into that.

The questioner : Does it drop its obligatoriness?

The Shaykh : Yes?

The questioner : Does this obligation drop from him?

The Shaykh : Yes?

The questioner : Does this obligation suffice for him?

The Shaykh : With the intention it suffices, and this is what we were talking about; an intention is necessary.

Another questioner : O Shaykh, so the one who prays the mosque greeting, he prayed it... and then he followed it with a regular sunnah, is his action valid?

The Shaykh : Of course, his action is valid; this is the best. I am illustrating a scenario for you right now: a man performs wudu, so it is prescribed for him to perform the sunnah of wudu. We do not divert our minds from the mosque. He performed wudu in his house, so it is prescribed for him to pray two rak'ahs as the sunnah of wudu, then pray two rak'ahs as the sunnah of the time—for example—then pray the obligatory prayer. This same man performed wudu and entered the mosque. Now he has to pray three things, whereas that other one prayed two things. Here he has to pray three things: the greeting of the mosque, the sunnah of wudu, and the sunnah of what? The time. We are now illustrating several scenarios or several people. A man who is content with the view of al-A'rabī, or slightly better, says: "By Allah, O Messenger of Allah, I do not add to them or subtract from them." This man is slightly better than him, but he will not pray the greeting of the mosque, the sunnah of wudu, and the sunnah of the time. He wants to kill three birds with one stone. We tell him: It is permissible for you to intend the prayer of the greeting of the mosque plus the sunnah of wudu plus the sunnah of the time. He will be recorded at least ten good deeds: the reward of the greeting of the mosque, which is obligatory upon him, plus one good deed for his good intention, plus a second good deed for the sunnah of the time. This is the scenario.
The second scenario is a man who prays the greeting of the mosque "alone," then prays two rak'ahs; either he makes them the sunnah of wudu or the sunnah of the time. Better than this—and this is what the one who prays for each intention does—is to pray the greeting and say the taslim, then stand up and pray the sunnah of wudu and say the taslim, then stand up and pray the sunnah of the time and say the taslim. This is the best. Our intention was to observe, as came in some hadiths from Abu Qatadah al-Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him), that he passed by one of his sons bathing on a Friday and said: "Is this your bath for janabah or your bath for Friday?" He said: "It is a bath for janabah." He said: "Repeat the bath with another one." And perhaps he mentioned the hadith of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding the command to bathe on Friday.
The point is: one of us today on Friday wants to apply his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): according to one of the known interpretations, regarding the one who bathes another...