The Questions: The saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): "The night prayer is two, two," the hadith indicates the permissibility of praying up to an unspecified number.

The questioner : The saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): the hadith, does it indicate the permissibility of praying up to an unspecified number? And is this hadith absolute, and is that restricted by his action in the night prayer that he prayed eleven rak'ahs?

The Shaykh : There is no doubt that his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): is an absolute hadith, meaning that it did not specify a number. The action of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) falls within this absolute statement. The action of some individuals in a manner that does not contradict the absolute statement is not considered a restriction, as is known among the scholars of usul al-fiqh. So if you say, "Honor a man," and you say, "Honor Muhammad," that does not mean the ruling is restricted to Muhammad, because he is included among the individuals of the absolute statement. However, it is true that you have obeyed the command. Likewise, if you say, "Honor the men," and you honor one of them, Zayd, that is not considered a specification. Rather, we say: if some individuals of a general statement are mentioned with a ruling that does not conflict with the general ruling, this is not a case of specification, and the same applies to restriction.