What is the ruling on praying two rak'ahs after the 'Asr prayer?

The Shaykh : As for the other issue, there are two hadiths. The famous hadith is: , and as we always say, when a text comes in an absolute or general form, it must be kept as such unless a specification or restriction is applied to it. In that case, the general or absolute text is implemented together with the specifying or restricting text. This is exactly what happened with this hadith, which has many, many specifications or restrictions. His saying (peace and blessings be upon him) in this authentic hadith: includes the entire time extending from after the 'Asr prayer until the setting of the sun. However, a restriction entered this time in the hadith about which you heard the question, namely his saying (peace be upon him): , and in some narrations: ; that is, white and clear. If we combine the second hadith with the first, we understand that the absoluteness mentioned in the first hadith is not intended, as evidenced by the second hadith: . Thus, one must act according to all the hadiths, and it is not permissible to negate some of them with others. The jurisprudential result of this process is that the disliked prayer after 'Asr is not immediately after 'Asr if the 'Asr prayer was performed in its time; that is, if the shadow of an object becomes twice its length and one prays the obligatory 'Asr prayer. The second hadith means that this prayer after the 'Asr prayer is permissible and not prohibited, because the time is still white and clear, and the sun is high. This is confirmed by what came in "Sahih Muslim": "The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) hardly ever prayed the 'Asr prayer and entered upon 'Aishah without praying two rak'ahs after the 'Asr prayer." This is a Sunnah unknown to most people, especially the madhhab followers who do not study the Sunnah, so they do not know such a hadith. Although some of the predecessors were aware of this hadith, they considered it a specific privilege of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) because they did not know the restricting text for his saying (peace be upon him): . They said that the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) prayer of these two rak'ahs after 'Asr was one of his specific privileges. But the correct view is that this is what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) established as a Sunnah for his Ummah, because praying immediately after 'Asr is permissible as evidenced by that hadith, which is narrated from two Companions, so there is no room for doubt about its authenticity. One of them is 'Ali ibn Abi Talib, and the other is Anas ibn Malik. Both narrated from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): - and in another wording: . Therefore, Imam Abu Muhammad ibn Hazm said regarding the hadith of 'Ali: "Its chain of narration is of the highest authenticity." This authentic exception to this hadith opens the way to following the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in the two rak'ahs he used to pray after 'Asr, and it refutes the claim that they were specific to him (peace and blessings be upon him). Therefore, some of the Salaf used to pray these two rak'ahs, such as 'Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr, the son of 'Aishah's sister Asma bint Abi Bakr (may Allah be pleased with them both). He used to pray these two rak'ahs after 'Asr, which indicates to us that 'Aishah (who was 'Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr's aunt) taught 'Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr this Sunnah as a Sunnah that was not specific to him (peace and blessings be upon him), but was also prescribed for all worshippers. Accordingly, there is no basis for the claim of specificity, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed it and did not indicate that it was exclusive to him and not to others. First, the prohibition was lifted regarding praying immediately after 'Asr, and permission was given to pray until the sun becomes yellow; that is, until about half an hour before the setting of the sun at most.