What is the advice for one who leaves the sunnahs after the prayer?
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Question:
What is the recompense for one who leaves the sunnah after the prayer?
Answer:
The sunnah is a voluntary prayer, not an obligatory one. So if he prays the obligatory prayers, he owes nothing. If a person prays only the midday prayer, only the afternoon prayer, only the sunset prayer, only the night prayer, and only the dawn prayer, and does not pray the voluntary prayers, he owes nothing. But he has left behind a great good, and left behind great sunnahs, in which there is a great good for which Allah will reward him, and which make up for any deficiency that may occur in his obligatory prayers. But he has not committed a sin.
And it is better that he prays twelve rak'ahs with these obligatory prayers. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to maintain them as a voluntary prayer. They are: four before the midday prayer with two closings of the prayer, and two after the midday prayer, and two after the sunset prayer, and two after the night prayer, and two before the dawn prayer. These are called: the regular voluntary prayers (rawatib), twelve rak'ahs.
And the witr, its minimum is one rak'ah after the night prayer, or at the end of the night, or in the middle of the night, from after the night prayer to the end of the night, one rak'ah. And if he increases, it is better. If he prays witr with three, or five, or seven, and the best of that is eleven or thirteen. And if he increases and prays witr with more than that, even a hundred, there is nothing wrong with it; because the whole night is a place of worship. But he prays in pairs, and prays witr with one, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said:Sunan Abi Dawud 1326Sahih (Al-Albani), so he prays what is easy for him: two, two, then he prays witr with one before the dawn.
What is the recompense for one who leaves the sunnah after the prayer?
Answer:
The sunnah is a voluntary prayer, not an obligatory one. So if he prays the obligatory prayers, he owes nothing. If a person prays only the midday prayer, only the afternoon prayer, only the sunset prayer, only the night prayer, and only the dawn prayer, and does not pray the voluntary prayers, he owes nothing. But he has left behind a great good, and left behind great sunnahs, in which there is a great good for which Allah will reward him, and which make up for any deficiency that may occur in his obligatory prayers. But he has not committed a sin.
And it is better that he prays twelve rak'ahs with these obligatory prayers. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to maintain them as a voluntary prayer. They are: four before the midday prayer with two closings of the prayer, and two after the midday prayer, and two after the sunset prayer, and two after the night prayer, and two before the dawn prayer. These are called: the regular voluntary prayers (rawatib), twelve rak'ahs.
And the witr, its minimum is one rak'ah after the night prayer, or at the end of the night, or in the middle of the night, from after the night prayer to the end of the night, one rak'ah. And if he increases, it is better. If he prays witr with three, or five, or seven, and the best of that is eleven or thirteen. And if he increases and prays witr with more than that, even a hundred, there is nothing wrong with it; because the whole night is a place of worship. But he prays in pairs, and prays witr with one, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
Prayer during the night should consist of pairs of rak'ahs, but if one of you fears the morning is near he should pray one rak'ah which will make his prayer an odd number for him.
صلاة الليل مثنى مثنى، فإذا خشي أحدُكم الصبحَ صلَّى ركعةً واحدةً تُوتر له ما قد صلَّى
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.