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EPISODE 1️ – INTRODUCTION
Allaah (ﷻ) has imposed five prayers on us daily, and these prayers are like rain that purifies the soul and body from the defilements that are attached to it, as they are a purification, comfort, and tranquility. From Allaah’s mercy on us are the voluntary prayers beside the obligatory ones, as it is necessary and important to make our prayers complete without deficiency.
A voluntary prayer is every prayer other than the obligatory (fard) prayer, and it is a reason for closeness, love, and satisfaction with Allaah (ﷻ), as in the hadith Qudsi: “And my servant continues to approach me with supererogatory prayers until he loves him.” [Bukhaari]
Nafl or Tatawwu’ are among the proper terms used by scholars for prayers other than the Fard ones, commonly known as “supererogatory or additional prayer”.
Tatawwu’ can be divided into :
1️. Rawatib: These are the tatawwu’ performed before and after the five daily prayers.
2️. Ghair Rawatib: These are not tied to the five daily prayers.
The Rawatib are further divided into Mu’akkadah and Ghair Mu’akkadah.
Sunnah mu’akkadah refers to any voluntary act of worship (such as the two rak’ah before Fajr prayer , or the two rak’ah after the maghrib prayer) which the Prophet (ﷺ) continuously performed and almost never abandoned.
As for the ghair mu’akkadah, they are those which the Prophet (ﷺ) sometimes performed and sometimes abandoned, such as four rak’ah before Asr prayer and two rak’ah before the Isha prayer.
The importance of tatawwu’ is evident and clear in the hadiths of the Prophet (ﷺ), when he used to recommend his companions to a great deal of prostration (prayers) because of the elevation that it brings about on the Day of Resurrection.
Nawafil also fill the deficiency in the obligatory prayer, as stated in a hadith. The Prophet (ﷺ) said: “The first action for which a servant of Allah will be held accountable on the Day of Resurrection will be his prayers. If they are in order, he will have prospered and succeeded. If they are lacking, he will have failed and lost. If there is something defective in his obligatory prayers, then the Almighty Lord will say: See if my servant has any voluntary prayers that can complete what is insufficient in his obligatory prayers. The rest of his deeds will be judged the same way.”
[Sunan al-Tirmidhī 413]
General way to perform the Nawafil
- No Iqaamah is needed for Nafl prayers.
- It is preferred to pray the Tatawwu’ in private.
- Offering the prayers two by two. Ibn Hibban said:
When the Prophet (Prophet (ﷺ)) said “Four”, he meant with two tasleems, because in the report of Ya’la ibn ‘Ata’ from ‘Ali ibn ‘Abd-Allaah al-Azdi from ‘Ibn ‘Umar, it says that the Prophet (ﷺ) said: “The prayers of the night and the day are (to be offered) two by two.”
Saheeh Ibn Hibbaan, 6/606.
- Thereof is no Sajdah Sahw in voluntary prayers.
- Whoever performs a Nafl regularly and happens to miss it for a legitimate reason can ‘repay’ it in the times that praying is not prohibited (such as after sunrise or when the sun sets).
Stay tuned as we elaborate on some of the Salat-ut-tatawwu’.
To be continued إن شاء الله
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ISLAM GENERATION DAWAH GROUP
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