Hazrat Kuraib (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated that Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas, Miswar bin Makhramah, and Abdur Rahman bin Azhar (may Allah be pleased with them) sent me to Sayyidah Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) and said: Convey our greetings to Sayyidah Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) and then ask her about the two rak‘ahs after ‘Asr. Also inform her that we have heard that you perform these two rak‘ahs, even though we have received the hadith from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) forbade these two rak‘ahs. And Ibn Abbas said: I even used to beat people for performing these rak‘ahs with Umar bin Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him). Kuraib narrated: I went to the service of Sayyidah Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) and conveyed the message. She replied: Ask Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her) about this matter. So I returned to those gentlemen and conveyed Sayyidah Aisha’s (may Allah be pleased with her) response. They sent me to Sayyidah Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her) with the same messages with which I had been sent to Sayyidah Aisha. Sayyidah Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her) replied: I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) forbidding prayer after ‘Asr, but one day I saw that after ‘Asr, he himself was performing these two rak‘ahs. After ‘Asr, he came to my house (and began to perform two rak‘ahs). Some women from the Ansar tribe of Banu Haram were sitting with me, so I sent a slave girl to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). I told her to stand to one side and ask: Umm Salamah says, O Messenger of Allah, you used to forbid these two rak‘ahs, but I see you performing them yourself. If the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) gestures with his hand, then step back. The slave girl did as instructed, and when he gestured with his hand, she stepped back. Then, when he finished (the prayer), he said to Umm Salamah: O daughter of Abu Umayyah, you asked about the two rak‘ahs after ‘Asr. The matter is that some people from ‘Abd al-Qays came to me, and because I was talking with them, I was unable to perform the two rak‘ahs after Dhuhr, so these are those same two rak‘ahs.

Sayyidah Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) never abandoned two rak'ahs, whether in private or in front of people: two rak'ahs before the Fajr prayer and two rak'ahs after the Asr prayer.