They say: I asked Sayyida Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) about the prayer of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), so she said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to pray four rak‘ahs before Zuhr, two after it, two before Asr, two after Maghrib, and two after Isha, and at night he would perform nine rak‘ahs of prayer. I asked: Did he pray standing or sitting? She said: He would pray for a long time standing and for a long time sitting. I asked: When he recited standing and when sitting, how did he do it? She said: When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) recited standing, he would also bow (ruku‘) standing, and when he recited sitting, he would also bow sitting, and he used to pray two rak‘ahs before the Fajr prayer.

Qaboos’s father sent a woman to Sayyida Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) to ask her which prayer was most beloved to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) that he would perform regularly. She said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to pray four rak‘ahs before Dhuhr, standing long in them and performing bowing and prostration in a good manner. As for the prayer which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) never abandoned whether in health, sickness, travel, or residence, it is the two rak‘ahs before Fajr.

Hassan bin Atiyyah says: When the time of death approached for Anbasah bin Abi Sufyan, his anxiety increased. Someone asked him: What is this anxiety? He said: I heard from my sister, Sayyidah Umm Habibah, that she said the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: Whoever prays four rak‘ahs before Zuhr and four rak‘ahs after it, Allah Almighty will make his flesh forbidden to the Fire. And since I heard this hadith from her, I have never abandoned these eight rak‘ahs.