Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrates from the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he (peace be upon him) said: "The (voluntary) prayers of the night and day are in sets of two rak‘ahs."

In one statement of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), it is mentioned: "When any one of you enters the mosque, he should perform two rak‘ahs before sitting." And in the narrations reported from him (peace be upon him), it is also stated: "When any one of you enters the mosque while the Imam is delivering the sermon, he should perform two rak‘ahs before sitting." And in the narration of Sayyiduna Ka‘b bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him), it is mentioned that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) would return from a journey only during the day at the time of Duha (forenoon), so he (peace be upon him) would first come to the mosque and perform two rak‘ahs there. When Sayyiduna Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him) came to hand over the camel of the Prophet (peace be upon him), the Prophet (peace be upon him) asked him: "Have you performed the (Tahiyyat al-Masjid) prayer?" He replied, "No." The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "Stand up and perform two rak‘ahs." In the narration of Sayyiduna Ibn ‘Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both), it is stated: "Whoever performs two rak‘ahs and does not converse with himself during them, and he has a slave or a horse." The Prophet (peace be upon him) performing two rak‘ahs of Salat al-Istisqa’ during the day is also evidence for this. He (peace be upon him) did not perform these rak‘ahs at night. In the hadith of Sayyiduna Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both), it is mentioned: I remember from the Prophet (peace be upon him) two rak‘ahs before Zuhr, and two after it, and two after Maghrib, and two after ‘Isha. And Sayyidah Hafsah (may Allah be pleased with her) informed me that the Prophet (peace be upon him) would also perform two rak‘ahs before the morning prayer. In the narration of Sayyiduna ‘Ali bin Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him), it is stated that the Prophet (peace be upon him) would perform two rak‘ahs after every obligatory prayer except Fajr and ‘Asr. In the narration of Sayyiduna Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him), it is stated: Whenever I committed a sin, I performed two rak‘ahs. In the hadith of Sayyiduna Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him), it is stated: Whoever commits a sin, then performs ablution and prays two rak‘ahs, then seeks forgiveness from Allah for his sin, Allah will forgive him. In the narration of Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him), it is stated: Whenever the Prophet (peace be upon him) halted at a place, he would perform two rak‘ahs before leaving it. In the narration of Sayyidah ‘A’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her), it is stated: The Prophet (peace be upon him) would perform four rak‘ahs before Zuhr, then return to my house and perform two rak‘ahs. In the narration of Sayyiduna Sa‘d bin Abi Waqqas (may Allah be pleased with him), it is stated: One day, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was coming from ‘Aliyah, and when he passed by the mosque of Banu Mu‘awiyah, he entered it and performed two rak‘ahs, and we also prayed with him. In the narration of Mahmood bin Rabi‘ from ‘Utban bin Malik, it is stated: The Prophet (peace be upon him) performed two rak‘ahs of Duha in his house. In the hadith of Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him), it is stated: My beloved advised me to do three things, among them is to perform two rak‘ahs of Duha. And in the narration of ‘Abdullah bin Shaqiq from Sayyidah ‘A’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her), she says: I never saw the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) perform the Duha prayer, except when he returned from a journey, he would perform two rak‘ahs. In the narration of Sayyiduna Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him), it is stated: "Charity is due on every joint of the children of Adam in the morning." And further he said: "And two rak‘ahs of Duha are sufficient for that." In the narration of Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him), it is stated: "Whoever is regular and consistent in performing two rak‘ahs of Duha, his sins are forgiven even if they are as much as the foam of the sea." In the narration of Anas bin Sirin from Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him), it is stated: The Prophet (peace be upon him) went to the family of an Ansari, and they said: O Messenger of Allah, if you would supplicate (it would be a source of goodness and blessing for us). So the Prophet (peace be upon him) ordered a corner of the house to be cleaned (so it was cleaned), and a mat was spread after sprinkling water, and the Prophet (peace be upon him) stood there and performed two rak‘ahs. Imam Abu Bakr (may Allah have mercy on him) says: All these narrations are evidence that the voluntary prayers of the day are two rak‘ahs, not four, as claimed by the one who has not pondered over these narrations nor tried to acquire them by listening to them from a scholar who understands them. As for the hadith of Sayyidah ‘A’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) which we have mentioned, that the Prophet (peace be upon him) performed four rak‘ahs before Zuhr, there is no mention in this hadith that he (peace be upon him) performed them with one salam. Whereas Sayyiduna Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) has stated that the Prophet (peace be upon him) performed two rak‘ahs before Zuhr. And if the voluntary prayer was four rak‘ahs, then it would not be permissible for anyone to perform two rak‘ahs after Zuhr, rather it would be obligatory for him to add two more rak‘ahs to complete four rak‘ahs. And it would also be obligatory and necessary for him to perform four rak‘ahs before the Fajr prayer, as that is also a prayer of the day, not of the night. And we have not heard any authentic narration from the Prophet (peace be upon him) that he performed four rak‘ahs of voluntary prayer during the day with one salam. If someone who has not pondered deeply thinks that in the narration of ‘Abdullah bin Shaqiq from Sayyidah ‘A’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her), it is stated that the Prophet (peace be upon him) performed four rak‘ahs before Zuhr with one salam, because the narration mentions four (so it means they were performed with one salam), then such a person should be answered that Sa‘id Maqburi has narrated from Abu Salamah from Sayyidah ‘A’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) regarding the night prayer of the Prophet (peace be upon him): She says that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) would perform four rak‘ahs, do not ask about their beauty and length, then he (peace be upon him) would perform four rak‘ahs. So, regarding the night prayer, these words are similar to the words mentioned by ‘Abdullah bin Shaqiq from Sayyidah ‘A’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) about the four rak‘ahs before Zuhr. So is it permissible for anyone to interpret that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) would perform four rak‘ahs at night with one salam? Whereas our opponents agree with us that, except for Witr, the night prayer is performed two by two rak‘ahs. Therefore, the meaning of the narration of Abu Salamah from Sayyidah ‘A’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) is the same as the meaning of the narration of ‘Abdullah bin Shaqiq according to us, that the Prophet (peace be upon him) performed four rak‘ahs with two salams, not with one salam. In the narration of ‘Asim bin Damrah from Sayyiduna ‘Ali bin Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him), it is stated that when the sun would rise as high in the (eastern) side as it is at the time of ‘Asr (in the western side), the Prophet (peace be upon him) would perform two rak‘ahs. And when the sun would rise as high in the (western) side as it is at the time of Zuhr (in the eastern side), the Prophet (peace be upon him) would perform four rak‘ahs, and he (peace be upon him) would perform four rak‘ahs before Zuhr and two after it. And he (peace be upon him) would perform four rak‘ahs before ‘Asr, and after two rak‘ahs, he (peace be upon him) would send salutations upon the close angels of Allah and the obedient Muslims and then separate.