Performing only two Rak’ahs in the mosque before obligatory prayers
Fatwa No: 102385

Question

Assalamualaikum,brother here i am with you to ask that,i have seen people in saudi arabia who come to pray in masjid they just pray two raka and then they dont pray sunnah for example the sunnah of dohr before faraidh is 4 raka but they pray only 2 raka,so is it acceptable.

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

 

We have already issued Fatwa 86938 clarifying that continuously abandoning the Rawaatib prayers (i.e. the confirmed supererogatory prayers that are performed either before or after the obligatory prayers) is a sign of carelessness and lack of concern regarding Islamic matters, so please refer to the above-referred Fatwa.

However, it is better for a person to perform the Rawaatib prayers in his home and then go to the mosque, as clarified in Fatwa 84892. Hence, when he arrives to the mosque he only prays the two Rak’ah prayer of salutation to the mosque, and people (like yourself) would think that he did not perform the Rawaatib prayers. In addition to this, performing only two Rak'ahs Raatibah (singular of Rawaatib) prayer before the Thuhr obligatory prayer is sufficient as confirmed in the Sunnah. In general a Muslim is required to think good of other Muslim brothers.

For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 83409.

Allaah Knows best.

Related Fatwa