Can i pray all sunnah prayers before farz for all 5 prayers? Like if i pray all respective sunnah for respective prayer and then visit masjid for farz, is that acceptable? Please answer concisely

  • Well for some prayers there are sunnah qabliya (before) and ba'diya (after) for others only qabliya or ba'diya, so you will have to respect the time and order of prayers – Medi1Saif Nov 8 '15 at 2:29
  • I only know that one can make qada' (qaza') for a few sunnah/nafl prayers: like fajr, shaf'a and witr with a kind of more or less narrow time-frame and never heard such a hadith about a nafl of a daytime prayer! – Medi1Saif Nov 9 '15 at 12:28
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    Can u answer me two related question, – Zeshan Nov 9 '15 at 12:33
  • Why muslims pray sunnat prayers, and why there are sunnah qibliya and sunnah badiya – Zeshan Nov 9 '15 at 12:33
  • Thank you brother, u have been helpful. From this i have concluded that there is no right answer to this, sunnat prayer is sunnah and i think it is best to follow sunnah as it is, otherwise it won't be sunnat of prophet pbuh. Moreover islam allows flexibility for timing, only if necessary or uncontrollable, e.g finish sunnah qibliya after farz if missed. Thank you – Zeshan Nov 9 '15 at 13:09

I will summarize my comments in an Answer with references:

Be aware that there are many things to take into account to answer your question:

  • We have 5 fard/farz prayers which are related to a given time to perform them.

  • There are times of a day in which praying sunna/nafl (extra prayers) or even prostration (like sujud at-tilawa) is not recommended or even haram: For example between 'Asr (fard prayer) and Maghrib (fard) or between fajr (time) and clear sunrise after praying sobh (the fajr fard prayer)!

  • For each prayer some sahaba and often the wifes of the Prophet (May ALlah be pleased with them) have informed us about extra prayers our Messenger (peace be upon him) used to perform before or after the fard! And the number of rak'at which he had performed can differ between the narrations.

So sects or madhabs have chosen different nafl prayers, some are called sunnah or sunnah mu'akada or raghiba to show that our Messenger (peace be upon him) was performing them more regularly or asked his companions to perform them for example: fajr, shaf'a and witr prayers. Read for example this Hadith.

But as we know from different ahadith that our Messenger used to pray for example before and after dohr prayer some nafl. We know that there are nafl before or/and nafl after some fard prayers. So rejecting the existence of one of both would be rejecting a clear sunnah. We are supposed to follow our Messenger (peace be upon him) and pray as used to pray, and we should at least keep some prayers which we regularly offer!

I won't discuss the amount of rak'at as for this one should consult some fiqh book, but if you did at least 2 rak'a you'll be mostly on the right side except for Witr and maybe the nafl before dohr:

But AFAIK there have been clearly mentioned:

  • nafl before sobh (fajr fard) prayer
  • nafl before and after the dohr fard
  • nafl before 'asr
  • nafl after maghrib
  • nafl before and after 'isha

See also this hadith which gives an overview and this fatwa about the sunan ar-rawatib (the sunnah prayers which are related to a fard)

Not to forget that our Messenger (peace be upon him) used to pray doha/duha/fornoon prayer which would be performed in the later morning!

So you can only pray those nafl/sunnah prayer at their given time with some exceptions for example if you missed the fajr sunnah you can offer it after the sunrise until midday! And to answer your Question: praying all respective nafl prayers before going to the mosque (for praying the fard) in some cases doesn't make sense or even isn't acceptable!

And Allah knows best

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