We asked Ali about the voluntary day prayers of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and he said, "You are not capable of it."We said, "Tell us about them, so we may take from them what we can."He said, "When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ prayed Fajr, he would wait until the sun was here," meaning in the east, "at the same height as it would be in the west at the time of Asr. Then he would stand and pray two rakahs. Then he would wait until the sun was here," meaning in the east, "at the height it reaches in the west at the time of Zuhr. Then he would stand and pray four rakahs. He would also pray four rakahs before Zuhr when the sun had passed its zenith, two rakahs after it, and four rakahs before Asr, separating every two rakahs with a salutation upon the angels brought near, the prophets, and those who follow them among the Muslims and the believers."Ali said, "That comes to sixteen rakahs of voluntary prayer offered by the Messenger of Allah ﷺ during the day, and few are those who maintain them regularly."Waki said, my father added in his version that Habib bin Abu Thabit said, "Abu Ishaq, I would not wish to have, in exchange for this hadith of yours, this mosque of yours filled with gold."
سألنا عليا عن تطوع رسول الله ﷺ بالنهار فقال: إنكم لا تطيقونه، فقلنا: أخبرنا به نأخذ منه ما استطعنا. قال: كان رسول الله ﷺ إذا صلى الفجر يمهل، حتى إذا كانت الشمس من هاهنا، يعني من قبل المشرق بمقدارها من صلاة العصر من هاهنا، يعني من قبل المغرب، قام فصلى ركعتين، ثم يمهل حتى إذا كانت الشمس من هاهنا، يعني من قبل المشرق بمقدارها من صلاة الظهر من هاهنا قام فصلى أربعا، وأربعا قبل الظهر إذا زالت الشمس، وركعتين بعدها، وأربعا قبل العصر، يفصل بين كل ركعتين بالتسليم على الملائكة المقربين والنبيين، ومن تبعهم من المسلمين والمؤمنين. قال علي: فتلك ست عشرة ركعة، تطوع رسول الله ﷺ بالنهار، وقل من يداوم عليها. قال وكيع، زاد فيه أبي: فقال حبيب بن أبي ثابت، يا أبا إسحاق! ما أحب أن لي بحديثك هذا ملء مسجدك هذا ذهبا.
Ibn Majah (1161) narrated it from Ali bin Muhammad, who said, "Waki narrated to us, who said, 'Sufyan, my father, and Israil narrated to us, from Abu Ishaq, from Asim bin Damra Saluli,'" and he related it. Tirmidhi (598), Nasai (874), and Abu Dawud (1272) all narrated it through the route of Shuba, from Abu Ishaq, both abridged and in full.Tirmidhi said, "Hasan. Ishaq bin Ibrahim said, 'The best thing narrated concerning the Prophet's ﷺ voluntary prayer during the day is this.' It is narrated that Abdullah bin Mubarak used to weaken this hadith, but he weakened it in our view, and Allah knows best, only because nothing like this is narrated from the Prophet ﷺ except through this route, from Asim bin Damra, from Ali, and Asim bin Damra is trustworthy according to some scholars. Ali bin Madini said, Yahya bin Saeed Qattan said, Sufyan said, 'We used to recognize the superiority of Asim bin Damra's hadith over Harith's hadith.'"I say, it is as he said, for Asim bin Damra, at the very least, is hasan al-hadith. Imam Ahmad used to say, "He is higher in rank than Harith Awar, and in my view he is a reliable authority." As for Juzjani, he criticized Asim severely because of this hadith and placed him close to Harith Awar. This is an exaggeration on the part of Juzjani, for how could Asim bin Damra, whom Imam Ahmad described as a reliable authority in his view, be compared to Harith Awar, the liar? Allah does not love injustice and transgression.Hafiz said in Tahdhib, "Juzjani's bias against the companions of Ali is well known, and there is no objection to what Asim narrated. Here is Ayesha saying to someone asking her about some matter concerning the Prophet's ﷺ conduct, 'Ask Ali.' So it is not strange that a companion might narrate something that another companion narrates differently, especially concerning voluntary prayers," end of quote.As for Abu Ishaq, he was known to conceal his sources when narrating, but Tirmidhi and Nasai narrated it, and Ibn Khuzayma (1211) graded it sahih, all through the route of Shuba, who said, "I have spared you Abu Ishaq's concealment of sources," just as Abu Ishaq explicitly stated that he heard it from Asim bin Damra, as recorded by Abu Dawud Tayalisi (130).Some rejected this hadith on the grounds that the sunnah prayer before Asr is not established in other hadiths. I say, this too is not a valid argument, for it is established from Ibn Umar that there were four units of prayer before Asr, as will come later, and this does not contradict what has already been mentioned of his statement, "I memorized from the Prophet ﷺ ten units of prayer," which does not include four before Asr.Hafiz bin Qayyim said, "This is not a defect at all, for Ibn Umar only reported what he had memorized of the Prophet's ﷺ practice, and he did not report beyond that, so there is no contradiction whatsoever between the two hadiths." Zad al-Maad (1/312). Moreover, this was not his ﷺ habitual practice, for he rarely maintained it consistently, as narrated by Israil, from Abu Ishaq. Bayhaqi (2/51).Among the things that strengthen the soundness of this hadith is the statement of Habib bin Thabit at the end of Ibn Majah's hadith, "O Abu Ishaq, I would not want a mosque full of gold in exchange for this hadith of yours."As for the abridgment and elaboration of the hadith, his companions differed, as Nasai indicated with his chapter heading, "Mention of the disagreement among those who transmitted from Abu Ishaq." So whatever was narrated by those of his companions who kept close company with him frequently is accepted, while whatever was narrated by those of his companions who did not keep close company with him frequently, and which contradicts others, is rejected and anomalous.Perhaps among what Husayn bin Abdul-Rahman narrated uniquely from him is what Nasai narrated from Muhammad bin Muthanna, who said, "Muhammad bin Abdul-Rahman narrated to us, who said, 'Husayn bin Abdul-Rahman narrated to us, from Abu Ishaq, from him,'" and he said at the end, "and he would place the salutation of peace at the end of it."And what is established from the Prophet ﷺ is that he used to give the salutation of peace after every two units of prayer, and this is what is narrated by the rest of Abu Ishaq's companions.