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Allegation about the Number of Rak`ahs in Each Prayer

20 February, 2017
Q As-Salamu alaykum. A scholar said the following in one of his videos on Youtube. -When Adam repented and Allah accepted his repentance, he prayed 2 rak`ahs of Shukr and it was the time of Fajr and that is how the Salatul Fajr became mandatory for Muslims. -When Ibraheem prayed for a son and Allah gave him Ishaq he prayed 4 rak`ahs of Shukr and it was the time of Zhhur and that is how Salatul Zhuhr became mandatory for Muslims He said the same for `Asr, Maghrib and `Isha' and connect to other prophets that Allah accepted their du`as and they prayed 4, 3 and 4 rak`ahs of shukr consecutively. Is this true?

Answer

Wa `alaykum As-Salamu waRahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. 

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.

Dear questioner, we would like to thank you for the great confidence you place in us, and we implore Allah Almighty to help us serve His cause and render our work for His Sake.

In his response to your question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:

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I don’t know his sources on the above statements on the institution of the five daily prayers in Islam. There is nothing in the authentic sources of Islam to warrant them; as such, they are purely subjective, if not hallucinations.

Imam Malik has cautioned us against relying on spurious and dubious narrations. In other words, it is important for us to rely on well- established precedents and teachings with regard to ritual matters. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, ‘I am leaving you upon a (path of) brightness whose night is like its day. No one will deviate from it after I am gone but one who is doomed. Whoever among you lives will see great conflict. I urge you to adhere to what you know of my Sunnah and the path of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs, and cling stubbornly to it. And you must obey, even if (your leader is) an Abyssinian leader. For the true believer is like a camel with a ring in its nose; wherever it is driven, it complies.” (Ibn Majah)

As stated by Imam Ibn al-Mubarak and others, ‘Isnad is integral to religion; otherwise, everyone would end up making up his or her religion.”

In other words, to attribute something to religion without evidence from the sources is a grave sin. Imam Ibn al-Qayyim considers it as akin to associating partners with Allah.

Allah Almighty knows best.