the night, and the voluntary prayers of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), for the correct position regarding his voluntary prayers is that they were two rak'ahs. Al-Hasan, Sa'id ibn Jubayr, Malik, al-Shafi'i, and Hammad ibn Abi Sulayman held the view that voluntary night and day prayers should be two by two (4) for that reason. The correct view is that if one performs four [rak'ahs] as a voluntary prayer during the day, there is no harm; Ibn 'Umar did this. Ishaq used to say: "For day prayer, I prefer four, but if one prays two, it is permissible." The opinion of al-Awza'i and the People of Opinion (Ashab al-Ra'y) is similar to this, based on what was narrated from Abu Ayyub, from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) that he said: "Four [rak'ahs] before the Dhuhr prayer without a salutation between them, the gates of heaven are opened for them." Recorded by Abu Dawud (5). Furthermore, the implication of the Prophet's (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) saying: "The prayer of the night is two by two" suggests that day prayer is four [rak'ahs]. Our response, regarding the fact that the superior practice is two by two, is what has already been stated. Additionally, the hadith of Abu Ayyub is narrated by 'Ubaydah (6) ibn Mu'attib, who is weak. The implication of the agreed-upon hadith points to the permissibility of four, not to its superiority. As for the hadith of al-Bariqi, he uniquely added the word "day" compared to all other narrators; it has been narrated from Ibn 'Umar by approximately fifteen people, none of whom said that except him, and Ibn 'Umar himself used to pray four. This indicates the weakness of his narration, or that what is meant by it is excellence, while allowing for other [formats]. And Allah knows best.

Section: Some of our companions said: One should not increase the night [prayer] beyond two, nor the day [prayer] beyond four, and a voluntary prayer is not valid if consisting of one or three [rak'ahs]. This is the apparent meaning of al-Khiraqi's words. Al-Qadi said: If one prays six [rak'ahs] at night or during the day, it is disliked but valid. Abu al-Khattab said: Regarding the validity of a voluntary prayer consisting of one rak'ah, there are two narrations; one of them is that it is permissible, based on what Sa'id (7) narrated, who said: Jarir narrated to us, from Qabus, from his father, who said: 'Umar entered the mosque and prayed one rak'ah, then left.