Question
What are the necessary recitations in the sitting posture (qa’da) of the second raka’ah in a four unit ghayr mu`akadah (unstressed) sunnah? Where do we finish off? Do we say the durood? Are the sunnahs before jum’ah mu’akkadah or ghayr mu’akkadah (stressed on unstressed)?
Answer
We believe that only thing that is obligatory in the second rak’at is to sit and glorify God and send blessings on the Messenger. No set and definite recitations are necessary to be said both in obligatory and optional Prayers. Therefore, it is upon the worshipper to decide the amount of time for sitting and the recitations. Generally Muslims prefer to sit for a short time in the first tashahhud.
The terms like Sunnat Mu’akkadah, Ghayr Mu’akkadah and Nafal are not the terms of basic religious literature. The number of rak’aat held obligatory has been determined by the Holy Prophet (sws) (2, 4, 4, 3, 4 rak’aat in all five daily prayers respectively). All the other Prayers the Prophet (sws) offered were optional (nafl). Now the scholars of Islamic fiqh further categorized these optional Prayers and introduced such a classification. Any other person could have come up with another classification, as the matter does not relate to the basic structure of the institution. It is always better to perform as much optional prayers following the Messenger of God as is possible for one.
Answered by: Tariq Mahmood Hashmi
Date: 2015-03-05
