Asalaamualaiykum

I wanted to know

1. Do i have to pray the sunnah and nafl prayers with every salaah or have i fulfilled my duty to Allah by reading the fard?

2. Am i transgessing or is it haraam for me not to read the sunnah and nafl prayers?

3. Can u list me the benefits of each sunnah and nafl prayer?

JazaakAllah

Answer:

The answer to your email can be given in two ways;

a) from a technical point of view

b) from a spiritual point of view

Technical point of view:

                        We know that in the Deen of Allah, the most beloved things to Him are the obligatory deeds. Those are the bare minimal requirements from each person to fulfill in order for him/her to enter Paradise. Without those, he is under the Mercy of Allah; either He will punish him/her or forgive them. So, from a technical point of view the fards are the bare minimul you have to do. Anything other than that is optional and there is no sin to leave them but not to abandon them completely because such cannot be done to any aspects of Islam where one totally abandons a good deed.

Spiritual point of view:

                        Allah encourages us in the Quran to strive and race each other towards good deeds. The more the strive, the closer you will become to Allah as mentioned in the Hadith Qudsi reported by Abu Hurairah; who said the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:

            "Allah the Almighty has said: Whosoever shows enmity to a friend of Mine, I shall be at war with him. My servant does not draw near to ME with anything more loved by Me than the religious duties I have imposed upon him, and My servant continues to draw near to ME with supererogatory works so that I shall love him. When I love him I am his hearing with which he hears, his seeing with which he sees, his hand with which he strikes, and his foot with which he walks. Were he to ask [something] of ME, I would surely give it to him; and were he to ask Me for refuge, I would surely grant it."

(related by Bukahri)

So, it shows that a person cannot do something more pleasing than the obligatory actions but at the same time he continues to draw near to His Lord by doing optional deeds until Allah becomes his hearing, seeing and limbs. What this means is that his body only functions in the course of pleasing Allah. Hence, his sight will not look at something haram, his ears will not listen to something unlawful and his hands will not be engaged in something displeasing to Allah. This would come when he is drawing closer to Allah day by day doing the fard and optional deeds.

Now, what is the reward for doing the sunnah prayers after each fard prayer or before them. First of all, Allah has commanded us to imitate the Prophet of Allah (peace be upon him) in all his affairs. He would offer 42 rakats everday as mentioned by Ibn Qayyim in zadul ma'ad;

Fajr = 4 (both sunnah and fard)

Dhur = 12 (4 bfore, 4 fard, 4 after)

Asr = 4

Magrib = 5 (3 fard, 2 sunah)

Isha = 6 (4 fard, 2 sunnah)

Night prayer = 8

Witr = 3

Total = 42

He would never miss the sunnan muakkadh at all specially the 2 sunnah of Fajr and witr during journey or at home. With regards to the over all reward for these prayers; it has been reported by Umm Habibah, the mother of the believers that she heard the Prophet of Allah (peace be upon him) say;

"whosoever prays 12 rakat in his day and night, Allah will build a palace for him in Paradise" [Muslim]

In another version it says, "12 rakat supererogatory"

And in Tirmidhi it adds;

"four before dhur and two afterwards and two after magrib and two after Isha and two before Fajr"

It has also been reported in another narration which has been collected by the books of sunnan;

"The one who offers four rakat before dhur and four afterwards Allah will forbid Hellfire on him"

There is another tradition where the Prophet of Allah said;

when Allah will question His slaves regarding their deeds, He will first ask them regarding their obligatory actions. If they have missed some parts of it or they had some faults, Allah will ask the Angels to look if he has done any voluntry prayers which will subsides for their mistakes...(a rough meaning of the hadith)

so, it shows that performing voluntry deeds helps one to complete his obligatory actions if they had some faults in them.

The other aspect is that a Muslim should not abandon or slack in those types of worships which the Prophet of Allah (peace be upon him) was regular upon because they have some signifance in their reward.

Allah Knows Best!