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What is the best way to perform the five obligatory daily prayers and their supererogatory counterparts, and is it better to offer the obligatory prayer before the supererogatory one?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Prayers are divided into obligatory (Fara'id), Sunnah, and supererogatory (Nawafil). The obligatory prayers are the five daily prescribed prayers, and they are the most important. As for the Sunnah prayers, some are ratibah (regular) – these are the prayers before and after the obligatory prayers, totaling twelve rak'ahs daily – and these take precedence over other supererogatory prayers and carry greater reward. Some are mu'akkadah (emphasized), like the Witr prayer, while others are ghayr mu'akkadah (unemphasized), which are those that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, performed but did not consistently observe. As for the absolute supererogatory prayers (Nawafil Mutlaqah), these are acts that the texts encourage performing without restricting them to a specific number or time, and they are not to be performed during times of disfavor (makrooh times). It is legislated to perform the regular Sunnah prayers along with the obligatory ones, even if one misses the congregational prayer or if the time for the prayer has passed.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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