بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم ، الحمد لله رب العالمين، و الصلاة و السلام على رسول الله -صلوات الله وسلامه.عليه- وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين

أما بعد

The Answer to the question “Is there any specific raka’h to be prayed before the Asr Prayer” meaning after the Asr time has entered, then Al Imam At-Tirmidhi (Hadith 430) reports from the Prophet (sallahu alaihi wa sallam) that he said

رَحِمَ اللَّهُ امْرَأً صَلَّى قَبْلَ الْعَصْرِ أَرْبَعًا

May Allah have mercy upon the person who prays Four Rak’ah before Asr

Some scholars have differed upon this Hadeeth, whether this Hadeeth is considered Saheeh or not

Allah Knows best, the correct opinon is that this Hadeeth is a Saheeh Hadeeth. And there are some statements regarding this hadeeth

Amongst that, Imam Ibn Al Qayyim said after mentioning this hadeeth :- “The Scholars had different opinions regarding this hadeeth and Imam Ibn Hibban considered this Hadeeth as Sahih and some others have considered it weak

The Imam of the Muhaditheen in this era, Al Imam Al Albani said the isnad (chain of narration) of this hadeeth is hasan (good)

Imam Ibn Baz mentions that this hadeeth is narrated by Imam Ahmed and Imam At-Tirmidhi and a group of scholars with a hasan (good) chain of narration and a group of scholars have considered this hadeeth as a Saheeh Hadith (Nur Ala Ad Darb 10/291)

So in summary we say that this is a valid opinion and this is a Saheeh Hadeeth, Allah has legislated in His Shariah to pray four rak’ah before the Asr Prayer but know that these four rak’ah are not considered from the Rawatib

So because of that, these four raka’hs are not considered from the emphasized sunnahs (As Sunnah Al Mu’akadah)

Also we mention the fatwa of the Senior Scholarly Council of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, they mentioned that the one who prays four rak’ah before Asr, then there is no problem with that. Rather it is a recommended (Mustahab) act because this is something this is something that is established from the Prophet (Fatawa Al Lajnah 6/123)

والله تعالى أعلم. وصلى الله على نبينا محمد وآله وصحبه وسلم.