Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
In answering a question, you said that the pre-fard sunan for dhuhr are 4, whereas asr is 2 or 4 and isha is 2. However, I had always learned (and I think that this is stated in Ta’leem ul Haq) that the pre-fard sunan are 4 for dhuhr, asr and isha. Please clarify.
Walaikum assalam,
1. The pre-Asr and pre-Isha sunnas are recommended prayers or non-confirmed sunnas (sunna ghayr mu’akkada). They are optimally 4, minimally 2.
2. The pre-Zuhr sunna is a confirmed sunna (sunna mu’akkada). It is only fulfilled by praying 4 rakats. Two rakats does not fulfill the sunna in the Hanafi school. [As mentioned by `Ala’ al-Din al-Haskafi in his Durr al-Mukhtar]
And Allah alone gives success.
Wassalam,
Faraz Rabbani.