Q495 :Is voluntary prayer permitted before Maghrib?
How about the prayer known as greeting to the mosque, if we enter a
mosque at a Maghrib time?
A495 : To offer a voluntary prayer at the time when
the sun is setting is discouraged. But Maghrib does not fall due until
the sun has set. Therefore, there is no objection to offering voluntary
prayer after Maghrib falls due. Indeed, it is renetmended to offer two
rak’ahs voluntarily before one offers the obligatory prayer at Maghrib.
If you go into a mosque at Maghrib time, you offer these two rak’ahs
and netbine them with the greeting to the mosque. You are given the
reward for four raka’ahs although you offer only two. Some schools of
thought do not mention these two raka’ahs as renetmended. They are of
the type of voluntary prayer which is known as “not moakkadah “. This
means that the Prophet used to offer these two rak’ahs before Maghrib
only occasionally.
Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News – Jeddah )