Question Summary:
I read in a book about a salaat of 4 rakaat that can be done between zawaal and sunna of Zohr. It says that there is great reward in performing it. Can you please elaborate.

Question Detail:

I read in a book about a salaat of 4 rakaat that can be done between zawaal and sunna of Zohr. It says that there is great reward in performing it. Can you please elaborate.

Answer :

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
Assalaamu `alaykum waRahmatullahi Wabarakatoh
Imam Tirmidhi in his Sunnan narrates the following ahadith:
 عن عمر بن الخطاب قال قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم أربع قبل الظهر بعد الزوال تحسب بمثلهن فى صلاة السحر قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم وليس من شىء إلا وهو يسبح الله تلك الساعة ثم قرأ (تتفيأ ظلاله عن اليمين والشمائل سجدا لله) الآية كلها. قال أبو عيسى هذا حديث غريب لا نعرفه إلا من حديث على بن عاصم
Umar ibn Kattab (Radhiyallahu Anhu) narrates that Rasulullah (Sallalahu Alaihi Wasallam) said, “Four raka’at before Zurh and after zawal is equivalent in reward to the morning prayers.”  Rasulullah said, “There is no creation at that moment, except it is engaged in glorifying Allah.”  He then recited the verse, “Their shadows inclining from the right to the left prostrating themselves before Allah”, the entire verse. (Al-Tirmidhi)
 
The Ulama commenting on the hadith have said that by morning prayers it is meant the two raka’at sunnah of Fajr and two raka’at fardh of Fajr.  Others have taken the meaning of morning prayers to be Tahajjud salah. (Tuhfa al-Ahwazi)
In another narration it comes:
عبد الله بن السائب أن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم كان يصلى أربعا بعد أن تزول الشمس قبل الظهر وقال إنها ساعة تفتح فيها أبواب السماء وأحب أن يصعد لى فيها عمل صالح
Abdullah ibn al-Sa’ib (Radhiyallahu Anhu) narrates that Rasulullah (Sallalahu Alaihi Wasallam) used to pray four raka’at after zawal before Zuhr and said, “This is the moment in which the doors of the heavens are open and I desire that a good deed ascends in it” (al-Tirmidhi)
According to Hanafi madhab, the salah being discussed in the two abovementioned ahadith is the four raka’at sunnah before Zuhr.  Imam Shaf’ee is of the opinion that it is Salah al-Zawaal, which is separate from the sunnah offered before Zuhr.  However, from the Hanafi scholars there a few that also say it is not the Sunnah before Zuhr but Salah al-Zawaal such as Maulana Rasheed Ahmed Gangohi, and Maulana Zakariyya Kandhelwi.
Tuhfa al-Ahawazi (2:479 & 8:443)  Dar al-Kutb al-Ilmiya
Kawkab al-Durri (1:401 & 4:177) Idarah al-Quran wa al-Uloom al-Islamiya
Ma’arif al-Sunan (4:274) H.M. Saeed Company
Dars e Tirmidhi (2:246) Maktaba Darul Uloom Karachi
Arf al-Shadhi
And Allah knows best
Wassalam
Ml. Ehzaz Ajmeri,
Student Darul Iftaa
Checked and Approved by:
Mufti Ebrahim Desai
Darul Iftaa, Madrassah In'aamiyyah