Question Summary:
Is Salāt al-Awwābīn six rak’ahs after the sunnah of Maghrib or does it include the two sunnah rak’ahs of Maghrib?

Question Detail:

Is Salāt al-Awwābīn six rak’ahs after the sunnah of Maghrib or does it include the two sunnah rak’ahs of Maghrib?

Answer :

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
Assalaamu `alaykum waRahmatullahi Wabarakatuh
The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم has mentioned great rewards for one who prays six rak’ahs after Maghrib.  The rewards for these rak’ahs, called Salāt al-Awwābīn (the prayer of one who repents to Allāh Ta’ālā with abundance), include:
1.       Reward equivalent to the ‘ibādah of twelve years[1]
2.       Forgiveness of sins, even if it is as much as the foam on the ocean[2]
3.       Allāh Ta’ālā’s building a house for him in Paradise[3]
4.       Being recorded as one who repents abundantly to Allāh Ta’ālā[4]
 
However, the ‘ulamā’ hold difference of opinions on whether the six rak’ahs of the Salāt al-Awwābīn include the two sunnah mu’akkadah rak’ahs of Maghrib or whether they are in addition to those, making a total of eight rak’ahs after Maghrib.
 
According to al-Fatāwā al-Tātārkhāniyyah,[5] Marāqī al-Falāh,[6] and Ṭawāliʾ al-Anwār,[7] the six rak’āhs of Salāt al-Awwābīn are independent of the two sunnah mu’akkadah rak’ahs of Maghrib.  This is also the view expressed in Heavenly Ornaments,[8] Fatāwā Dār al-’Ulūm Deoband,[9] and Khayr al-Fatāwā.[10]
However, Imām Ibn Humām رحمه الله تعالى concludes in Fath al-Qadīr[11] that two sunnah mu’akkadah rak’ahs will be included in the six rak’ahs of Salāt al-Awwābīn.  This view has been preferred in al-Durr al-Mukhtār,[12] Radd al-Muhtār,[13] Nihāyat al-Murād,[14] and by Ibn Nujaym رحمه الله تعالى in al-Bahr al-Rā’iq[15] (as opposed to what he mentions in al-Ashbāh wa al-Nazā’ir[16]).  Furthermore, texts of al-Fatāwā al-Hindiyyah,[17] Jāmiʾ al-Rumūz,[18] Badā’i’ al-Sanā’i’,[19] al-Mukhtār,[20] Fath Bāb al-‘Ināyah,[21] Majmaʾ al-Anhur,[22] and Muktārāt al-Nawāzil[23] also suggest the same, and Muftī Rashid Ahmad Sāhib رحمه الله تعالى gives fatwā on this view in Ahsan al-Fatāwā.[24]
 
Therefore, if one prays two rak’ahs of sunnah mu’akkadah of Maghrib, followed by another four nafl rak’ahs, then this will constitute as the six rak’ahs of Salāt al-Awwābīn and, inshāAllāh, he/she will receive the full rewards mentioned in the ahādīth.  However, it would be commendable for him/her to pray six nafl rak’ahs in addition to the two sunnah mu’akkadah in order to accommodate for the difference of opinion.
 
And Allah knows best
Wassalaamu `alaykum
Ml. Abrar Mirza,
Student Darul Iftaa
Checked and Approved by:
Mufti Ebrahim Desai
Darul Iftaa, Madrassah In'aamiyyah