Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

Criteria for categorizing voluntary prayers

“The Prophet used to offer voluntary prayers such as nafil, sunnah, witr, etc. Since all of them were practiced by the Prophet, they are all sunnah. Then why are they categorized differently as nafil, sunnah, witr? What are the criteria for naming them?”Asked by Idris, Raipur

He answers at 1:11:39 in Man and The Paradise · 1 min 9 sec

His answer, in his own words
1:11:39
maulana, agla sawal raipur se hai. idrees sahab ka, unhone likha hai: "prophet used to offer voluntary prayers such as nafl, sunnah, witr, etc. as all of them were practiced by prophet, they all are sunnah of prophet. then why they are categorized as nafl, sunnah, witr? what are the criteria for naming them? and for a muslim, which of these categories are optional and which are compulsory?" dekhiye, ek baat samajh lijiye ke yeh saare term jo hain, yeh baat ko bane hain.
1:12:18
hadithon mein yeh term nahi aate hain. khud rasool allah ne yeh term use nahi kiye. yeh to fiqh mein sab term bane hain. is ke bare mein agar aap janna chahte ho to meri kitab padhiye, aap is ka naam hai "tajdeed deen". is mein maine is par, is ki detail aap ko mil jayegi, inshallah. is ka naam hai "tajdeed deen".
1:12:49
maulana, agla sawal dilli se hai. miss naghma siddiqui ka
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