Bismillahi wal Hamdullillah Was Salaatu Was Salaamu ‘Alaa Rasoolillah:
Ammaa Ba’d:
The prophet صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم said “Whoever prays Ishaa in congregation and (then) prays four (rak’ah) before he leaves the masjid then it is equivalent to lailatul Qadr” (Collected by At Tabaraani in ‘Al Awsat’ 1/2/1)
Shaikh Al Albaani mentions the hadeeth in ‘Silsilaul Ahaadeeth ad Da’eefah’ and highlights the fact that this version of the hadeeth is weak due to the presence of Imaam Abu Haneefah in its chain.
He mentions (Da’eefah 11/102):
“..similarly the rest of its narrators are trustworthy except Abu Haneefah – Rahimahullah –for indeed the Imaams (of Hadeeth) have declared him weak (In hadeeth), just as the detailed clarification of this) has preceded under hadeeth 458, the like of which you will find in no other place.”
He then goes on to mention:
“Although the hadeeth has occurred authentically attributed to a group from among the companions, without the mention of the wording:
“..before he leaves the masjid..”
He then goes on to mention the version attributed to Abdullah Ibn Amr collected by Ibn Abi Shaiba in his ‘Musanaf’ 1/72/2) with the wording:
“Whoever prays four rak’ah after the Ishaa Prayer then they will be like their equivalent performed on Lailatul Qadr”
Shaikh Albaani then mentions: “Its chain of narration is authentic” then ibn abi Shaiba narrates the same narration from Aaisha, Ibn Masood, Ka’b ibn Maati’, Mujaahid, Abdur Rahmaan ibnil Aswad and mentions chains of narration going back to them all being authentic with the exception of the narration of ka’b then Shaikh Albaani mantions:
“even though these narrations are attributed to companions they carry the ruling of ‘Ar Raf’ (i.e attribution to the messenger) since the subject of the narrations is not the type of thing they may have said from their opinion, as Is apparent”
(Ad Da’eefah 11/103)
Note: The established version then, does not make it a condition that one must perform them before leaving the masjid to obtain the reward.
Imaamul Iraaqi has mentioned:
“This hadeeth is more profound in meaning than the hadeeth that was mentioned before since in it is the establishment of a person obtaining the virtue of Lailatul Qadr even if that is not on Lailatul Qadr, so what do you think about the one who does so on Lailatul Qadr itself!
(Tarhut tathreeb 5/150)
Source: http://ah-sp.com/2011/12/06/four-rakah-equivalent-to-lailatul-qadr/
-Note Abu Hakeem pointed out in the comments in reply to a question on how they are to be preformed:
"...it is performed in twos due to the statement of the messenger -Sallallahu ‘alaihi was Salam – who said “Prayer in the night and the day is performed in twos” that is supererogatory prayer Wallahu a’lam."
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May Allah Reward Abu Hakeem for sharing this amazing benefit, ameen.
