Nafilah (Voluntary Prayer)

Nafilah (Arabic: نافلة, plural: nawafil) means "extra" or "voluntary" and refers to the voluntary prayers that are prayed in addition to the five obligatory daily prayers. In Shia Islam, there are 34 daily nafilah rak'ah distributed across the day's prayers.

The daily nawafil in Shia tradition are: 2 rak'ah for Fajr (before the obligatory prayer), 8 rak'ah for Dhuhr (before the obligatory prayer), 8 rak'ah for Asr (before the obligatory prayer), 4 rak'ah for Maghrib (after the obligatory prayer), and 1 rak'ah for Isha (Witr al-Wutayrah, prayed sitting and counting as half). Additionally, there are 11 rak'ah of Salat al-Layl (night prayer).

Imam al-Ridha (peace be upon him) explained the wisdom behind nawafil: "Nawafil were prescribed to compensate for deficiencies in the obligatory prayers. If a person's obligatory prayer is deficient, it is supplemented by his nawafil" (Man La Yahduruhu al-Faqih by Shaykh al-Saduq, vol. 1). This hadith shows that nawafil function as a spiritual buffer and an opportunity to earn extra reward.

It is important to note that nawafil cannot be prayed in congregation (jama'ah) — they are individual prayers between the believer and Allah. During travel, all nawafil are dropped except the Fajr nafilah, Maghrib nafilah, and Salat al-Layl. Shia scholars strongly encourage praying nawafil regularly, but emphasize that the obligatory prayers always take priority.