I asked Anas b. Malik about the voluntary prayers after the afternoon prayer, and he replied: 'Umar struck hit hands on prayer observed after the 'Asr prayer and we used to observe two rak'ahs after the sun set before the evening prayer during the time of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). I said to him: Did the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) observe them? He said: He saw us observing them, but he neither commanded us nor forbade us to do so.

When we were in Medina, the moment the Mu'adhdhin made the call to the sunset prayer, the people hastened to the pillars of the mosque and prayed two rak'ahs with the result that any stranger coming into the mosque would think that the obligatory prayer had been observed owing to the number who were praying then.