We recite a short Soorah after Al-Faatihah in the first and second Rak‘ahs after which we only recite Al-Faatihah during the obligatory prayer. Do we do this in the Sunnah prayers as well?

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.

The recitation of a Soorah after Al-Faatihah in the first and second Rak‘ahs during prayer is permissible at all times, so the obligatory prayer and other prayers are equal in this regard. Disagreement between the scholars only occurred regarding that which is recited after Al-Faatihah in the final Rak‘ahs (whether two or one, depending on which prayer it is). The Maalikis consider that the recitation is only legislated during the first two, but that there is nothing wrong with reciting Quran after Al-Faatiha in the third or the fourth Rak`ahs. Ad-Dusooqi said in his notes on Ash-Sharh Al-Kabeer, regarding the prostration of forgetfulness: "It is well known that there is no prostration for forgetfulness needed for reciting an extra Soorah in the final Rak‘ahs … in accommodation of the opinion that it is required to recite a Soorah in the final Rak‘ahs as well."

The opinion of the Shaafi‘is and the main view of the Hanbalis is that only the recitation in the first two Rak‘ahs is permissible. Along with that opinion, the other view of the Shaafi‘is also permit reciting in the final Rak‘ahs due to the Hadeeth compiled by Muslim in his Saheeh on the authority of Abu Sa‘eed Al-Khudri who said:

We estimated the duration of the standing of the Messenger of Allaah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, in the Thuhr and ‘Asr prayers. We estimated the length of his standing in the first two Rak‘ahs of Thuhr and it lasted as long as one would recite Soorah As-Sajdah. We then estimated the last two Rak‘ahs and found them to be half that length. We estimated the length of his standing in the first two Rak‘ahs of the ‘Asr prayer and it lasted the length of the last two Rak‘ahs of the Thuhr prayer, and the last two Rak‘ahs of ‘Asr was half of that.

As-San‘aani said in Subul As-Salaam: "In this Hadeeth there is an evidence that reciting more than Al-Faatihah is allowed in the final Rak‘ahs."

The most preponderant opinion is that it is permissible to recite in the Rak‘ahs following the first two in both the obligatory and voluntary prayers, due to the above-mentioned Hadeeth that was compiled by Muslim on the authority of Abu Sa‘eed Al-Khudri .