Question: What are the mustahab elements of salat?
ANSWER
Whoever does mustahab elements of salat, (s)he will be given many rewards (thawab). Omitting them is not makruh. That is, omitting them will not diminish the reward of salat, but one will not earn the reward given in return for doing a mustahab act. Some of the mustahab acts of salat are as follows:

1. Touching the thumbs to the earlobes when saying the opening takbir (for men),

2. Looking at the place of sajda when one is standing,

3. Looking at the feet during ruku’,

4. Keeping the head and the neck level with each other in ruku’,

5. Saying the tasbihat 5, 7, 9, or 11 times in ruku’ and sajda,

6. Holding the wrist firmly during standing position,

7. Putting the right knee first and then the left knee on the ground when going down for sajda,

8. Doing sajda between the two hands,

9. Putting the nose on the ground before putting the forehead,

10. Looking at the nose wings during sajda,

11. Closing the mouth with the back of the hand when yawning in salat,

12. Not wiping your sweat in salat,

13. Abandoning coughing and yawning in salat,

14. In sajda, lifting the hands from the ground after lifting the head,

15. Lifting the knees from the ground after lifting the hands,

16. Looking at the knees when sitting,

17. When saying the salam to the right and to the left, turning the head,

18. Intending to greet the imam, Angels of Haphaza, and the jama’at when saying the salam.

Question: Does it bring thawab to do a mustahab act?
ANSWER
Hadrat Imam-i Rabbani stated:
“We should not slight the mustahab acts. They are acts loved by Allahu ta’ala. Were it known that a certain act He loves could be done by sacrificing the entire world, anyone who could do it would make a great profit, like receiving a precious diamond in return for a few pieces of a broken flower-pot or resuscitating one’s dead darling by giving away a few pieces of gravel” (Vol. 1, Letter 266).