Evidence for the Sunna of Zuhr Being Four Rakats

What is the evidence in the hanafi maddhab for the sunna prayers of dhuhr, asr etc being classed as sunna muakkada, which is essentially the next after fardand wajib? Do the 3 other maddhabs stress these sunna as important as the hanafi maddhab?

Walaikum assalam,

  The sunna of Zuhr is 4 rakats, because of the hadith  of Sayyida`Aisha, reported by Muslim in his Sahih, by Ahmad in his Musnad, and others, that,

“The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) used to pray four rakats in my house before the Zuhr prayer. Then he would go out and pray with the people, and then come back and prayer two rakats…”

There are other such hadiths as well.  

حَدَّثَنَا يَحْيَى بْنُ يَحْيَى أَخْبَرَنَا هُشَيْمٌ عَنْ خَالِدٍ عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ شَقِيقٍ قَالَ سَأَلْتُ عَائِشَةَ عَنْ صَلَاةِ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ عَنْ تَطَوُّعِهِ فَقَالَتْ كَانَ يُصَلِّي فِي بَيْتِي قَبْلَ الظُّهْرِ أَرْبَعًا ثُمَّ يَخْرُجُ فَيُصَلِّي بِالنَّاسِ ثُمَّ يَدْخُلُ فَيُصَلِّي رَكْعَتَيْنِ

As for the sunna before Asr, it is a non-confirmed sunna, and is therefore not blameworthy to miss.

Ibn Abidin points out something important in his Sharh Uqud Rasm al-Mufti:

"Understanding evidences (dalil) is only (truly) possible for someone at the level of ijtihad (mujtahid), for it depends on knowing that the evidence is free of that which opposes it, which depends on having complete awareness of the primary sources, which is not possible for other than a mujtahid. As for merely knowing that a given mujtahid took a given ruling from a given set of evidences, it is of little consequence..." (Sharh Uqud Rasm al-Mufti, in Rasa'il Ibn Abidin, 1: 30)

Note that primary sources include the Qur'an and Sunnah, but also analogy (qiyas), which is a very sophisticated mechanism requiring great legal training, intuition and expertise. To understand the Qur'an and Sunnah, moreover, one needs to have thorough knowledge of the practice and sayings of the Companions of the Prophet and the early Muslims...

When one looks at the legal reasoning and proofs used by Abu Hanifa and his students, we can understand why Imam Abu Bakr al-Karkhi could say, with rightful confidence, "Every evidence that (seemingly) contradicts our school is either superceded or can be explained." (Usul al-Karkhi)

Wassalam,
Faraz