Offering Prayers After Fajr and Maghrib

Question

I want to know why we cannot offer a prayers especially Naffal 1 between Asr and Maghrib 2 prayers. I am not asking of Zawal 3 time I know that why we cannot pray in Zawal time but I am asking why we cannot pray after Asr especially Naffal. Please respond with references from Quran and authentic Hadith.

Response

In one of the narratives, Aisha (ra) is reported to have said that the Prophet (pbuh) used to pray superegoratory (Nafl) prayers after Asr prayers:

Narrated Aisha: Whenever the Prophet came to me after the Asr prayer, he always prayed two Rakat.4

Based on this narrative, it can be safely said that there is no harm in offering supererogatory prayers much before sunrise or sunset. There are some narratives in which the Prophet (pbuh) seems to have prohibited praying after Asr prayers, but in light of the above narration, it seems that his suggestion was to avoid such prayers in times close to sunrise (for Fajr prayers) and sunset (for Asr prayers). This must have been because the sun worshippers offered prayers at these times too. However, seeing the narration of Aisha (ra) above (and some of the other ones), offering supererogatory prayers after Asr seems to be an established practice of the Prophet (pbuh).

1 i.e supererogatory prayers.
2 Asr is a prayer to be offered by Muslims in the afternoon, Maghrib is a prayer to be offered after sunset.
3 Zawal refers to that time before sunset when sun comes close to the horizon.
4 Sahih Bukhari, Book 10, Number 567.