The reason some prayers are silent and some audible

Question

Why are the maghrib, ‘isha’ and fajr prayers audible (jahri), and zuhr and ‘asr silent (sirri)?

Answer

This is how it is established by hadith and fiqh; there is no need to debate its underlying cause. Otherwise, if this door is opened, the question will also arise: why are there two rak‘as in fajr, four rak‘as in zuhr and three rak‘as in maghrib? And there are countless matters like this.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

Preview. The full text opens with JavaScript enabled.