the night, then he should not pray witr with the imam, because if he were to pray witr with the imam, he would be going against the Prophet’s ﷺ instruction: “Make the last of your night prayers witr.” (1) Accordingly, he should pray witr after his tahajjud. Thus, when the imam rises to pray witr, he should leave and not pray witr with him. This is the view adopted by the author, may Allah have mercy on him.

Some scholars, however, said: Rather, he should pray witr with the imam and not perform tahajjud afterwards. This is because, when the Companions asked the Prophet ﷺ to lead them in voluntary prayer for the remainder of the night, he said: “Whoever stands in prayer with the imam until he leaves will be recorded as having stood the whole night in prayer.” (2) This indicates that it is preferable to limit oneself to praying with the imam, for he did not direct them to forgo witr with the imam and pray later at the end of the night. That is because he attains the reward of standing in prayer throughout the night as though he had actually done so; thus, he is granted the reward of the deed while being spared its exertion. This is a blessing.

His statement, “If he follows his imam, he should make it even by adding a rak'ah”: meaning that if the one who intends to perform tahajjud follows his imam and prays witr with him, he should make it an even number by adding one rak'ah. This is the other course available to the one who intends to perform tahajjud: he follows his imam in witr, then adds a rak'ah so that the last of his night prayers will be witr. Thus, he follows the imam; when the imam concludes the witr with the taslim, he rises, prays one rak'ah, and concludes it with the taslim. He will then have prayed two rak'ahs—that is, he will not have prayed witr. Then, if he performs tahajjud at the end of the night, he prays witr after his tahajjud. By doing this, he both follows the imam until he leaves and makes the last of his night prayers witr. This is a good practice.

If someone were to ask: How can you say that it is permissible for the congregant to differ from his imam by adding to what the imam has prayed, when the Prophet ﷺ said: “The imam has only been appointed to be followed”? (3)

We reply: Our evidence for this is that when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ led the people of Mecca in prayer during the Conquest of Mecca, he would pray two rak'ahs with them and say: “O people of Mecca, complete your prayer, for we are travellers.” (4) They would intend four rak'ahs while he intended two; when he concluded the two rak'ahs with the taslim, they would rise and complete their prayer. Likewise, the one who joins his imam in witr has not intended witr; rather, he has intended an even-numbered prayer. Thus, when he concludes