296 – Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The most virtuous prayer after the obligatory ones is the night prayer.” Recorded by Muslim. (1)

Points drawn from the two hadiths

1 – The wording related from Ibn ʿUmar in the two Ṣaḥīḥs shows that the night prayer is to be performed two rakʿahs at a time, ending each pair with the salām. Shaykh al-Islām stated that the majority take this as indicating what is preferable, not obligatory. Those who consider it recommended to pray the night prayer in pairs include the three imams: Abū Ḥanīfah, al-Shāfiʿī, and Aḥmad. Imām Mālik, however, holds that one should not exceed two, for the apparent sense of the hadith is restrictive. This view is challenged by the Prophet’s performing witr as five rakʿahs, as established in the two Ṣaḥīḥs, and his practice shows that restriction was not intended.

2 – As for the wording narrated by the Five, “The prayer of the night and day is two by two,” the ḥadīth scholars have differed over the authenticity of the phrase “and day.” Imām Aḥmad rejected it; al-Nasāʾī said, “This ḥadīth is faulty,” as did al-Ḥākim; al-Dāraquṭnī said that including “day” is a mistake, and al-Tirmidhī said, “The reliable transmitters did not mention ‘day.’” Conversely, al-Bayhaqī declared the ḥadīth sound, al-Bārqī noted that Muslim cited it, and an addition from a trustworthy narrator is acceptable. Al-Ṣanʿānī said in Subul al-Salām, “Perhaps both forms are permissible.” Abū Ḥanīfah held that in the daytime one may choose between praying two by two or four by four, without exceeding that. The preponderant Hanbalī position is that both night and day prayers are performed two by two,