298 – ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “Witr is not an inescapable duty like the prescribed obligatory prayers; rather, it is a sunnah that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ instituted.” Reported by al-Tirmidhī, who judged it sound-good (ḥasan), by al-Nasāʾī, and by al-Ḥākim, who declared it authentic.⦗1⦘
Hadith grading:
The report is ḥasan. Al-Talkhīṣ states: It was transmitted by al-Nasāʾī and al-Tirmidhī through the chain of ʿĀṣim ibn Ḍumrah from ʿAlī; al-Tirmidhī graded it good, and both al-Ḥākim and Ibn Khuzaymah authenticated it.
Vocabulary:
• laysa (is not): an indeclinable verb of negation; one of the “sisters of kāna.” It lifts the subject and places the predicate in the accusative, though the predicate is commonly introduced by the particle bi-.
• bi-ḥatm (an unavoidable obligation): a prepositional phrase functioning as the predicate of laysa. Ḥatm, yaḥtimu, ḥatman (pattern of ḍaraba) means to declare something categorically obligatory.
• ka-hayʾah (in the form of, resembling): hayʾah, with either fatḥah or kasrah on the hāʾ, denotes a thing’s state, manner, or appearance; plural: hayʾāt.
• sunnah: a way or course of action. In divine usage it means a ruling, command, or prohibition. For hadith scholars it comprises the Prophet’s statements, deeds, and tacit approvals, while for jurists it is an act for which one is rewarded but not punished for omitting; plural in all senses: sunan.
Points gleaned from Hadiths 297–298:
- The term witr applies to the single rakʿah that is separated from what comes before it, and to the set of three, five, seven, nine, or eleven rakʿahs when offered together. If the three are concluded with two separate taslīms, or