His night prayer, peace and blessings be upon him, consisted of eleven or thirteen rak‘ahs (1), as reported by Ibn ‘Abbās and ‘Ā’ishah, for both counts are authentically reported from them. In the two Sahīh collections (2), ‘Ā’ishah said:

“The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, never prayed more than eleven rak‘ahs, whether in Ramadan or at any other time.”

The two Sahīh collections (3) also relate from her:

“The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, would pray thirteen rak‘ahs at night, performing witr with five of them, without sitting until the last.”

The correctly preserved report from ‘Ā’ishah is the first; the two rak‘ahs beyond the eleven are the two rak‘ahs before the dawn prayer. This is explicitly clarified in her narration of this very hadith:

“The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, would pray thirteen rak‘ahs, including the two rak‘ahs before the dawn prayer.”

Muslim included this in his Sahīh (4). Al-Bukhārī (5) gives the following wording of this hadith:

“The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, would pray thirteen rak‘ahs at night, then pray two brief rak‘ahs when he heard the call to the dawn prayer.”

In the two Sahīh collections (6), al-Qāsim ibn Muhammad said: I heard ‘Ā’ishah say:

“The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, would pray ten rak‘ahs at night, perform witr with one rak‘ah, and pray the two rak‘ahs of