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It is authentically established that he, peace and blessings be upon him, would sometimes pray two rak‘ahs after witr while seated, and at other times recite in them while seated, then stand and bow when he wished to bow. In Sahīh Muslim (1), Abū Salamah said: I asked ‘Ā’ishah about the prayer of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and she said:
“He would pray thirteen rak‘ahs: eight rak‘ahs, followed by witr, then two rak‘ahs while seated. When he wished to bow, he would stand and bow. Then he would pray two rak‘ahs between the call to the dawn prayer and the call to begin it.”
In al-Musnad (2), Umm Salamah reported that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, would pray two short rak‘ahs after witr while seated. Al-Tirmidhī said: Similar reports were narrated from Abū Umāmah and ‘Ā’ishah
(1) No. (738).
(2) No. (26553). Also reported by al-Tirmidhī (471) and Ibn Mājah (1195), through Maymūn ibn Mūsā al-Mara’ī, from al-Hasan, from his mother, from Umm Salamah. Maymūn was a mudallis (a narrator who obscures how he received a report), and here he used ‘an (from), without explicitly stating direct transmission. In his biography in al-Du‘afā’ (6/9), after citing this hadith, al-‘Uqaylī said: “His narration has no corroboration; other narrators report it from Umm Salamah as her own practice.” Ahmad said in al-‘Ilal, as transmitted by his son ‘Abd Allāh (3450): “I see no objection to him, but he practised tadlīs and would not say, ‘Al-Hasan narrated to us.’” Ibn ‘Adī said in his biography in al-Kāmil (9/699): “He is ‘azīz al-hadīth; when he says, ‘He narrated to us,’ he is truthful, for he was accused of tadlīs.”
The transmission from al-Hasan al-Basrī also differs: immediately after this hadith, al-Bukhārī recorded in al-Tārīkh al-Kabīr (3/422) a version through al-Hasan, from Sa‘d ibn Hishām, from ‘Ā’ishah, and preferred it. Al-Dāraqutnī expressed a similar judgment in al-‘Ilal (14/316). Thus, the hadith is established as a report narrated by ‘Ā’ishah, may Allah be pleased with her.