29 – (Disapproved)
“Do not perform witr as three rak‘ahs in imitation of Maghrib; rather perform witr as five, seven, nine, eleven, or more than that.” It is narrated from Abū Hurayrah, traced back to the Prophet. With the addition “or more than that” the report is disapproved (munkar), and even al-Ḥākim—despite his well-known leniency—did not declare it authentic, and he was right.
- The ways in which the Prophet ﷺ performed the night prayer and witr
Know, O Muslim, that the Prophet’s standing in prayer at night and his witr took many different forms. Because most works of fiqh, whether concise or extensive, have not recorded these variations, it is incumbent upon us to set forth his Sunnah for the people. By doing so we pave the way for anyone who loves to follow it to put it into practice—whereby, if Allah wills, we will share in his reward—and we protect the one who is unaware of it from rejecting any part of it. May Allah grant us success in following him ﷺ as he deserves to be followed and in avoiding the innovations he warned us against. Clarification is therefore obligatory, and I say:
- He would pray thirteen rak‘ahs, beginning with two light rak‘ahs. Several hadiths mention this:
The first: the hadith of Zayd ibn Khālid al-Juhanī, who said,
“I resolved tonight to observe the prayer of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He prayed two light rak‘ahs, then two exceedingly long rak‘ahs—long, long, long; then he prayed two rak‘ahs that were shorter than the two before them; then two that were shorter than those; then two that were shorter than those; then two that were shorter than those; after that he performed witr. That made a total of thirteen rak‘ahs.”
Related by Muslim and Abū ʿAwānah in their Ṣaḥīḥs and by others. ⦗99⦘