Reported by Muslim, Abū ʿAwanah, Abū Dāwūd, al-Nasāʾī, Ibn Naṣr, al-Bayhaqī, and Aḥmad.

– 6 – He would pray nine rakʿahs: six rakʿahs during which he did not sit until the sixth, where he sat for the tashahhud and to invoke blessings upon the Prophet ﷺ; he would then rise without giving salām, complete the witr with a single rakʿah, give salām, and finally pray two rakʿahs while seated. This is based on the ḥadīth of ʿĀʾishah mentioned a moment ago.

These, then, are the modes in which the Messenger of Allah ﷺ performed the night prayer and witr. Additional patterns may be adopted by subtracting whatever number of rakʿahs one wishes from any of the forms just described, to the point that one may restrict oneself to a single rakʿah, because he ﷺ said:

“Whoever wishes may perform witr with five, whoever wishes may perform it with three, and whoever wishes may perform it with one.”

This report has already been cited.

Thus, the ḥadīth is an explicit proof for the permissibility of performing witr in these three numbers, even though no sound narration establishes that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ actually prayed in them. What is authentically transmitted from ʿĀʾishah is that he ﷺ never performed witr with fewer than seven, as noted above. ⦗107⦘