the ninth. He would then pray two rak‘ahs while seated. Later, he began praying witr with seven or five rak‘ahs. When he prayed witr with five, he would sit only after the fifth, then pray two rak‘ahs while seated.”
When he prayed witr with seven rak‘ahs, one report states that he would sit only after the seventh; another states that he would sit after the sixth and seventh, then pray two rak‘ahs after witr while seated.
This authentic hadith is evidence that he did not observe these two rak‘ahs regularly. How, then, can it be said that whoever does not observe them regularly is not among Ahl al-Sunnah?
The scholars differ as to whether this prayer is prescribed at all. Many scholars have said that it is not prescribed under any circumstances, because the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:
“Make witr your last prayer at night.”
Some of these scholars interpreted the two rak‘ahs that he reportedly prayed after witr as the two rak‘ahs before Fajr. However, the hadiths are authentic and explicit that he used to pray two rak‘ahs while seated after witr, apart from the two rak‘ahs before Fajr.
One wording reports that he used to perform two prostrations after witr. Some shaykhs assumed that this meant two prostrations on their own, so they would perform two standalone prostrations after witr. This is an innovation that no Muslim scholar has considered recommended, nor did any of the early generations practise it. They were misled by the expression “two prostrations,” which here means two rak‘ahs, as in the statement of Ibn ‘Umar:
“I learned from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, two ‘prostrations’ before Zuhr and two after it, two after Maghrib, and two after ‘Ishā’