Allah has added a prayer for you, so observe it faithfully: it is Witr.” Recorded by Ahmad and Ibn Abī Shaybah. (1)
I say: The preceding hadiths demonstrate the virtue of the Night Prayer and the recommendation to observe Witr regularly.
(2-3) The Ruling on the Night Prayer and Witr
The Night Prayer is a recommended Sunnah, while Witr at its conclusion is an emphatically recommended Sunnah. This is what the revealed texts indicate, including the following hadiths:
a) Abdullah ibn Umar reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: “Make Witr the last of your prayers at night.” Agreed upon. (2)
b) Abdullah ibn Buraydah reported from his father, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace,
(1) A *hasan li-ghayrihi* hadith (sound by virtue of corroborating evidence).
Ahmad recorded it in *al-Musnad* (2/206–208), and Ibn Abī Shaybah in *al-Musannaf* (2/297). Al-Albānī graded it *sahīh* in *Irwā al-Ghalīl* (2/159).
(2) A *sahīh* (authentic) hadith.
Al-Bukhārī recorded it in the Book of Witr, chapter “One Should Make Witr the Last of One’s Prayers,” hadith no. 998. Muslim also recorded it in the Book of the Prayer of Travelers and Its Shortening, chapter “The Night Prayer Is Two Units at a Time, and Witr Is One Unit at the End of the Night,” hadith no. 751.
Note: Commenting on this hadith, Ibn Daqīq al-Īd said: “Those who regard Witr as obligatory may cite the imperative wording as evidence. If, however, they hold that what is obligatory is for Witr to be the final prayer of the night, then such an inference is plausible, although I do not know of anyone who held that view.” *Ahkām al-Ahkām* (2/84).
I say: This is what he said—may Allah have mercy on him. Ibn Taymiyyah, however, stated: “Witr is obligatory for anyone who performs the night vigil; this position is also held by some who consider it obligatory without qualification.” *al-Ikhtiyārāt al-Fiqhiyyah* (p. 64).
I maintain: As stated above, the stronger view is that Witr is not obligatory; the evidence establishing this will follow. Ibn Taymiyyah said in *Majmū al-Fatāwā* (23/88): “Witr is an emphatically recommended Sunnah by consensus among Muslims, and the testimony of anyone who persistently abandons it is rejected.” This is the correct view.