In sum, the hadith is good on the combined strength of its two chains attributed to Companions, if the latter of them cannot be soundly traced back to the Prophet. This is especially so since al-Ḥāfiẓ mentioned a supporting report, traced back to the Prophet, from the hadith of Abū Bakrah, and made no comment on it. He generally remains silent only concerning that which he considers, at the very least, good. Yet I am not at ease with it, for I found al-Haythamī saying of it (11/183): “Al-Ṭabarānī narrated it, and its chain includes al-Ḥakam ibn Ẓuhayr, who is abandoned.” And Allah knows best.

2208 — “One who does not sleep until he has performed Witr is prudent.”

Aḥmad narrated it (1/170) through Ibn Isḥāq, who said: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ḥuṣayn told me that he narrated from Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ: “He would pray the night prayer in the Mosque of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, then perform Witr with a single unit, without adding to it. He was asked: ‘Do you perform Witr with only one unit, without adding to it, O Abū Isḥāq?’ He replied: ‘Yes. I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say’”—and then he cited it.

I say: Its narrators are reliable, apart from this Ibn al-Ḥuṣayn. Ibn Abī Ḥātim mentioned him (3/2/317) only through the narration of Ibn Isḥāq from him, without recording either criticism or accreditation of him. Ibn Ḥibbān included him in al-Thiqāt (The Reliable Narrators), as al-Ḥāfiẓ states in al-Taʿjīl, but I did not find him among the Successors in the Indian printed edition. And Allah knows best. I later found that he included him among the Followers of the Successors (7/413), saying: “Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq narrated from him, and he frequently fasted and stood long in prayer.” Nevertheless, the hadith is authentic, for it has supporting reports from the hadiths of Abū Qatādah, Ibn ʿUmar, and ʿUqbah ibn