2961 — “He would pray Witr with five rak‘ahs, and he would pray Witr with seven.”

Ibn Nasr al-Marwazi recorded it in Qiyam al-Layl (Night Prayer) (p. 121—Hind): Ishaq and Muhammad ibn Bashshar narrated to us, saying: Wahb ibn Jarir narrated to us; Shu‘bah narrated to us, from Hisham ibn ‘Urwah, from his father, from Aishah, that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, would pray Witr …

Ibn Hibban likewise recorded it in his Sahih (4/71/2429), through his shaykh ‘Abd Allah ibn Muhammad al-Azdi: Ishaq ibn Ibrahim informed us; Wahb ibn Jarir narrated to us; Sa‘id narrated to us, from Hisham, through the same chain. Thus, it appears there with “Sa‘id” in place of “Shu‘bah.” I do not know whether this is how the report reached him, or whether it is a corruption by some copyists—as seems more likely—for in his biographical entry, Sa‘id ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Jumahi, they did not mention Jarir—namely, Ibn Hazim—as having narrated from him. Rather, they listed him among those who narrated from Shu‘bah.

Accordingly, the chain of transmission is authentic according to the criteria of al-Bukhari and Muslim. But if it is possibly Sa‘id ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Jumahi, then its chain is good, because although this al-Jumahi was one of Muslim’s narrators, his retention was criticized. Al-Hafiz said: “He was truthful but had errors, and Ibn Hibban went to excess in declaring him weak.”

The hadith also has a corroborating report from Umm Salamah, who said: “The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, would pray Witr with five or seven rak‘ahs, without separating the units by speaking or by a concluding salutation.” ‘Abd al-Razzaq recorded it in al-Musannaf (3/27/4668), from al-Thawri, from Mansur, from al-Hakam, from Miqsam, from her.