Prayer (Kitab Al-Salat): Detailed Injunctions about Witr

Narrated Ali ibn AbuTalib:

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Allah is single (witr) and loves what is single, so observe the witr, you who follow the Qur'an.

The above mentioned tradition has also been narrated by 'Abd Allah (b. Mas'ud) through a different chain of narrators to the same effect. This version adds:

A bedouin said: What are you saying ? He replied: This is neither for you, nor for your companions.

Narrated Kharijah ibn Hudhafah al-Adawi:

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) came out to us and said: Allah the Exalted has given you an extra prayer which is better for you then the red camels (i.e. high breed camels). This is the witr which Allah has appointed for you between the night prayer and the daybreak.

Narrated Buraydah ibn al-Hasib:

I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: The witr is a duty, so he who does not observe it does not belong to us; the witr is a duty, so he who does not observe it does not belong to us; the witr is a duty, so he who does not observe it does not belong to us.

Narrated Ubadah ibn as-Samit:

Ibn Muhayriz said: A man from Banu Kinanah, named al-Makhdaji, heard a person called AbuMuhammad in Syria, saying: The witr is a duty (wajib). Al-Makhdaji said: So I went to Ubadah ibn as-Samit and informed him. Ubadah said: AbuMuhammad told a lie. I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: There are five prayers which Allah has prescribed on His servants. If anyone offers them, not losing any of them, and not treating them lightly, Allah guarantees that He will admit him to Paradise. If anyone does not offer them, Allah does not take any responsibility for such a person. He may either punish him or admit him to Paradise.

Ibn 'Umar said:

A man who lived in the desert asked the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) about the prayer at night. He made a sign with his two fingers-in this way in pairs. The witr consists of one rak'ah towards the end in night.

Narrated AbuAyyub al-Ansari:

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: The witr is a duty for every Muslim so if anyone wishes to observe it with five rak'ahs, he may do so; if anyone wishes to observe it with three, he may do so, and if anyone wishes to observe it with one, he may do so.

Narrated Ubayy ibn Ka'b:

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to observe witr with (reciting) "Glorify the name of your Lord, the most High" (Surah 87), "Say O disbelievers" (Surah 109), and "Say, He is Allah, the One, Allah, the eternally besought of all" (112).

Narrated Aisha, Ummul Mu'minin:

AbdulAziz ibn Jurayj said: I asked Aisha, mother of the believers: With which (surah) the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to observe witr? (She reported same as in the Hadith of Ubayy ibn Ka'b, No. 1418) This version adds: In the third rak'ah he would recite: "Say, He is Allah, the One" (Surah 112), and "Say, I seek refuge in the Lord of daybreak" (Surah 113), and "Say, I seek refuge in the Lord of mankind" (Surah 114).

Narrated Al-Hasan ibn Ali:

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) taught me some words that I say during the witr. (The version of Ibn Jawwas has: I say them in the supplication of the witr.) They were: "O Allah, guide me among those You have guided, grant me security among those You have granted security, take me into Your charge among those You have taken into Your charge, bless me in what You have given, guard me from the evil of what You have decreed, for You dost decree, and nothing is decreed for You. He whom You befriendest is not humbled. Blessed and Exalted are You, our Lord."

The aforesaid tradition has been transmitted by Abu Ishaq with the same chain and to the same effect. In the last of this tradition he said:

The version has the words: "He would recite the supplication of the witr." He did not mention the words: "I say them in the witr." Abu Dawud said: The name of Abu al-Hawra' is Rabi'ah b. Shaiban.

Narrated Ali ibn AbuTalib:

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to say at the end of his witr: "O Allah, I seek refuge in Your good pleasure from Your anger, and in Your forgiveness from Your punishment, and I seek refuge in Your mercy from Your wrath. I cannot reckon the praise due to You. You are as You have praised Thyself." Abu Dawud said: Hisham is the earliest teacher of Hammad. Yahya b. Ma'in said: No one is reported to have narrated traditions form him except Hammad b. Salamah. Abu Dawud said: Ubayy b. Ka'b said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) recited supplication in the witr before bowing. Abu Dawud said: This tradition has also been narrated by 'Isa b. Yunus through a different chain of narrators from Ubayy b. Ka'b. He also narrated it through a different chain of narrators on the authority of Ubayy b. Ka'b that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) recited the supplication in the witr before bowing. Abu Dawud said: The chain of narrators of the tradition of Sa'id from Qatadah goes: Yazid b. Zurai' narrated from Sa'id, from Qatadah, from 'Azrah, from Sa'id b. 'Abd al-Rahman b. Abza, on the authority of his father, from the Prophet (ﷺ). This version does not mention the supplication and the name of Ubayy. This tradition has also been narrated by 'Abd al-A'la and Muhammad b. Bishr al-'Abdi. He heard the traditions from 'Isa b. Yunus at Kufah. They did not mention the supplication in their version. This tradition has also been narrated by Hisham al-Dastuwa'i and Shu'bah from Qatadah. They did not mention the supplication in their version. The tradition of Zubaid has been narrated by Sulaiman al-A'mash, Shu'bah, 'Abd al-Malik b. Abi Sulaiman, and Jarir b. Hazim; all of them narrated on the authority of Zubaid. None of them mention the supplication in his version, except in the tradition transmitted by Hafs b. Ghiyath from Mis'ar from Zubaid; he narrated in his version that he (the Prophet) recited supplication before bowing. Abu Dawud said: This version of tradition is not well know. There is doubt that Hafs might have narrated this tradition from some other narrator than Mis'ar. Abu Dawud said: It is reported that Ubayy (b. Ka'b) used to recited the supplication )in the witr) in the second half of Ramadan.

Muhammad reported on the authority of some of his teachers that Ubayy b. Ka'b led them in prayer during Ramadan. He used to recite the supplication (in the witr) during the second half of Ramadan.

Narrated Ubayy ibn Ka'b:

Al-Hasan reported: Umar ibn al-Khattab gathered the people (in tarawih prayer) behind Ubayy ibn Ka'b (who led them). He used to lead them for twenty days (during Ramadan, and would not recite the supplication except in the second half of it (i.e. Ramadan). When the last ten days remained, he kept away from them, and prayed in his house. They used to say: Ubayy ran away. Abu Dawud said: This tradition shows that whatever has been reported about the recitation of the supplication is not tenable. Moreover, these two traditions from Ubayy b. Ka'b indicate that another tradition which tells that the Prophet (ﷺ) recited the supplication in the witr is weak.

Narrated Ubayy ibn Ka'b:

When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) offered salutation in the witr prayer, he said: Glorify be to the king most holy.

Narrated AbuSa'id al-Khudri:

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: If anyone oversleeps and misses the witr, or forgets it, he should pray when he remembers.

Abu Hurairah said:

My friend (i.e. the Prophet) instructed me to observe three practices that I do not leave while traveling nor while resident, to pray two rak`ahs in the forenoon, to fast three days every month and not to sleep but after observing the witr.

Abu Al-Darda' said:

My friend (i.e. the Prophet) instructed me to observe three practices which I never leave: he instructed me to fast three days every month, and not to sleep but after observing the witr, and to observe supererogatory prayer in the forenoon while traveling and while resident.

Narrated AbuQatadah:

The Prophet (ﷺ) asked AbuBakr: When do you observe the witr? He replied: I observe the witr prayer in the early hours of the night. The Prophet (ﷺ) asked Umar: When do you observe the witr? He replied: At the end of the night. He then said to AbuBakr: This has followed it with care; and he said to Umar: He has followed it with strength.

Masruq said:

I asked 'Aishah: When would the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) observe the witr prayer ? She replied: Any time he observed the witr, sometimes in the early hours of the night, sometimes at midnight and sometimes towards the end of it. But he used to observe the witr just before the dawn when he died.