The Witr Prayer

 

Translated by Nadeem Abdul Hamid from Noor-ul-Eidaah wa Najaat-ul-Arwaah of Allaamah al-Hasan bin ‘Ammaar ash-Sharnubulaali with notes by Muhyi-ud-deen Abdul Hamid.

 

 

The Witr (prayer) is waajib (compulsory).

Al-Witr literally means “odd”, in opposition to ash-Shaf’, “even.” Its technical meaning as used by the Hanafiyyah scholars is: “A prayer of third rak‘aat with one tasleemah and qunoot after the recitation and before the third rukuu‘.” The statement that it is waajib is the last saying of al-Imam Abi Hanifah. And two other sayings have been reported from him: The first that the witr is sunnah, and the second that the witr is fard. And some scholars have endeavored to reconcile these three sayings as: That the meaning of his saying that it is sunnah is that its performance is established and supported by way of the sunnah, and the meaning of its being fard is that it is a fard in practice (fard ‘amaliyy), which is the meaning of waajib. As for Imam Abu Yusuf and Imam Muhammad, they consider that the witr is sunnah, as does Imam ash-Shaafi‘iyy (Allah have mercy on them all).

 

And it is three rak‘aat with (one) tasleemah.

It is related that the Messenger of Allah (Sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) used to pray witr in three rak‘aat and did not perform salaam except in the last of them. This hadith is related by al-Haakim Abu Abdullah and he has said it is saheeh according to the criterion of the Shaikhaan, al-Bukhari and Muslim. It is also related of al-Hasan al-Basri (Allah be pleased with him) that he said: Our predecessors are united that the witr is three rak‘aat and there is no salaam except in the last of them. And this is the way of Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, Abdullah bin ‘Umar bin al-Khattaab, Abdullah bin ‘Amr bin al-‘Aas, Abdullah bin Mas‘ood and Abu Hurairah (Allah be pleased with them all). And it is related that ‘Umar bin al-Khattaab saw Sa‘eed making witr with one rak‘ah and he said to him: What is this bateeraa? Pray two more with it or I will surely punish you.

 

And in every rak‘ah of it, one reads the Faatihah and another surah. And one should sit at the end of the first two rak‘aat and say only the tashahhud and not read the opening du‘a when standing up for the third.

It is thus similar to Maghrib prayer with the additional recitation of the surah and qunoot in the third rak‘ah.

 

Upon completion of the recitation of the surah (in the third rak‘ah), one should raise his hands up to his ears, saying “Allaahu Akbar,” and make qunoot standing, before going to rukuu‘, throughout the year.

Shaafi‘iyy considers that the qunoot is not made during the witr except in the last half of the month of Ramadaan and that the qunoot should be performed after the rukuu‘.

 

And no qunoot should be made other than in the witr prayer.

Shaafi ‘iyy (Allah have mercy on him) considers that one should make qunoot in the Fajr prayer also, throughout the year.

 

And the meaning of Qunoot is “Du‘aa,” which is:

“Oh Allah! We beseech Your help, and we ask for guidance, and we ask Your pardon and we repent to You, and we believe in You, we trust in You, and we praise You in the best manner. We thank You and we are not ungrateful to You, and we cast off and leave one who disobeys You. Oh Allah! You alone we worship, and to You do we pray and prostrate, and to You do we flee and we are quick in doing so. We hope for Your Mercy and we fear Your Punishment. Truly Your punishment overtakes the disbelievers. And may the peace and blessings of Allah come upon our master, Muhammad, the unlettered prophet, and upon his family.”

And those who are following should read the qunoot as the imaam does. And when the imaam commences with du‘aa after that which is above, Abu Yusuf (Allah have mercy on him) says they should follow him and recite it with him. And Muhammad says: They should not follow him but rather should say Aameen.

Meaning du‘aa after the qunoot above- that is, when the imaam desires to read additional du‘aa: should the followers read that with the imaam also or not? Abu Yusuf considers that the followers read both the qunoot and the du‘aa and Muhammad says they should read neither.

 

And the du‘aa is:

“Oh Allah! Guide us, by Your bounty, with those You have guided. And forgive us with those You have forgiven. And befriend us with those You have befriended. And bless us with that which You give. And protect us from the evil that You decree. Truly You decree and You are not decreed upon. Truly the one you have befriended can never be made low, and the one You have taken as an enemy can never have any power. Blessed are You, our Lord, and Most High. And may the peace and blessings of Allah come upon our master Muhammad and upon his family and companions.”

And whoever has not gained mastery of the qunoot should say:

“Oh Allah! Forgive me” three times,

or

“Our Lord give us good in the world and good in the hereafter and protect us from the punishment of fire,”

or

    
“Oh Lord! Oh Lord! Oh Lord.”

When one is following someone who makes the qunoot in Fajr, he should stand silent with him in his qunoot and leave his hands at his side.

And if one forgets the qunoot in witr, and remembers it during the rukuu‘ or after rising from it, he should not perform the qunoot. And if one does perform the qunoot after raising one’s head from rukuu‘, he should not repeat the rukuu‘. He should perform the prostration of forgetfulness (sajdat-us-sahw) because of the removal of the qunoot from its proper place.

And if the imaam bows before the follower completes his recitation of qunoot, or before he starts it, and it is feared that the rukuu‘ will be missed, he should follow the imaam. And if the imaam leaves the qunoot, the follower should recite it if it is still possible for him to join the imaam in the rukuu‘ and if not, he should follow the imaam. And if one joins the imaam in the third rak‘ah of the witr, he has attained the qunoot and should not repeat it later (when he completes the prayer on his own).

And the witr should be prayed in congregation only during Ramadaan.

The scholars are agreed that it is commendable to pray the witr in congregation only during Ramadaan, because it falls under the ruling of the nafl, and praying the nafl in congregation, other than the Taraaweeh, is makrooh. Thus, it is proper to pray the witr singly outside of Ramadaan. According to Shamsul-a’immah, the dislike of praying nafl in congregation refers to the situation where people are invited to such congregation. As for case where one or two persons follow someone else, then it is not disliked, as the Prophet (Sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) led Ibn ‘Abbaas in prayer at night, and it is related that he (Sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) used to wake up ‘A’ishah and she would pray witr with him. And it is also established that he (Sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) led Anas and the orphan and the old person in two rak’aat of prayer, and those were not fard but were nafl.

 

And its prayer in congregation during Ramadaan is preferable to offering it by oneself in the end of the night- in the opinion of Qaadi-khaan, who said it is the sound opinion- and others have expressed the soundness of differing opinions.