(Copied from the Shaikh’s Facebook page.)
Part-1 (Dated 16th March 2025)
There is much ado about the correct method of Witr these days, with some viral videos claiming that the Hanafi method of Witr is incorrect.
Take it from me – one who is greatly biased towards the Imams of Ahl al-Hadeeth, such as al-Shafi’ee Ahmed, Ishaaq, and al-Bukhari; and has an aversion for Hanafi Fiqh and its Imams:
The way Hanafis pray Witr is totally legit and valid. It is proven from the practice of several Sahabah and Tabi’een. Let me expound:
If you want to pray Witr consisting of three units, you have the following options, all of which are valid:
1. Pray 2 units and do Salam, and then pray one single unit. This is probably the best way to do it and most authentically reported from the Prophet ﷺ. Furthermore, the Prophet ﷺ instructed the Ummah to pray night prayer in units of two and then end with one single Rak’ah. [Agreed Upon]
2. Pray 3 in one go without any Tashahhud after the second Rak’ah. This is reported in a statement from ibn Abbas, and practice of several Tabi’een. There is nothing authentic that the Prophet ﷺ prayed 3 Witr like this. The Hadith cited from al-Darqutni and al-Hakim in this regard is Munkar, as graded by Imam Ahmed and others. But it can be derived from Qiyas upon the 5 Rak’ah Witr prayed by the Prophet ﷺ in one go without any Tashahhud in between [Muslim and others].
3. Pray it like Maghrib with Tashahhud after second Rak’ah. This is how Ibn Mas’ud (RadiAllahuAnhu) and some others among the Sahabah and Tabi’een prayed. It was from the disciples of ibn Mas’ud in Kufa that this method, most probably, trickled down into Hanafi Fiqh.
All these methods are legit and valid. One can debate about which is better, but to call any one of these incorrect is nothing but an outcome of shallow knowledge.
Similarly, Qunoot can be done after Rukoo’ and before. Both have been reported from the Sahabah and Tabi’een. If done before Rukoo’, one can do Takbeer at the start. This has been authentically reported from Umar (RadiAllahuAnhu) and others.
I don’t have the time to give citations and references. I will leave that for later.
وبالله التوفيق
PS: As for the Hadith, don’t pray Witr like Maghrib, then it is mistranslated, misunderstood, and partially quoted. The Hadith says, “Don’t pray Witr (only) three units, (otherwise) you’ll end up resembling Maghrib, rather pray five, or seven, or more.”
Those quoting the Hadith leave out the part “rather pray five or seven” which it makes it clear that is talking about the number of units, not how they should be prayed. The Hadith exhorts us not to limit ourselves to three units only in the night prayer, rather make it five or more. Not that it is obligatory, but strongly recommended.
This is also reported from Aisha; she said: “Don’t pray Witr as three isolated units, pray two or four units before it.” [Ibn Abi Shaybah]
There is a similar statement of Ibn Abbas, he said, “I dislike Witr to be three isolated units, rather one should pray five or seven”. [Ibn Abi Shaybah]
So no matter how you pray the three units, with or without Tashahhud, you will end up resembling Maghrib in the no. of units. So to avoid that, it is recommended that one prays at least two units (Nafl) before it, so the total night prayer becomes 5 or more. This matter doesn’t even arise in the case of Taraweeh, for you are already praying 11, 13, or 23.
Part-2 (Dated 19th March 2025)
My post about Witr ruffled some feathers, especially among the Ahl ul-Hadeeth circles in the Indo-Pak subcontinent. They had been taught that the way Hanafis pray Witr is incorrect.
It is not that I didn’t back up what I mentioned with evidence. I might not have mentioned the Hadith numbers, or quoted the texts in Arabic, but I did cite evidence, which any seeker of knowledge would have known where to find and look up.
But the problem is the laymen who think that they follow the Daleel, when the in fact just follow their scholars, and think that anything that goes against what their scholars have said must be wrong, because their scholars are “Ahl ul-Hadith”, and “Ahl ul-Hadith” are the rightly guided sect.
Yes, “Ahl ul Hadith” as a whole are the rightly guided sect, but that doesn’t mean that the Ahl ul-Hadith of a particular region are upon the truth in all matters of Fiqh. Weren’t Ibn ul Mubarak, al-Shafi’ee, Ahmed, Ishaaq, and al-Bukhari, all among the Ahl ul Hadith? Yet, they differed among themselves in many matters of Fiqh.
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Anyways, my post was shared by a brother, who got accused by some youngsters (DIY Fuqahaa!) for forwarding something without Daleel! They most likely don’t even know what counts as Daleel, and how it works, and whether it is authentic or not, and how to properly understand it, yet they ask for Daleel – the audacity! Anyways, the brother asked me to write the evidences in detail. So here it is:
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It is authentically proven that several Sahabah and Tabi’een would pray Witr with two Tashahhuds:
1. Ibn Mas’ud. He said:
«الوتر ثلاث كثلاث المغرب»
“Witr is three like the three of Maghrib prayer”
[Muwatta Muhammad. Hasan, no. 261, 262, and Ibn Abi Shaibah, no. 6881]
2. Anas b. Mailk:
عبد الرزاق، عن معمر، عن ثابت، عن أنس أنه: أوتر بثلاث مثل المغرب.
Anas prayed three like Maghrib.
[Abdur Razzaq, no. 4663, وإسناده كالشمس]
3. Abul ‘Aliyah (Rufay’ b. Mihran). He is one of the senior Tabi’een. He accepted Islam during the reign of Abi Bakr. He was asked about Witr, he replied:
اصنع فيه كما تصنع في المغرب
Pray it like you would pray Maghrib.
[Ibn Abi Shaibah, no. 7016; Al-Kuna by al-Doolabi 2/ 775]
In another narration, he was asked the same question by another younger Tabi’ee, to which he replied,
«عَلَّمَنَا أَصْحَابُ مُحَمَّدٍ صلى الله عليه وسلم أَوْ عَلَّمُونَا أَنَّ الْوِتْرَ مِثْلُ صَلَاةِ الْمَغْرِبِ، غَيْرَ أَنَّا نَقْرَأُ فِي الثَّالِثَةِ، فَهَذَا وِتْرُ اللَّيْلِ، وَهَذَا وِتْرُ النَّهَارِ
“They taught us” or he said “The companions of the Prophet taught us that Witr is like Maghrib prayer, except that we do Tilawah (recitation after Fatiha) in the third Rak’ah – this is the Witr of the night, and that is the Witr of the day.”
[Maʿani al-Athar 1/ 293, and the Isnad is Saheeh]
4. Khilas ibn ʿAmr – A Tabiʿee
He was asked about Witr, He replied, three units like Maghrib prayer.
[Ibn Abi Shaybah, no. 7016]
5. Disciples of Ibn Mas’ud and Ali:
عن شعبة عن أبي إسحاق قال: كان أصحاب علي وأصحاب عبد اللَّه لا يسلمون في ركعتي الوتر
Abu Ishaaq al-Sabee’ee said: The disciples of Ali and Ibn Mas’ud would not make Tasleem after the two units of Witr.
[Ibn Abi Shaybah, no. 7018]
This might not be explicit. But it implies the same, for he didn’t say, they would not sit after two units. Rather he said, they would not do Tasleem after two units, i.e. they would sit for Tashahhud but not do Tasleem.
Once it is established that that several Sahabah and Tabi’een have prayed Witr like Maghrib, this means it is a valid way of praying Witr.
And there is nothing authentic from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ forbidding from this method.
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As for the Hadith in Mustadrak al-Hakim (1151), that the Messenger of Allah prayed three without sitting in between.
Imam Ahmed said, this Hadith is a mistake by the narrator. [Ibn Rajab, Fathul Bari, 9/ 104]. Ibn Rajab clarifies that Imam Ahmed said that because the lengthy authentic narration through this Isnad (Qatadah ʿan Zurarah, ʿan Saʿd b. Hisham ʿan Aisha), doesn’t have any mention of three Rakʿat Witr. Abān narrated it from Qatadah in a very shortened and abridged manner and made a mistake in its wording, opposing all other narrators from Qatadah. The correct wording of this Hadith is in Saheeh Muslim (and in it there is no mention of three Rakʿat Witr, only seven and nine):
https://sunnah.com/muslim:746a
(Sahih Muslim 746 a, quite a lengthy narration.)
Subhanallah, I just found out that even Shaykh al-Albani declared this narration as being Shaadh and Maʿlool, because it goes against the full narration narrated by Muslim and others [Irwa al-Ghaleel, no. 412].
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As for the Hadith, “Don’t pray Maghrib in a way that resembles Maghrib” then there are two issues:
FIRST: There is Ikhtelaf in its Isnad concerning whether it is Mawqoof (i.e. Abu Hurairah’s own statement) or Marfooʿ (statement of the Prophet). The author of “Fadhl ar-Raheem al-Wadood Takhrij Sunan Abi Dawood” believes that these are the words of Abu Hurairah, and not the Prophet ﷺ. In such a case, it is his own opinion, and there is nothing to make it preponderant over the practice of Ibn Mas’ud, Anas, and others.
Nevertheless, we will assume it is Marfooʿ for all practical purposes.
But what does the Hadith mean? This is discussed as follows:
SECOND: This Hadith has been related with different wordings, but all have two contrasting imperative sentences, 1) “don’t pray three” and 2) “pray five or seven”.
Some narrations of this Hadith translate as “don’t pray three like Maghrib”. This, if taken alone, could be understood to mean that you can pray three but, in a manner different from Maghrib. But if you don’t read the next part, “… but rather pray five or seven”, it becomes clear that it is now about how you pray, but about the number of units being prayed.
This is corroborated by other narrations of this Hadith which are explicit in their meaning, they read:
لا توتروا بثلاث تشبَّهوا بالمغرب، ولكن أوتروا بخمس أو بسبع
This translates as, “Don’t pray Witr three units; (otherwise) you will be resembling Maghrib, but rather pray five or seven.”
Here “Tashabbahū bil Maghrib” is Majzoom, on the lines of “La Tadnu Min al-Asadi Ya’kulka” (don’t come close to the lion; otherwise he will eat you). And this construction was allowed by al-Kisaa’ee and the Kufans, and there is another example of this in al-Bukhari and Muslim:
لا تُشْرِفْ يُصِبْكَ سَهْمٌ مِنْ سِهامِ الْقَوْمِ،
“Do not raise (your head), (otherwise) an arrow from the enemy’s arrows will strike you”.
The point here is that this wording is explicit that if you pray three (no matter how) you will be resembling Maghrib, so pray more than three.
This is further corroborated by the statements of Aisha and Ibn Abbas:
Aisha says:
لا توتر بثلاثٍ بتراء صلّ قبلها ركعتين أو أربعًا
“Don’t pray Witr as three isolated units, rather pray before it two or four units.” [Ibn Abi Shaybah, no. 7005]
And ibn Abbas says:
إني لأكره أن يكون ثلاث بتر ولكن سبعًا أو خمسًا
“I dislike Witr to be three isolated units, rather one should pray five or seven”. [Ibn Abi Shaybah, no. 6997]
In short, the Hadith of Abu Hurayrah means that if you pray Witr as three isolated units, without any Qiyam al-Lail or Nawafil before it, you will end up resembling Maghrib in the total no. of units. So, to avoid that, it is recommended that one prays two or more units (Nafl) before it, so the total night prayer becomes 5 or more.
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Since, all of what I mentioned will go over the heads of the Mutaʿassib “Ahl ul Hadeeth” of the sub-continent, and they will just say, ‘He is Hanbali!’, ‘He is influenced by Shaykh al-Shuwaiʿir!’, ‘He is not Salafi!’ blah, blah, blah, I would like to end by quoting Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, whom I believe was Salafi, and not influenced by Shaykh al-Shuwaiʿir!
He (Ibn Taymiyyah Rahimahullah) says:
“There are three opinions concerning Witr:
One: That one should pray three continuous units like Maghrib. This is the opinion of the people of Iraq (e.g. Abu Hanifah).
Two: That one should pray it as a single unit, separate from the prayer before it. This is the opinion of the people of Hejaz (e.g. Malik).
Three: That both ways are permissible, as is apparent from the Madhhab of Shafi’ee and Ahmed. And this is the correct opinion.”
[Majmooʿ al-Fatawa (22/ 268)]
وصلى الله على محمد وعلى آله وصحبه وسلّم تسلميا كثيرا
والحمد لله رب العالمين
Saheehus-Seerah 