Ḥadīth Lesson: On Witr Prayer

As-Salāmu ‘Alaykum wa RaḥmatuLlāhi wa Barakātuh. A‘ūdhu BiLlāhi Minash-shayṭāni r-rajīm. BismiLlāhi r-Raḥmāni r-Raḥīm. Wa ṣ-Salātu wa s-Salāmu ‘alá Rasūlinā Muḥammadin Sayyidi l-Awwalīna wa l-Akhirīn. Madad yā RasūlAllāh, Madad yā Sādāti Aṣḥābi RasūliLlāh, Madad yā Mashāyikhinā, Dastūr Mawlana Sheikh Abdullāh al-Fā’iz ad-Dāghistāni, Sheikh Muḥammad Nāẓim al-Ḥaqqānī. Madad.

1Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “Make your last prayer at night the Witr prayer,” he ﷺ says. Of course, the last prayer is the Witr prayer.

2Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “I was commanded to perform the Witr and Duha prayers, but they were not made obligatory upon me.” This means that whoever performs them attains the same reward as our Prophet ﷺ, following his ﷺ example. The Witr prayer is already wajib, but the Duha prayer is a Sunnah. Performing it is like giving sadaqah of the whole day.

3Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “I was commanded to perform the Witr prayer and the two rak’ahs of the Duha prayer, but it was not made obligatory for you.” These are not obligatory for you; they are for our Prophet ﷺ. The command is for him

ﷺ. It is not obligatory for us. The Witr prayer is wajib for us, and the Duha prayer is Sunnah. One can perform it from two to twelve rak’ahs.

4Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “The Witr prayer is performed at night.” So, that three-rak’ah prayer is for the night. The night prayer is the prayer performed after the ‘Isha prayer, not during the day.

5Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “Indeed, Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla has added a prayer to your five daily prayers. This prayer is better for you than red camels.” At that time, red camels were the most valuable. So, our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam says that this prayer is better than them; it is valuable. “This is the Witr prayer, which Allah ﷻ has placed for you between the ‘Isha and Fajr prayers.” That is, you can pray it after ‘Isha until Fajr, before the Fajr prayer. But it’s better to do it before going to bed. If you say you’ll pray when you wake up after you sleep, you might be overcome by sleep and not catch the time. Therefore, let the last prayer be the Witr prayer.

6Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “Indeed, Allāh ﷻ is One, and He ﷻ loves oneness.” That is, Allāh ﷻ is One. Oneness is also the odd numbers: one, three, five, seven, nine, and so on. Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla loves them.

7Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “Indeed, Allāh ﷻ is One, and He ﷻ loves oneness. So perform the Witr prayer, O people of the Qur’an.” All prayers are performed in pairs; two rak’ahs, two rak’ahs, four rak’ahs, two rak’ahs. The Witr prayer is the last prayer performed, and it consists of three rak’ahs, as Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla loves it. The Shafi’is pray it differently; they perform the Witr prayer as two rak’ahs, then give salams and pray one more rak’ah completing it. That is according to the Shafi’i Madhhab. As for the Hanafi Madhhab, we pray all three rak’ahs together.

8Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “The Witr prayer is only performed at night.” That is, it is never performed during the day; it is performed at night.

9Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “Perform your Witr prayer before the morning.” So, perform the Witr prayer before Fajr prayer is called. The best is to perform it before going to bed, not leaving it for the morning. If not, perform it directly after the ‘Isha prayer.

10-Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “Hasten to perform the Witr prayer before the Fajr prayer.” So, if Fajr prayer is called, the reward of the Witr prayer is already over.

11-Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “There are three things which are obligatory for me,” there are three prayers which are Fard for our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam. “And Nafilah for you.” Nafilah means Sunnah. It is either Sunnah or Wajib. “The first is Witr prayer.” It is obligatory for our Prophet ﷺ. According to the Hanafi Madhhab, it is Wajib. In some Madhhabs, it is Sunnah because it is not Wajib, but it is a Sunnah Mu’akkadah according to them. “The two rak’ahs of Duha prayer,” that is also a Nafilah prayer. “And the two Sunnah rak’ahs of Fajr prayer,” the Fajr Sunnah is also a Sunnah Mu’akkadah. It must be performed. It is close to Wajib, but it is a Sunnah Mu’akkadah, so it should not be missed.

12-Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “The night prayer is two rak’ahs at a time.” It is prayed two rak’ahs, two rak’ahs. “If one of you fears that the time for the Fajr prayer will pass, he should pray one rak’ah at the end. This will count as one rak'ah for all the rak’ahs he has already prayed.” Of course, as we said, when we read a Ḥadīth Sharif, it’s not like we can just say, “I read this, and I’m going to do it this way.” You have to understand its meaning; how the imams, the Maddhab imams, the scholars have explained and shown it. This one rak’ah is for the Shafi’i Madhhab. For the Hanafi Madhhab, as we said, the Witr prayer is performed as three rak’ahs all together.

Sadaqa RasuluLlah fi ma qal, aw kama qal. The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ says the truth in what he ﷺ said or as he ﷺ said.

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Ihda’ – Dedication:

Ziyadatan ila sharafi’ ‘n-Nabi, sallaLlahu `alayhi wa sallam wa Alihi wa Asahabihi l-kiram, wa ila arwahi jamee’i al Anbiya’i wa l-Mursalin wa Khudama’i sharai’ihim wa ila arwahi al ‘Aimmati al arba’a, wa ila arwahi Mashayyikhina fi t-Tariqati nNaqshbandiyyati l-Aliyyah, khassatan Imamu t-Tariqah wa Ghawthu l-Khaliqah Khwaja Bahauddin Muhammad al-Uwaisiyi l-Bukhari, Sayyidina Abdul Khaliq al Ghujduwani, Mawlana Shaykh Sharafuddin al Daghestani, Mawlana Shaykh Abdullah al Faiz al Daghestani, Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Adil al Haqqani, wa sai’ri Sadatina wa s-Siddiqiyun, wa man nahnu fi hadratihim wa jiwarihim. Li-Llahi Ta’ala, Al-Fatiha.

[(Translation) To the honor of the Prophet, Prayers and Peace be upon Him, and his family, and his companions, and the souls of all the prophets as well as of His messengers and of those who served their Sharia, and to the souls of the four Imams. And to the souls of our Mashayikh of the Most Distinguished Naqshbandi Tariqa, in particular to the soul of the Imam of the Tariqa Ghawth al-Khaliqa (the Help of Creation), Khwaja Bahauddin Muhammad al-Uwaisiyi l-Bukhari, Sayyidina Abdul Khaliq al Ghujduwani, Mawlana Shaykh Sharafuddin al Daghestani, Mawlana Shaykh Abdullah al Faiz al Daghestani, Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Adil al Haqqani, and the rest of our masters and Siddiqiyun, and to whom we are in their presence and near them. To Allah Almighty. Al Fatiha.]

Mawlana Sheikh Muhammad Adil ar-Rabbani 16 December 2025/ 25 Jumada al-Thani 1447 Beylerbeyi Dergah, Istanbul