بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Hadīth 1.
كنَّا مع رسولِ اللهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عليه وسلَّمَ في سَفَرٍ، فقالَ: إنَّ هذا السَّفَرَ جَهْدٌ وثِقَلٌ؛ فإذا أَوتَرَ أحَدُكم، فليَركَعْ رَكعتَينِ، فإنِ استَيقَظَ، وإلَّا كانتَا له
Thawbān narrated: We were with the Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ) on a journey, and he said: This journey is a struggle and a hardship; So when one of you performs the Witr prayer, he should perform two rak’ahs (afterwards), if he wakes up (he may pray them), otherwise they are (recorded) for him. (Ibn Khuzaymah 1106. Declared Sahīh by Shu’ayb al-Arnāūt, and Al-Albānī in al-Sahīhah 1993)
Hadīth 2.
Sa’d bin Hishām bin ‘Āmir narrated:I came to Ibn ‘Abbās and asked him about the Witr of the Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ). Ibn ‘Abbās said: Should I not direct you to one who knows best amongst the people of the world about the Witr of the Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ)? He said: Who is it? He (Ibn ‘Abbās) said: It is ‘Āishah. So go to her and ask her (about Witr) and then come to me and inform me about her answer that she would give you…
I said: Mother of the Believers, inform me about the Witr of the Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ). She said: I used to prepare the siwāk for him and water for his ablution, and Allāh would wake him to the extent that He wished during the night. He would use the siwāk, and perform ablution, and would offer nine rak’ahs, and would not sit but in the eighth one and would remember Allāh and praise Him, say salāh upon the Prophet (ﷺ), and supplicate to Him, then he would get up without uttering the taslīm and pray the ninth rak’ah. He would then sit, remember and praise Him, say salāh upon the Prophet (ﷺ) and supplicate to Him and then utter a taslīm loud enough for us to hear. He would then pray two rak’ahs sitting after uttering the taslīm, and that made a total of eleven rak’ahs. O my son, but when the Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ) grew old and carried more weight, he observed Witr of seven Rak’ah, doing in the two rak’ahs as he had done before, and that made a total of nine Rak’ah. (Sahīh Muslim 746)
Hadīth 3.
Umm Salamah narrated:
أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم كَانَ يُصَلِّي بَعْدَ الْوِتْرِ رَكْعَتَيْنِ، وَهُوَ جَالِسٌ
The Prophet would pray two Rak’ah after Al-Witr whilst sitting down (Ibn Mājah 1195. Al-Tirmidhī 471. Declared Sahīh by Al-Albānī)
Hadīth 4.
Abū Umāmah narrated:
كان يُصلِّي رَكعتَينِ بعدَ الوِترِ وهو جالسٌ، يَقرَأُ فيهما بـ: {إِذَا زُلْزِلَتْ} [الزلزلة: 1]، و{قُلْ يَا أَيُّهَا الْكَافِرُونَ} [الكافرون: 1]
The Prophet (ﷺ) would pray two Rak’ah after Al-Witr whilst sitting down, reciting in them: Sūrah al-Zalzalah and Al-Kāfirūn. (Tuhfah al-Ahwadhī 5/129. Declared Hasan by Shu’ayb al-Arnāūt in his checking of Zād al-Ma’ād 1/322. Authenticated by Al-Albānī in Qiyām Tarawīh)
Summary:
- In the narration of Āishah, the Prophet (ﷺ) performed witr in two ways; 1) He would pray 9 Rak’ah, sitting only in the 8th and 9th Rak’ah; in the 8th Rak’ah he would say the tashahhud and stand up for the 9th Rak’ah, in which he would say the tashahhud and the taslīm. He would then pray 2 Rak’ah whilst seated. 2) He would pray 7 Rak’ah in a similar manner; sitting on the 6th and the 7th, giving taslīm on the 7th. Then he would pray two Rak’ah after Witr.
- Some scholars such as al-Nawawī held that praying these two Rak’ah after Witr was not a habitual practise by the Prophet (ﷺ), but something he performed a few times to show the permissibility of doing so. (See al-Tuhfah al-Ahwadhī 5/129 and Zād al-Ma’ād 2/260).
- Ibn Hajr said: Other (people of knowledge) recommended it and ordered it, including: Kathīr bin Damrah and Khāled bin Ma’dān. In the narration of Sa’d bin Hishām there is evidence that he (ﷺ) regularly preserved them (i.e. the two Rak’ah) (Fath al-Bārī 9/179).
- Al-Albānī held that these two Rak’ah are a sunnah and that it’s from virtue to pray them consistently – using Āishas report as evidence (narration of Sa’d bin Hishām). Furthermore the Prophet (ﷺ) recommended praying the two Rak’ah to the travellers as reported by Thawbān. Thus, his command agrees with his action. (See Sifat al-Salāh pg. 106 and Silsilah al-Hudā wal-Nūr 484, also see: Link to Sh. Albānīs fatwa).
- Muhammad Bazmūl said: Ibn Khuzaymah (Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah (159/2) included the hadīth of Thawbān by saying: (Chapter mentioning the evidence that praying after Witr is permissible for everyone who wants to pray after it), and that the two rak’ahs that the Prophet used to pray after Witr were not specific to the Prophet (ﷺ) alone, and not for his nation, since the Prophet (ﷺ) commanded us to perform the two rak’ahs after the Witr prayer, as a matter of recommendation and virtue, not an obligation. (Sharh Sifat al-Salāh of Al-Albānī pg. 223)
- Ibn al-Qayyim said in Zād al-Ma’ād 1/322: These (two Rak’ah after witr) was problematic for many people, as they thought it contradicted what he (ﷺ) said : “Make your last prayer at night Witr.” Mālik denied these two rak’ahs, and Ahmad said: I do not do it, nor do I prevent those who do it. Others said: He performed the two rak’ahs, to clarify the permissibility of prayer after Witr, and his saying: “Make your last prayer at night Witr” is a (command of) recommendation (and not an obligation), and thus praying the two rak’ahs after it is permissible.
The correct thing is to say: These two rak’ahs are part of the Sunnah and complement the Witr prayer, for the Witr prayer is an independent act of worship – especially if it is said that it is obligatory; so the two rak’ahs are performed after it, which are similar to the Sunnah of Maghrib, which is the Witr of the day, and the two rak’ahs after it are a complement to it. Likewise, the two rak’ahs after the Witr of the night complement it. - Shaykh Al-Albānī said: these two Rak’ah should be performed seated in accordance to the sunnah. Ibn Hajr said:al-Hasan (al-Basrī) would pray them seated. (Albānis fatawā: Link to Sh. Albānīs fatwa, see also Fath al-Bārī 9/179)
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