Why do we pray Witr after Tarawih, and is it better to pray it at the end of the night?
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Question : He was asked: Is it better to pray Witr at the end of the night, and why do we pray Witr immediately after Tarawih instead of at the end of the night?
Answer : The Prophet said:
Then, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed Witr from the beginning of the night, from the middle of the night, and from the end of the night, as the Mother of the Believers, Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her), mentioned. So Witr is prayed after the Isha prayer and its Sunnah. Even if a person combines prayers by advancing them and prays Isha with Maghrib, in this case it is permissible for him to pray the voluntary prayers, meaning the regular voluntary prayers (Rawatib) for Maghrib and Isha, and to pray Witr, even if he did not intend to pray Isha at its other times. In any case, the objective is to make the last of your prayers at night Witr. Now, I ask: If a man prays Witr and then returns to the mosque and enters it, does he pray two rak'ahs? He died with the last prayer of the night and the month.
This has a reason, which is entering the mosque. Now, another man prays Witr before he sleeps, and then it happens that he gets up at night. Does he pray or not? If he prays, he does not make the last prayer of his night Witr.
We say that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not say, "Do not pray after Witr." The one who established the obligation did not say, "Do not pray after Witr." He said, "Make the last of your prayers at night Witr." This man prayed Witr at the beginning of the night based on the assumption that this would be his last prayer, so he complied with the command. Then, it happened that he got up. I say: Pray. Because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not prohibit prayer after Witr. We must know the difference between the two expressions. If he had said, "Do not pray after Witr," we would say that if you get up at the end of the night, do not pray. But he said, "Make the last of your prayers at night Witr." And he did, praying Witr before he slept based on the fact that it was not possible for him to get up. Then he got up.
Answer : The Prophet said:
(peace and blessings be upon him) said: Make the last of your prayer at night the witr.
صلى الله عليه وسلم اجعلوا آخر صلاتكم بالليل وترا.And he said: Whoever fears that he will not get up at the end of the night, let him pray Witr at the beginning of the night. And whoever hopes to get up at the end of the night, let him pray Witr at the end of the night, for the prayer at the end of the night is witnessed, and that is better.
وقال من خاف ألا يقوم من آخر الليل فليوتر أول الليل، ومن طمع أن يقوم من آخر الليل فليوتر آخر الليل فإن صلاة آخر الليل مشهودة وذلك أفضل.Then, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed Witr from the beginning of the night, from the middle of the night, and from the end of the night, as the Mother of the Believers, Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her), mentioned. So Witr is prayed after the Isha prayer and its Sunnah. Even if a person combines prayers by advancing them and prays Isha with Maghrib, in this case it is permissible for him to pray the voluntary prayers, meaning the regular voluntary prayers (Rawatib) for Maghrib and Isha, and to pray Witr, even if he did not intend to pray Isha at its other times. In any case, the objective is to make the last of your prayers at night Witr. Now, I ask: If a man prays Witr and then returns to the mosque and enters it, does he pray two rak'ahs? He died with the last prayer of the night and the month.
This has a reason, which is entering the mosque. Now, another man prays Witr before he sleeps, and then it happens that he gets up at night. Does he pray or not? If he prays, he does not make the last prayer of his night Witr.
We say that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not say, "Do not pray after Witr." The one who established the obligation did not say, "Do not pray after Witr." He said, "Make the last of your prayers at night Witr." This man prayed Witr at the beginning of the night based on the assumption that this would be his last prayer, so he complied with the command. Then, it happened that he got up. I say: Pray. Because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not prohibit prayer after Witr. We must know the difference between the two expressions. If he had said, "Do not pray after Witr," we would say that if you get up at the end of the night, do not pray. But he said, "Make the last of your prayers at night Witr." And he did, praying Witr before he slept based on the fact that it was not possible for him to get up. Then he got up.
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، 31 - 45 لماذا نصلي الوتر بعد التراويح وهل الأفضل أن تكون آخر الليل؟ فقه الصيام - ابن عثيمين — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.
