The Ruling on Performing Witr with One or Three Rak'ahs After the Rawatib of 'Isha'
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, a questioner says: After performing the regular voluntary prayers (rawatib) for the night prayer ('Isha'), some people pray a single rak'ah with the intention of witr.
The Shaykh:
After what?
The questioner:
He says: After performing the regular voluntary prayers (rawatib) for the night prayer ('Isha'), some people pray a single rak'ah with the intention of witr. Is this action valid? And if he prays three rak'ahs with a single closing salam (taslim) with the intention of witr, is that also valid?
The Shaykh:
The minimum for witr is one rak'ah. So if he prays one rak'ah with the intention of witr, it is valid; this is the minimum for witr. The lowest level of perfection is three rak'ahs, and the highest level of perfection is eleven or thirteen rak'ahs, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to do. It is permissible to perform witr with one rak'ah without praying anything else; this is permissible, but it is the least amount. However, it is better to precede it with two rak'ahs to make it an even number, so that it becomes three; this is the lowest level of perfection.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you
Honorable Shaykh, a questioner says: After performing the regular voluntary prayers (rawatib) for the night prayer ('Isha'), some people pray a single rak'ah with the intention of witr.
The Shaykh:
After what?
The questioner:
He says: After performing the regular voluntary prayers (rawatib) for the night prayer ('Isha'), some people pray a single rak'ah with the intention of witr. Is this action valid? And if he prays three rak'ahs with a single closing salam (taslim) with the intention of witr, is that also valid?
The Shaykh:
The minimum for witr is one rak'ah. So if he prays one rak'ah with the intention of witr, it is valid; this is the minimum for witr. The lowest level of perfection is three rak'ahs, and the highest level of perfection is eleven or thirteen rak'ahs, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to do. It is permissible to perform witr with one rak'ah without praying anything else; this is permissible, but it is the least amount. However, it is better to precede it with two rak'ahs to make it an even number, so that it becomes three; this is the lowest level of perfection.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you
Source
75-اللقاء الأسبوعي مع الشيخ صالح الفوزان - 26 — archive.org (52:52)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.