What is the ruling on the Witr prayer, how many rak'ahs does it consist of, when is its time, and how is it made up if its time is missed?

Question:
May Allah reward you with good, and may He do you good. Is the Witr prayer obligatory? How many rak'ahs does it consist of? And if a person wants to pray it during the day, how is it performed? May Allah reward you with good.

Answer:
The Witr prayer is a confirmed Sunnah according to the majority of scholars, and it is not obligatory. Only the five prayers are obligatory; because when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) taught the Bedouin the five prayers, he asked, "Is there anything else required of me?" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: The five prayers, and any prayer other than them is voluntary. This includes the Witr. Voluntary prayers are among the greatest of righteous deeds; because prayer is a connection between the servant and his Lord, and because the voluntary prayers complete the obligatory ones on the Day of Resurrection if there is a deficiency in the obligatory ones, as came in the hadith. Especially the rawatib (regular voluntary prayers) attached to the obligatory ones. So the Witr is a confirmed Sunnah, and it is not prayed during the day. Its time is only at night, between the 'Isha' prayer and the dawn. If it is in the last part of the night, it is better for one who trusts that he will get up. As for one who does not trust that he will get up in the last part of the night before the Fajr prayer, it is recommended for him to pray Witr before he sleeps. But if the Witr is missed at night and he is unable to perform it, he makes it up during the day, between the rising of the sun and the time of the Zuhr prayer. He makes it up as a Duha prayer, or between the rising of the sun and the time of the Zuhr prayer. But he does not make it up in its night form; rather, he makes it even in number. So if he prays Witr at night with three rak'ahs, he makes it four rak'ahs with two taslims. And if he prays Witr with five rak'ahs, he makes it six rak'ahs, with a taslim after every two rak'ahs, and so on. The minimum for Witr is one rak'ah, and the lowest degree of perfection is three rak'ahs: two as an even number, and the third as the odd one. The highest degree of perfection is what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to do: eleven rak'ahs. This is the highest degree of perfection. Yes.