It is my habit, and praise be to Allah, that I do not sleep until I have prayed the witr. One night I slept and did not pray the witr out of forgetfulness, and I remembered it the next day. Do I pray the witr for that night?

The questioner : The listener Fakhsh from Dammam says: It is my habit, and praise be to Allah, that I do not sleep until I have prayed the witr. One night I slept and did not pray the witr out of forgetfulness, and I remembered it the next day. Do I pray the witr for that night after I remembered?

The Shaykh : Yes, if you forgot the witr and did not remember it until the daytime, you should pray it, based on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) However, you should not pray it as witr, because the witr was prescribed to conclude the night prayer, and the night prayer ended with the dawn. You should only pray it as an even number of rak'ahs. If it is your habit to pray witr with three rak'ahs and you forgot and did not remember until the late morning of the next day, you should pray four rak'ahs. If it is your habit to pray witr with five rak'ahs, you should pray six. If it is your habit to pray witr with seven rak'ahs, you should pray eight. If it is your habit to pray witr with nine rak'ahs, you should pray ten. If it is your habit to pray witr with eleven rak'ahs, you should pray twelve. This is why the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), when overcome by sleep or pain, would pray twelve rak'ahs during the day. Yes.