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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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Did the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) perform the witr prayer at Muzdalifah when he combined the Maghrib and 'Isha' prayers?

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The Shaykh : The praise is for Allah; we praise Him, seek His help, and seek His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our own souls and from the evil of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide, and whomsoever He leaves to misguide, none can guide. And I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger.
O you who have believed, fear Allah as He should be feared and do not die except as Muslims [in submission to Him]. يا أيها الذين آمنوا اتقوا الله حق تقاته ولا تموتن إلا وأنتم مسلمون
[Ali 'Imran 3:102]
O mankind, fear your Lord, who created you from one soul and created from it its mate and dispersed from both of them many men and women. And fear Allah, through whom you ask one another, and the wombs. Indeed Allah is ever, over you, an Observer. يا أيها الناس اتقوا ربكم الذي خلقكم من نفس واحدة وخلق منها زوجها وبث منهما رجالا كثيرا ونساءا واتقوا الله الذي تساءولون به والأرحام إن الله كان عليكم رقيبا
[An-Nisa 4:1]
(70) O you who have believed, fear Allah and speak words of appropriate justice. (71) He will [then] amend for you your deeds and forgive you your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has certainly attained a great attainment. يا أيها الذين آمنوا اتقوا الله وقولوا قولا سديدا يصلح لكم أعمالكم ويغفر لكم ذنوبكم ومن يطع الله ورسوله فقد فاز فوزا عظيما
[Al-Ahzab 33:70-71]
As for what follows, the best of speech is the speech of Allah, the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), and the worst of matters are those that are newly invented. Every newly invented matter is a religious innovation, every religious innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire. Furthermore, the question you have all heard, or some of you have heard, from the honorable Al-Banna is: Did the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) perform the witr prayer when he combined the Maghrib and 'Isha' prayers at Muzdalifah by delaying them?The Shaykh : The answer is: It is not reported from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he prayed more than the combination of the two obligatory prayers and the combination through shortening. The narrators among his Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) mentioned that he slept until morning. This strongly indicates that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not add to the performance of the two obligatory prayers—Maghrib and 'Isha'—any other obligatory prayer on that specific night. Based on this, we can derive two rulings from this narration. The first ruling is that if Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has lightened the burden of the obligatory prayer for Muslims in the general state of travel, and specifically in the state of combining prayers at Muzdalifah, by reducing the 'Isha' prayer to two rak'ahs—while the Maghrib prayer remains two rak'ahs as you know—then it is even more fitting that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) would lighten the burden of voluntary prayers for traveling Muslims. It is established in Sahih al-Bukhari from Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said, "If I were to recite the tasbih, I would complete [the prayer]." By "if I were to recite the tasbih," he meant if he were traveling, he would complete the obligatory prayer. So if Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has lightened the burden of the obligatory prayer for His servants, as you have heard, by reducing the four-rak'ah prayer to two, how can we not lighten the burden on ourselves by not reciting tasbih or performing voluntary prayers? The practice of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was to not perform voluntary prayers while traveling. I do not mean this in a general sense, but our current discussion concerns the regular voluntary prayers (rawatib), specifically the witr prayer, followed by the Fajr prayer. There is no doubt for any jurist of the Sunnah that the state of the pilgrim is more sensitive and precise than that of any traveler. Therefore, it is not surprising or astonishing that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not perform the witr prayer on that night, as a lightening from Allah (Mighty and Majestic) for His servants. This is the first ruling that we can deduce and understand from the fact that the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who transmitted to us the description of the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) Hajj in general and what he did at Muzdalifah in particular, did not mention it.
Answer: It is not reported from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he prayed more than the combined obligatory prayers and the shortened prayers. The narrators among his Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) mentioned that he slept until morning. This strongly indicates that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not add any obligatory prayer to the two obligatory prayers of Maghrib and 'Isha' on that specific night. Based on this, we can derive two rulings from this narration. The first ruling is that if Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has lightened the burden of the obligatory prayer for Muslims in general during travel, and specifically during the combination of prayers at Muzdalifah by reducing the 'Isha' prayer to two rak'ahs—while the Maghrib prayer remains two rak'ahs as you know—then it is even more fitting that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) would lighten the burden of voluntary prayers for traveling Muslims. It is established in Sahih al-Bukhari from 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said, "If I were to recite the tasbih, I would complete the obligatory prayer." By "if I were to recite the tasbih," he meant during travel, I would complete the obligatory prayer. So if Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has lightened the burden of the obligatory prayer for His servants, as you have heard, by reducing the four-rak'ah prayer to two, how can we not lighten the burden on ourselves by not reciting tasbih or performing voluntary prayers? The practice of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was to not perform voluntary prayers during travel. I do not mean this in a general sense, but our current discussion is regarding the regular voluntary prayers (rawatib), specifically the witr prayer, followed by the Fajr prayer. There is no doubt for any jurist of the Sunnah that the state of the pilgrim is more sensitive and delicate than that of any traveler. Therefore, it is not surprising or astonishing that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not perform the witr prayer on that night, as a concession from Allah (Mighty and Majestic) for His servants. This is the first ruling that we can deduce and understand from the fact that the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who transmitted to us the description of the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) Hajj in general and what he did at Muzdalifah in particular, did not mention it.
Source www.al-albany.com

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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