I hope you will guide us on how to pray the witr on these nights. Do we pray it with the tarawih or at the end of the night, and how do we follow the imam?

The questioner : May the Shaykh direct us on how to pray the witr on these nights. Do we pray it with the tarawih or at the end of the night, and how do we follow the imam?

The Shaykh : What I see in this question is that you should pray with the first imam until he concludes the prayer. When he concludes from the witr, you should come and pray one rak'ah, so that this makes the witr even. Then you should pray the witr with the second imam at the end of the night. By doing this, you will be implementing the saying of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him):
But here is an issue, and that is that some people may raise an objection to this statement. They say: It is established that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not exceed eleven rak'ahs in Ramadan or otherwise, and perhaps he prayed thirteen rak'ahs. And if you give us this guidance, how many rak'ahs do you want us to pray?
The student: Twenty-four.

The Shaykh : Twenty-four at the beginning of the night, because we said to make the witr even. How many is that? Twenty-four at the beginning of the night. And at the end of the night? How many?
The student: Eleven.

The Shaykh : Eleven. Twenty-four and eleven make thirty-five. And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not exceed eleven rak'ahs in Ramadan or otherwise, as Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said, and she was among the most knowledgeable people about the condition of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). So how do you direct us to something contrary to the guidance of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)? This is a problem. What is the answer to it?
The answer to it is that we say: We did not direct you to something contrary to the guidance of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). We disavow Allah and seek refuge in Him from directing to something contrary to the guidance of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). And if it were the case that we directed to something contrary to the guidance of the Messenger, it would be obligatory for our statement to be refuted and for us to be struck in the face with it, not to be ignored. But we give this guidance because we see that this is the requirement of the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: And he said: If a person says, how can the first be followed when you prayed one rak'ah after him? Did you pray one rak'ah after him? No, absolutely not. How can it be following? We say: Praying one rak'ah after the imam concludes the prayer does not prevent following, as evidenced by the fact that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to pray with the people of Makkah and say: meaning they were travelers. So he would pray two rak'ahs because he was a traveler, and he would order them to pray four to complete the prayer. This indicates that adding a rak'ah to the imam's prayer does not prevent completing it with him.
Now, it remains to be said: The addition that brings it to thirty-five, while the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not pray more than eleven or thirteen. We say this is also from the Sunnah. If the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said regarding the imam: And if you pray behind the imam sitting, while you are able to stand, you have left what? A pillar of the prayer. All of this is for the sake of following. The Companions (may Allah be pleased with them), when they objected to Uthman ibn Affan (may Allah be pleased with him) completing the prayer in Mina during Hajj, until Ibn Mas'ud, when he heard that Uthman had completed it, said: And yet they used to pray with him how many? Four. All of this is for the sake of following and not opposing. And if we look at the actions of the imams of the Muslims, Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (may Allah have mercy on him) used to hold that qunut in the Fajr prayer is a religious innovation. And yet he said: "If he prays behind an imam who does qunut in the Fajr prayer, let him follow him and say 'Ameen' to his supplication". He did not say to turn away from him. So we have from the Sunnah, from the actions of the Companions, and from the statements of the imams, what establishes that it is better for a person to follow his imam, and that this is not considered a contradiction of the Sunnah. Because disagreement is evil; disagreement among the Muslims and their leniency is evil without a doubt. So the brothers who exert effort, when the imam prays ten rak'ahs, meaning five taslims, they sit and wait until the witr comes, and then they pray the witr. Without a doubt, in our view, they have deprived themselves of much good. If they had prayed with the imam, that would have been in accordance with the congregation, and it would have been an increase in prayer. And increasing the prayer beyond eleven rak'ahs is not prohibited at all. For the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: And when he was asked about the night prayer, he said: And he did not limit it to a specific number of rak'ahs. And it is narrated from the Salaf regarding standing in prayer at night in Ramadan various forms of increase and decrease. So when they shortened the recitation, they increased the rak'ahs, and when they lengthened the recitation, they decreased them. Yes.