The Book of the Prayer of the Traveler and Its Shortening-07b
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The reciter: And Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shaybah narrated to us, saying: Abu Asimah narrated to us from Hisham from Muhammad from Abu Hurayrah from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who said: Sahih Muslim 768.
Qutaybah ibn Sa'id narrated to us...
The Shaykh : ...this sunnah (recommended practice) is established from his words and his actions, and on this basis it is a confirmed sunnah. So even if a person stands up late and the only thing left for him is to catch the witr (the odd-numbered night prayer), we say: pray two light rak'ahs, then perform witr with one rak'ah. If you fear the dawn, perform witr with one rak'ah. The wisdom in this is that when a person sleeps, Satan ties three knots on the top of his head or the back of his head. When he wakes up and remembers Allah, the first knot is untied. When he performs wudu' (the ablution for prayer), the second is untied. When he prays, the third is untied. A person should hasten to untie Satan's knots, which is why the two rak'ahs with which one begins the night prayer are light.
When any one of you gets up at night, he should begin the prayer with two short rak'ahs.
إذا قام أحدكم من الليل فليفتتح صلاته بركعتين خفيفتينQutaybah ibn Sa'id narrated to us...
The Shaykh : ...this sunnah (recommended practice) is established from his words and his actions, and on this basis it is a confirmed sunnah. So even if a person stands up late and the only thing left for him is to catch the witr (the odd-numbered night prayer), we say: pray two light rak'ahs, then perform witr with one rak'ah. If you fear the dawn, perform witr with one rak'ah. The wisdom in this is that when a person sleeps, Satan ties three knots on the top of his head or the back of his head. When he wakes up and remembers Allah, the first knot is untied. When he performs wudu' (the ablution for prayer), the second is untied. When he prays, the third is untied. A person should hasten to untie Satan's knots, which is why the two rak'ahs with which one begins the night prayer are light.