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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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The number of rak'ahs in the Witr prayer

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Please inform us about the Witr prayer. Is it one rak'ah, or three? May Allah reward you with good.
Answer: The minimum for the Witr prayer is one rak'ah, after 'Isha' or at the end of the night. One rak'ah is the minimum. If one prays three, five, or more, that is better. However, the minimum is one, after the Sunnah of 'Isha', or in the middle of the night, or at the end of the night. The best is to increase by praying three, five, or more than that, in pairs of two, concluding the prayer from every two and making the Witr with one. This is the Sunnah, based on his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) in the authentic hadith:
Prayer during the night should consist of pairs of rak'ahs, but if one of you fears the morning is near he should pray one rak'ah which will make his prayer an odd number for him.صلاة الليل مثنى مثنى فإذا خشي أحدكم الصبح صلى ركعة واحدة توتر له ما قد صلى
Sunan Abi Dawud 1326Sahih (Al-Albani)
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) usually prayed eleven, concluding the prayer from every two and making the Witr with one. Sometimes he prayed seven, sometimes nine, sometimes five, sometimes three, peace and blessings be upon him. Sometimes he prayed more, thirteen. So the Muslim prays what Allah makes easy for him, concluding the prayer from every two and making the Witr with one. If he does not pray except one only, that suffices him, and praise be to Allah. Yes.
The presenter: May Allah reward you with good.
Source binbaz.org.sa

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

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