The Time of the Witr Prayer and the Supplications Prescribed in It

Question:
Abd al-Rahman Zafir al-'Umrī, from Buraydah in the Qasim region, asks: What is the supplication that is recommended to be recited in the witr after the 'Isha' prayer? And when is the witr prayer recommended?
Please inform us, may Allah reward you with good.

Answer:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Praise be to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon whoever follows his guidance. After that:
For Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) has prescribed witr for His servants, which is the time between the 'Isha' prayer and the dawn. This is the place for witr. Witr is prescribed for the community between the 'Isha' prayer and the dawn, as in the hadith from him (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: .

The sunnah is one rak'ah or more. If one performs witr with one, three, five, or more than that, he has hit the sunnah. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) usually performed witr with eleven rak'ahs, saying taslim after every two (peace and blessings be upon him), and performing witr with one. He sometimes performed witr with three, sometimes with five, sometimes with seven, sometimes with nine (peace and blessings be upon him), and sometimes with thirteen. This is the most that is reported from him (peace and blessings be upon him). However, he permitted the community to perform witr with more than that, saying (peace and blessings be upon him): This indicates that there is no harm in performing witr with more than that: five, ten, seventeen, nineteen, twenty-one, twenty-three, and so on.
Included in this is what 'Umar and the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) did when they prayed twenty-three rak'ahs in Ramadan, the tarawih. This is from this category, and it is covered by the authentic hadith narrated by the two Shaykhs from the hadith of Ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: When asked about the night prayer, he said: He did not specify ten rak'ahs or twenty, nor more, nor less, but he left it general. This indicates that the night prayer is expansive in Ramadan and otherwise. If one performs witr with eleven, thirteen, or more than that, he has hit the sunnah.
The sunnah for him is to make the last rak'ah the conclusion of his prayer, and with it the witr is achieved, whether in Ramadan or otherwise. If he limits himself to three rak'ahs or five rak'ahs, because that is easier for him, all of it is good. If he performs witr with only one, there is no harm in that.
As for its time, it was mentioned earlier that it is between the 'Isha' prayer and the dawn. The best is at the end of the night for one who is able to do so. If he is not able, he performs witr at the beginning of the night as a precaution. As for one who is confident that he will rise at the end of the night, the sunnah for him is at the end of the night, as in the authentic hadith from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: .
So performing witr at the end of the night is better for one who is able to do so, and he concludes with the witr. But if he is not able to do so, he performs witr at the beginning of the night as a precaution. Then, if Allah grants him the ability to rise at the end of the night, he prays what is easy for him: two, four, six rak'ahs, or more, but without witr. The first witr is sufficient for him, and there is no need to break the witr by praying a single rak'ah, as some scholars do. No, the correct view is that the witr is not broken, but one is content with the first witr and prays what he wishes at the end of the night. This is based on his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): And because it is established from him (peace and blessings be upon him) that he sometimes prayed two rak'ahs after the witr. That is (and Allah knows best) to let people know that there is no harm in praying an even number after the witr. The best is that the witr is the last prayer of the night, serving as the conclusion.
As for the supplication that is reported in this, it is established in the authentic hadith from the hadith of al-Hasan ibn 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) and his father that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) taught him words to say in the qunut of witr: Al-Bayhaqi added in a narration: .

And it came in another narration: This came in another narration from 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to say that, meaning he would add to the supplication of the witr: This is part of what is recommended in the qunut of the witr, whether his witr is in the first part of the night or in the last part of the night.
As for what some people do of qunut in the Fajr prayer, this was said by some scholars, and some weak hadiths came regarding it. The correct view is that it is not recommended in Fajr, based on what is established from the hadith of Sa'd ibn Tariq al-Ash'ari from his father that his son Sa'd asked him, saying: "O my father, you prayed behind the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and behind Abu Bakr, 'Umar, 'Uthman, and 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with them) . Did they perform qunut in Fajr?" He said: He answered thus: Meaning: Qunut in the Fajr prayer is an innovation, not from his sunnah (peace and blessings be upon him), nor from the sunnah of his Rightly Guided Caliphs. It becomes clear from this that the best is to leave it off except in times of calamity. If a calamity befalls the Muslims, such as an enemy besieging some Muslims in some of the Muslim lands, or something similar to that, then qunut is prescribed in Fajr and otherwise, supplicating for the removal of the affliction, the defeat of the enemy, and the like, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did in many times, supplicating against some of the enemies. Yes.