When Do I Pray Witr?

Question: I have heard you can still pray nafl prayers after witr, but you said witrshould be the last prayer. Did you mean for fard and sunnah or all the prayers.

In the Name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful,

Walaikum assalam,

1. There are two cases:

a) If one does not always get up at night for nightvigil (tahajjud) prayer, then one prays witr before sleep, as missing it is sinful;

b) If one invariably gets up for witr, then it is bestto pray witr after one’s tahajjud.

2. It is not disliked to pray after the witr prayer,though it is best to make it the last prayer one is praying (after taking the above into consideration).

3. One can only pray one current performance ofthe witr prayer daily:

In Imam Fakhr al-Dïn al-Zayla`ï (Allah havemercy on him) wrote in his Tabyïn al-Haqà’iq Sharh Kanz al-Daqà’iq:

“It is recommended to delay the witr prayer until the end of the night if one is sure of waking up, in order for it to be the last of his night prayers, because the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “Make the witr prayer the last of your night prayers.” (Related by Bukhari, Muslim, & others). If one is not sure of waking up at night, one should perform the witr prayer before sleeping, because of the hadith narrated by Jabir (Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “Whoever fears not waking up at the end of the night should pray witr before sleeping. And whoever is confident about waking up at the end of the night should pray witr then…” (Related by Muslim and others) [Tabyïn al-Haqà’iq, 1: 84]

Sayyidi Ibn Abidin (Allah have mercy on him) said in his Radd al-Muhtar:

“If one prayed witr before sleeping and then wakes up… it is not disliked to pray. Rather, it is recommended to pray. However, witr is not repeated.” [Radd al-Muhtar: 1: 369]

 

Therefore, if one invariably gets up for tahajjud (the night vigil), then it is best to pray witr then. Otherwise, one should pray witr before sleeping, because it is a sin to delay a necessary prayer past its prescribed time.

This is why Abu Hurayra relates, “My beloved one [=the Prophet] counseled me not to sleep except having prayed witr.”

And Allah knows best.

Wassalam,
Faraz  Rabbani