Witr Prayer (The Odd-numbered and Final Night Prayer)
Al-witr, the final night salah, is a worship consisting of an odd number of rak‘ahs of prayer: minimally three rak‘ahs and optimally up to 11.
Witr is the final prayer of the night’s worship, meaning that it is performed either after sunnah prayers that follow ‘Isha if one is finished praying until the morning; or after Tahajjud if one rises in the last third of the night for remembrance and salah.
If you are able, you may recite Surah A‘la (the 87th surah) in the first rak‘ah, Surah Kafirun (109) in the second, and Ikhlas, Falaq and Nas in the third.
Witr, like all nafl prayers, is prayed in pairs of rak‘ah with salams after each pair. Finish with a single rak‘ah and give salams.
During Ramadan it is recommended that one offer witr in a group after praying Tarawih, unless one intends to pray the night vigil prayer (Tahajjud), in which case one should postpone Witr until after the night vigil prayer.
In the final rak‘ah of Witr before or after the bow, it is sunna to recite al-Qunut, a du‘a of which numerous versions exist. Sidi recommends and practices the following:
Al-Qunut (a special du’a which is recited during the prayer)
| ALLÂHUMMA INNA NASTA’ÎNUKWA NASTAGhFIRUKA WA NU’MINU BIKWA NATAWAKKALU ‘ALAYK
WA NUThNI ‘ALAYKA-L-KhAYR WA NAShKURUKA WA LÂ NAKFURUK ALLÂHUMMA IYYÂKA NA‘BUD WA LAKA NUSALLÎ WA NASJUD WA ILÂKA NAS’Â WA NAHFID WA NARJU RAHMATAK WA NAKShA ‘ADHÂBAK INNA ‘ADHÂBAKA BI-L-KUFFARI MULHIQ |
Oh Allah, we seek Your help and we seek Your forgiveness and in You we believe
on You we rely completely and You we praise with every good and we are grateful to You and not ungrateful Oh Allah! You alone do we worship and to You we pray and prostrate, and to You we strive and hasten to obey, hoping for Your mercy and fearing Your chastisement Your chastisement shall overtake those who are ungrateful. |