Sahih Muslim, 754 a
sahihAbu Sa'id (al Khudri) reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying:
Observe Witr prayer before it is morning. Abu Sa'id reported that they (the Prophet's Companions) asked the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) about Witr (prayer). (In reply to their inquiry) he said: Observe Witr prayer before it is morning.
حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ، حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ الأَعْلَى بْنُ عَبْدِ الأَعْلَى، عَنْ مَعْمَرٍ، عَنْ يَحْيَى بْنِ أَبِي كَثِيرٍ، عَنْ أَبِي نَضْرَةَ، عَنْ أَبِي سَعِيدٍ، أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ
أَوْتِرُوا قَبْلَ أَنْ تُصْبِحُوا
.
Isnad
6 transmittersReferences2 variants
- In-Book Reference
- Book 6, Hadith 193
- USC-MSA web (English) reference
- Book 4, Hadith 1648 (deprecated numbering scheme)
Sharh · explanationclick to expand
The Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) were the most keen among people to seek the Prophet's guidance and observe his circumstances, by watching and asking, so as to learn his guidance and Sunnah, including his prayer, Qiyām al-Layl, voluntary worship, and so on. And the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) used to teach them the obligatory and supererogatory prayers and their etiquettes and the best times for performing them. Also, he would guide them to the highest level of worship and the minimum amount of what is sufficient in it. In this Hadīth, Abu Sa‘īd al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) said that some of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) asked the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) about the Witr prayer and its time, so he (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Perform the Witr prayer before the morning." In other words, perform the Witr prayer before the coming of the time of the obligatory prayer of the morning. Morning here refers to the true dawn. This indicates that the Witr prayer is to be performed at the end of the night prayer, and its time extends until the rise of dawn. When the dawn rises, no Witr can be performed, even between the Adhān and iqāmah of the Fajr prayer. In the Hadīth: The time for the Witr prayer ends before the Fajr prayer. And in it: Indication that delaying the Witr prayer is better..