Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah

Imam Abu Bakr, may Allah have mercy on him, says that at the beginning of the book, I have already dictated the narration of Sayyiduna Talhah bin Ubaidullah regarding a Bedouin's question to the Noble Prophet (peace be upon him) about Islam and the Prophet's (peace be upon him) answer. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "Five prayers are obligatory in the day and night." He asked, "Is there any prayer obligatory upon me besides these?" The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "No, except that you offer voluntary (nafl) prayers." Thus, the Chosen Prophet (peace be upon him) informed him that whatever is in addition to the five prayers will be considered voluntary.

Not according to what is claimed by one who does not understand the number, nor distinguishes between the obligatory and the virtuous, so he claims that Witr is obligatory. Then, when he was asked about the number of obligatory prayers, he claimed that the obligatory prayers are five. So it was said to him: And the Witr? He said: It is obligatory. The questioner then said: You do not know how to count.

Not according to what is claimed by one who does not understand the number, nor distinguishes between the obligatory and the virtuous, so he claims that Witr is obligatory. Then, when he was asked about the number of obligatory prayers, he claimed that the obligatory prayers are five. So it was said to him: And the Witr? He said: It is obligatory. The questioner then said: You do not know how to count.

Imam Abu Bakr, may Allah have mercy on him, says that at the beginning of the book, I have already dictated the narration of Sayyiduna Talhah bin Ubaidullah regarding a Bedouin's question to the Noble Prophet (peace be upon him) about Islam and the Prophet's (peace be upon him) answer. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "Five prayers are obligatory in the day and night." He asked, "Is there any prayer obligatory upon me besides these?" The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "No, except that you offer voluntary (nafl) prayers." Thus, the Chosen Prophet (peace be upon him) informed him that whatever is in addition to the five prayers will be considered voluntary.

Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that: "Indeed, Witr is not obligatory, nor is it like your obligatory prayers. But the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) performed Witr. Then he said: O people of the Qur'an, perform Witr, for indeed Allah, the Exalted, is One (Witr) and loves the odd (number). Abdullah bin Saeed Al-Ashajj did not mention these words: O people of the Qur'an, perform Witr. Saeed bin Abdur Rahman narrated from Sufyan, from Abu Ishaq, a narration similar in chain and text to that of Al-Dawraqi."

It is narrated from Abdul Rahman bin Abi Amrah Al-Bukhari that he asked Sayyiduna Ubadah bin Samit (may Allah be pleased with him) about Witr, so he replied, "It is a very excellent and good deed. The Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and, after him, the Muslims practiced it, and it is not obligatory." Imam Abu Bakr (may Allah have mercy on him) says, "I have mentioned in Kitab al-Kabir those statements of the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in which he informed that Allah Almighty has made five prayers obligatory upon you and your Ummah in the day and night." So these narrations indicate that the person who declares Witr obligatory upon the servants, in fact, declares six prayers obligatory upon them in the day and night—and this is against the statements of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). It is also against what the learned and the ignorant among the Muslims understand. It is against what the veiled women have understood in their seclusion, what the children have understood in the schools and madrasahs, and what the slaves and slave-girls have understood—because all these people know that the obligatory prayers are five, not six.

Abdul Warith bin Saeed narrates that I asked Imam Abu Hanifa, or Imam Abu Hanifa was asked, about Witr. He replied that Witr is obligatory (fard). So I said, or it was said to him, how many obligatory prayers are there? He replied that there are five prayers. Then it was said to him, so what do you say about Witr? He replied that it is obligatory (fard). So I said, or it was said to him, that you do not know how to count.