Source: Extracted from Hudiyyat al-Muslimīn – Namāz ke Aham Masāʾil maʿ Maqmal Namāz al-Nabawiyyah ﷺ by Shaykh Zubair ʿAlī Zai رحمه الله
From Ibn ʿUmar (رضي الله عنهما):
"The Messenger of Allah ﷺ would separate the even (two) rakʿahs from the Witr (one rakʿah) with a salām that he made audible to us."
[Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān, al-Iḥsān: 4/70, Ḥadīth 2426]
① This ḥadīth proves that the method of praying three rakʿahs of Witr is to pray two rakʿahs, give salām, and then pray one rakʿah separately.
② The narrations mentioning “then he would pray three” [Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim: 1/254, Ḥadīth 738] mean that he prayed two separately and one separately — as clarified in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (1/254, Ḥadīth 736):
"He would say salām after every two rakʿahs and make Witr with one."
③ The marfūʿ narrations that mention three rakʿahs with one salām are all weak in chain — some contain the tadlīs of Qatādah.
④ The marfūʿ narration describing two tashahhuds in three rakʿahs of Witr is fabricated (mawḍūʿ) and false. [See al-Istīʿāb: biography no. 4471, and Mīzān al-Iʿtidāl]
⑤ Despite such severe weakness, the author of Ḥadīth aur Ahl Ḥadīth relied on this fabricated narration. [See ibid., p. 563, May 1993 edition]
Ḥadīth Evidence
From Ibn ʿUmar (رضي الله عنهما):
"The Messenger of Allah ﷺ would separate the even (two) rakʿahs from the Witr (one rakʿah) with a salām that he made audible to us."
[Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān, al-Iḥsān: 4/70, Ḥadīth 2426]
Benefits and Rulings
① This ḥadīth proves that the method of praying three rakʿahs of Witr is to pray two rakʿahs, give salām, and then pray one rakʿah separately.
② The narrations mentioning “then he would pray three” [Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim: 1/254, Ḥadīth 738] mean that he prayed two separately and one separately — as clarified in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (1/254, Ḥadīth 736):
"He would say salām after every two rakʿahs and make Witr with one."
③ The marfūʿ narrations that mention three rakʿahs with one salām are all weak in chain — some contain the tadlīs of Qatādah.
- If one were to act upon these weak narrations, then in three rakʿahs of Witr with one salām, the person should not sit for tashahhud after the second rakʿah, but only after the third, as indicated in al-Sunan al-Kubrā by al-Bayhaqī in Qatādah’s narration.
- The narration in Zād al-Maʿād (1/330) and Musnad Aḥmad (6/155–156) with “lā yafṣilu fīhinna” is weak due to the weakness of Yazīd bin Yaʿfar and the ʿanʿanah of al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī (two defects).
④ The marfūʿ narration describing two tashahhuds in three rakʿahs of Witr is fabricated (mawḍūʿ) and false. [See al-Istīʿāb: biography no. 4471, and Mīzān al-Iʿtidāl]
- Its main narrators, Ḥafṣ bin Sulaymān al-Qārī and Abān bin Abī ʿAyyāsh, are both abandoned and accused. The lower part of the chain is missing and there is also the ʿanʿanah of a mudallis.
⑤ Despite such severe weakness, the author of Ḥadīth aur Ahl Ḥadīth relied on this fabricated narration. [See ibid., p. 563, May 1993 edition]
