hadiths regarding the command to perform it and the encouragement to do so, thus his speech was delivered in the same manner as the speech of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). Otherwise, he clarified in the narration of Hanbal, saying: "Witr is not in the same position as the obligatory [Fard] prayer; if a man performed the obligatory prayer alone, it would be permissible for him." Both are confirmed Sunnah: the two rak'ahs before the Dawn [Fajr] prayer and the Witr (44). If he wishes, he may perform Witr as a makeup, and if he wishes, he may not, as they are not in the position of the obligatory prayer. Our companions differed regarding Witr and the two rak'ahs of Fajr. The Qadi said: The two rak'ahs of Fajr are more confirmed than Witr due to their being restricted to a number [of rak'ahs] that neither increases nor decreases, thus they resemble the obligatory prayer. Others said: Witr is more confirmed, which is more correct; for its obligatory status is a matter of disagreement, and there are reports regarding it that have no equivalent concerning the two rak'ahs of Fajr. However, the two rak'ahs of Fajr follow it in confirmation. And Allah knows best.

Section: Its time is between the Isha prayer and the rising of the second dawn. If one performs Witr before Isha, his Witr is invalid. Al-Thawri and Abu Hanifah said: If he performs it before Isha out of forgetfulness, he does not repeat it, but his two companions [Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani] disagreed with him, stating: He must repeat it. This was also the view of Malik and al-Shafi'i; for the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Allah has provided you with Witr between the Isha prayer and the rising (46) of the dawn" (47). [And in it is the hadith of Abu Basrah: "Indeed, Allah has increased for you a prayer, so perform it between the Isha prayer and the Subh (dawn) prayer"] (48). And in the "Musnad" (49), from Mu'adh, he said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) say: "[Indeed, my Lord has increased for me] (50) a prayer, and it is Witr, and its time is between the Isha prayer and the rising of the dawn." This is because he performed it before its time, so it resembles one who performs it during the day. If he delays the Witr until the dawn rises, its time has passed, and he performs it as a makeup. It was narrated from Ibn Mas'ud that he said: