did the Messenger of God (peace and blessings of God be upon him) perform Witr?" She said: "He used to perform Witr with four and three, six and three, eight and three, and ten and three. He would not perform Witr with less than seven, nor more than thirteen." Abu Dawud recorded it (9).
245 - Issue; he said: (He performs Qunut in it)
He means that the Qunut is a Sunnah in the Witr, in the single rak'ah, throughout the whole year. This is the explicit statement according to our companions, and this is the opinion of Ibn Mas'ud, Ibrahim, Ishaq, and the scholars of ra'y (reasoned opinion). It is also narrated from al-Hasan. From Ahmad, there is another narration that he does not perform Qunut except in the last half of Ramadan. This is also narrated from Ali and Ubayy. This is the opinion of Ibn Sirin, Sa'id ibn Abi al-Hasan (1), al-Zuhri, Yahya ibn Waththab (2), Malik, and al-Shafi'i. Abu Bakr al-Athram chose this due to what is narrated from al-Hasan, that Umar gathered the people under Ubayy ibn Ka'b, and he used to pray for them for twenty nights (3) and would not perform Qunut except in the remaining half (4). Abu Dawud recorded it (5), and this is like consensus. Qatadah said: He performs Qunut in the whole year
= the Witr with five, the chapter on how Witr is performed with seven, and the chapter on how Witr is performed with nine, from the Book of Night Prayer. Al-Mujtaba 3/198, 200. Al-Tirmidhi recorded the hadith of Umm Salamah that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings of God be upon him) used to perform Witr with seven, then he said: "In the chapter, there is (a report) from Aisha." See: The Chapter on What Has Been Reported Regarding Witr with Seven, from the Chapters on Witr. 'Aridat al-Ahwadhi 2/245. Ibn Majah recorded the hadith of Aisha that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings of God be upon him) used to perform Witr with nine and with seven, and the hadith of Umm Salamah that he used to perform Witr with seven or with five, in: The Chapter on What Has Been Reported Regarding Witr with Three, Five, Seven, and Nine, from the Book of Establishing Prayer. Sunan Ibn Majah 1/376. Imam Ahmad recorded the hadith of Aisha regarding Witr with nine and with seven, in: Al-Musnad 6/227, and the hadith of Umm Salamah regarding Witr with five, in: Al-Musnad 6/290, 310, 321. (9) In: The Chapter on the Prayer of the Night, from the Book of Voluntary Prayer. Sunan Abi Dawud 1/313. It was also recorded by Imam Ahmad, in: Al-Musnad 6/149. (1) Sa'id ibn Abi al-Hasan, his name is Yasar, the Ansari, their freedman, al-Basri, a trustworthy Tabi'i, died in the year 100 AH. Tahdhib al-Tahdhib 4/16. (2) In [A] and [M]: "Thabit", an error. (3) In the original: "rak'ah". (4) In [A] and [M]: "the second". (5) In: The Chapter on Qunut in Witr, from the Book of Witr. Sunan Abi Dawud 1/331.
