Witr

Witr (وتر) is an Islamic prayer (salat) that is performed at night after Isha (night-time prayer) or before fajr (dawn prayer). Witr has an odd number of raka'at prayed in pairs, with the final raka'ah prayed separately. Therefore, as little as one raka'ah can be prayed, and eleven at most. Most Hanafis pray 3 raka'ah with dua qunoot in the third raka'ah. According to Abdullah ibn Umar, Muhammad said, "The night prayer is offered as two raka'at followed by two raka'at and so on and if anyone is afraid of the approaching dawn (fajr prayer), he should pray one raka'ah and this will be a witr for all the raka'at which he has prayed before." In a hadith transmitted by Abu Darda, he states that Muhammad enjoined to him three things: to fast three days every month, to offer the witr salat before sleep, and to offer two raka'at sunnah for fajr. But there are many aḥādīth that show the best time for the witr salat to be at night. If someone fears that he would not be able to awake, or may die in their sleep, then the prayer should be performed before sleeping. Therefore, he or she who performs tahajjud (night prayer) regularly should perform witr after tahajjud. It is recorded that Ali bin Abu Talib said, "The witr prayer is not required like your obligatory prayers but the Prophet would perform the witr prayer and say, 'O you people of the Quran, perform the witr prayer, for Allah is One and He loves the witr.'" The literal meaning of witr is "chord of a circle". Considering the whole day as a circle along which all the prayers are located, the maghrib salat is offered at the sunset (beginning of the night). It has an un-paired (odd) number of raka'at. By offering the odd raka'at of witr as the last prayer of the night, a chord is created by pairing these two un-paired raka'ats of each of the maghrib's and witr's.