Jami' at-Tirmidhi — Hadith #26616

Hanad narrated to us, Abu Muawiyah narrated to us, on the authority of Al-Amash, on the authority of Amr ibn Murrah, on the authority of Yahya ibn Al-Jazzar, on the authority of Umm Salamah, she said: The Prophet May God’s prayers and peace be upon him, he performed the Witr prayer with thirteen rak’ahs, but when he grew old and weak, he performed the Witr prayer with seven. He said, and in the chapter on the authority of Aisha. Abu Issa said. The hadith of Umm Salamah is a good hadith. It was narrated on the authority of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, that the Witr prayer is performed with thirteen, eleven, nine, seven, and five. And three and one. Ishaq bin Ibrahim said the meaning of what was narrated is that the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, used to pray the Witr with thirteen. He said: What it means is that he used to pray thirteen rak’ahs at night with Witr prayer, so the night prayer was attributed to Witr prayer. He narrated a hadith in that regard. On the authority of Aisha, and he used as evidence what was narrated on the authority of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, that he said, “O people of the Qur’an, perform the Qur’an.” The night prayer says, “The night prayer is only for the companions of the Qur’an.”