Witr (وتر, literally "odd") is the prayer that closes the night with an odd number of rakʼahs. The Prophet (peace be upon him) prayed it every night and instructed: "Make the last of your prayer at night odd." It is the most emphasized of the voluntary prayers.
Time
Witr begins after Isha and ends at the appearance of true dawn. The best time is the last third of the night, for the one who is confident they will wake up. The one who fears not waking should pray it before sleeping.
Number of rakʼahs
The minimum is one rakʼah. The most common patterns are:
- One rakʼah alone.
- Three rakʼahs — either three with one salam at the end, or two then salam then one.
- Five rakʼahs with one salam after the fifth.
- Seven rakʼahs, nine, or eleven — all reported from the Prophet (peace be upon him).
The most common contemporary practice is two rakʼahs with salam, then one rakʼah with salam.
The qunut
Many imams say the qunut supplication in the last rakʼah of witr, especially in the last half of Ramadan. The most well-known is the duʼa taught by the Prophet (peace be upon him) to al-Hasan ibn ʻAli: "Allahumma ihdini fi man hadayt..."
What if you missed it?
Pray it after waking, before Fajr if possible; otherwise the day prayer of witr is valid as a make-up with an even pair (so a missed three becomes four). This is the position of the majority of scholars.
Sources
Ruling and patterns summarized from IslamQA — The witr prayer, drawing on Bukhari and Muslim (retrieved 2026-05-12).