It is narrated from Sa’d bin Hisham Ansari that he asked Sayyida Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) about the night prayer of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). She replied that when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) would perform the ‘Isha prayer, he would offer two light rak‘ahs, then he would sleep, and at his head would be placed the water for his ablution and his miswak. When he (peace and blessings be upon him) would wake up, he would use the miswak and perform ablution and pray, offering two brief rak‘ahs, then he (peace and blessings be upon him) would stand for eight rak‘ahs, reciting equally in them, and on the ninth rak‘ah he would perform witr, and then offer two rak‘ahs while sitting. Then, when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) became old and gained weight, he reduced the eight rak‘ahs to six and performed witr on the seventh rak‘ah. And he (peace and blessings be upon him) would offer two rak‘ahs while sitting, in which he would recite «‏‏‏‏قُلْ يَا أَيُّهَا الْكَافِرُونَ» ‏‏‏‏ and «‏‏‏‏إِذَا زُلْزِلَتِ الْأَرْضُ زِلْزَالَهَا» ‏‏‏‏.

Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to perform nine rak‘ahs of Witr. Then, when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) became older, he started performing seven rak‘ahs of Witr, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) would perform two rak‘ahs sitting, in which he would recite Surah ar-Rahman and Surah al-Waqi‘ah. Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that we would recite short surahs, such as «‏‏‏‏قُلْ يَا أَيُّهَا الْكَافِرُونَ» ‏‏‏‏ and similar surahs.