It is narrated from Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) that a man asked the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) about the night prayer. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: The night prayer is (offered) two by two rak‘ahs. Then when you fear that dawn is approaching, pray one rak‘ah, for it will make what you have prayed an odd number.

Umm al-Mu'minin Aisha Siddiqa (may Allah be pleased with her) says: I did not see the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) reciting (Qur'an) while sitting during the night prayer. But when he became old, he would recite while sitting, and when about thirty or forty verses of the surah remained, he would stand up and recite, then bow (ruku).

`Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) reports that a man was mentioned to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) who sleeps until morning (i.e., does not get up for Tahajjud), so the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said that Satan urinates in his ear or both his ears.

Narrated from Umm al-Mu'mineen Aisha Siddiqa (may Allah be pleased with her) that the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said: When any one of you becomes drowsy during prayer, he should sleep until his sleep goes away. For when any one of you becomes drowsy, it is possible that he intends to seek forgiveness but starts cursing himself instead.

Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates from the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that: When one of you sleeps, Satan ties three knots at the back of his neck. On each knot he blows and says: "The night is long, so sleep." When he wakes up and remembers Allah, one knot is undone. When he performs ablution, two knots are undone. And when he prays, all the knots are undone. Then he rises in the morning energetic and in a good mood; otherwise, he gets up with a bad heart and lazy.

Sayyiduna Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him) says: I heard the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) say: "There is a moment during the night in which, if any Muslim asks Allah for goodness of this world and the Hereafter, Allah grants it to him, and this (moment) occurs every night."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: When the first third of the night passes, Allah Almighty descends every night to the sky of the world and says: "I am the King, I am the King. Who is there who supplicates to Me so that I may accept it? Who is there who asks of Me so that I may give to him? Who is there who seeks forgiveness from Me so that I may forgive him?" Thus He continues saying this until the brightness of dawn appears.

It is narrated from Zurara that Sayyiduna Sa’d bin Hisham bin ‘Amir intended to strive in the way of Allah, came to Madinah, and wanted to sell his land and gardens in Madinah so that he could buy weapons and horses with that money and fight the Christians until death. When he came to Madinah and met the people of Madinah, they forbade him (i.e., they told him that he should not completely abandon worldly affairs and human necessities), and informed him that during the lifetime of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), six men had intended to do this, but the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade them and said,“Is my way not better for you?”When the people said this to him, he took back his wife, whom he had divorced, in the presence of witnesses. Then he went to Sayyiduna Ibn ‘Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) and asked him about the Witr prayer of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). He said,“Shall I not tell you of a person who knows better than all the people of the earth about the Witr prayer of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)?”He asked,“Who is that?”Sayyiduna Ibn ‘Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said,“It is Umm al-Mu’minin ‘A’ishah al-Siddiqah (may Allah be pleased with her), so go to her, ask her, and then come and inform me of her answer.”Then I (Sa’d bin Hisham) left him and went to Hakim bin Aflah and asked him to take me to Umm al-Mu’minin ‘A’ishah al-Siddiqah (may Allah be pleased with her). He said,“I do not go to her because I forbade her from speaking about those two groups (i.e., the internal conflicts among the Companions), but she did not listen and went ahead.”(Sa’d bin Hisham) said,“I made Hakim swear an oath, so he agreed, and we both went to Umm al-Mu’minin ‘A’ishah al-Siddiqah (may Allah be pleased with her) and informed her, so she gave us permission, and we presented ourselves before her.”Then she said,“Is this Hakim?”He said,“Yes.”Thus, Umm al-Mu’minin ‘A’ishah al-Siddiqah (may Allah be pleased with her) recognized him (i.e., by his voice, etc., from behind the veil). Then she asked,“Who is with you?”Sayyiduna Hakim said,“Sa’d bin Hisham is with me.”She asked,“Which Hisham?”Hakim said,“The son of ‘Amir.”Then she prayed for mercy upon him, and Qatadah said that he was martyred in the Battle of Uhud. Then I said,“O Umm al-Mu’minin! Tell me about the character of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).”She said,“Have you not read the Qur’an?”I (Sa’d) said,“Why not?”She said,“The character of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was the Qur’an.”She said,“Then I intended to leave and decided not to ask about anything else until death. Then I thought and said, ‘Tell me about the night rising (and prayer) of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).’”Umm al-Mu’minin ‘A’ishah al-Siddiqah (may Allah be pleased with her) said,“Have you not read ‘O you who wraps himself [in a garment] ’ (Surah al-Muzzammil)?”I said,“Why not?”She said,“At the beginning of this Surah, Allah made standing in prayer at night obligatory. Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and his Companions continued to pray at night, and Allah withheld the conclusion (last verses) of this Surah in the heavens for twelve months, until Allah revealed the end of this Surah and granted ease (i.e., the obligation of Tahajjud was lifted and it remained Sunnah). Then after the obligation of night prayer (Tahajjud), it became a matter of happiness (i.e., it became voluntary).”Then I said,“O Umm al-Mu’minin! Tell me about the Witr prayer of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) as well.”She said,“We used to prepare the miswak and water for ablution for the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and Allah would awaken him at night whenever He wished. Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would use the miswak and perform ablution, then pray nine rak‘ahs. He would not sit except after the eighth rak‘ah, and he would remember Allah, praise Him, and supplicate (i.e., recite the tashahhud), then he would not say salam but stand up and pray the ninth rak‘ah, then sit, remember Allah, praise Him, and supplicate, and then say salam in such a way that we could hear it (so that those sleeping would wake up). Then after salam, he would pray two rak‘ahs while sitting; thus, these were eleven rak‘ahs. O my son! Then when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) grew older and his body became heavier, he started praying seven rak‘ahs of Witr, and he would pray the rak‘ahs as he did before. Thus, these were nine rak‘ahs. O my son (i.e., seven Witr and Tahajjud and two rak‘ahs after Witr). And it was the habit of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that whenever he prayed any prayer, he would be consistent in it, and when sleep or pain overcame him so that he could not get up at night, he would pray twelve rak‘ahs during the day (i.e., he would not pray Witr; from this it is proven that there is no qada for Witr). And I do not know that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ever recited the entire Qur’an in one night (from this, completing the Qur’an in one night is proven to be an innovation), nor do I know that he ever prayed the whole night until morning (i.e., without sleeping or resting at all), nor that he fasted an entire month except Ramadan.”Then I went to Sayyiduna Ibn ‘Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) and narrated this entire hadith to him, so he said,“Indeed, Umm al-Mu’minin ‘A’ishah al-Siddiqah (may Allah be pleased with her) has spoken the truth.”And he said,“If I had been with her or had gone to her, I would have heard this hadith directly.”Sa’d said,“If I had known that you do not go to her, I would never have told you her words.”

Umm al-Mu'mineen Aisha Siddiqa (may Allah be pleased with her) says that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) performed Witr in the early part of the night, in the middle, and in the last part of the night, up until the time of Fajr.

Sayyiduna Anas bin Sirin (may Allah be pleased with him) says: I asked Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) to tell me about the two rak‘ahs before the Fajr prayer—should I recite long (Qira’at) in them? Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) said that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to pray two rak‘ahs at night and would pray one rak‘ah as Witr. (Ibn Sirin) says: I said,“That is not what I am asking.”Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said,“You are a heavy man (meaning, of heavy intellect, as you interrupted in the middle of the narration). Will you not give me the chance to narrate the whole hadith?”The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to pray two rak‘ahs at night, and one as Witr, and he would pray two rak‘ahs before the obligatory Fajr prayer at such a time that the takbir would be in his ear (i.e., he would pray them at the time of the takbir, and obviously, the prayer at that time would be very light).