mistake in Witr

I would also like to know as I sometimes forget then I just repeat the whole prayer, but I heard repeating the whole prayer is Bida'h.

I've heard my imam say that it's allright if you forget. you don't have to repeat it bc u forgot the dua of qunoot. Allah knows best.

You do not need to read the whole namaz again, you can do something called sajda-e-sawh. I came across this question before at http://www.islam.tc/ask-imam/view.php?q=14074

Allah knows best.

Question:
Is it permissible to omit Witr prayer? What are the consequences of omitting it?.

Answer:
Praise be to Allaah.
Witr prayer is Sunnah mu’akkadah (a confirmed suunah) according to the majority of scholars, and some of the fuqaha’ regarded it as obligatory.
The fact that it is not obligatory is indicated by the hadeeth narrated by al-Bukhaari (1891) and Muslim (11) from Talhah ibn ‘Ubayd-Allaah (may Allaah be pleased with him) who said: A man came to the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and said: “O Messenger of Allaah, what prayers has Allaah enjoined on me?” He said: “The five prayers, unless you do anything voluntarily.” The version narrated by Muslim says: “Five prayers every day and night.” He said: “Do I have to do anything else?’ He said, “No, unless you do it voluntarily.”

Al-Nawawi said:
This indicates that Witr prayer is not obligatory. End quote.

Al-Haafiz said in al-Fath:
This indicates that no prayers during the day and night are obligatory apart from the five prayers; this is contrary to the view of those who say that Witr or the two Sunnah rak’ahs of Fajr are obligatory. End quote.
However it is the most confirmed Sunnah and was enjoined by the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) in more than one hadeeth.
Muslim (754) narrated from Abu Sa’eed (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Perform Witr before morning comes.”

Abu Dawood (1416) narrated that ‘Ali (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “O people of the Qur’aan, pray Witr, for Allaah is One and loves that which is odd-numbered.” Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh Abi Dawood.
Hence we should continue to offer Witr prayer regularly, whether travelling or not, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to do. Al-Bukhaari (1000) and Muslim (700) narrated that Ibn ‘Umar (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was on a journey, atop his mount, whichever direction it was facing, gesturing the motions of the night prayer, except the obligatory prayer, and he prayed Witr atop his mount.”

Ibn Qudaamah (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: Witr is not obligatory. This is the view of Maalik and al-Shaafa’i. Abu Haneefah said: it is obligatory. Then he said: Ahmad said: Whoever omits to pray Witr deliberately is a bad man, whose testimony should not be accepted. He wanted to emphasize that it is confirmed because of the ahaadeeth which say that it is enjoined and encouraged. End quote from al-Mughni, 1/827

The scholars of the Standing Committee were asked: Is Witr prayer obligatory, and will the one who prays it on some days and not on others be punished for that?

They replied:
Witr prayer is Sunnah mu’akkadah (a confirmed Sunnah) which the believer should adhere to. Whoever prays it on some days and not on others will not be blamed for that, but he should be advised to pray Witr regularly. It is prescribed to pray two rak’ahs during the day instead if a person misses it, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to do that, as it was narrated that ‘Aa’ishah (may Allaah be pleased with her) said: If sleep or sickness kept him from praying at night, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) would pray twelve rak'ahs during the day. Narrated by Muslim in his Saheeh. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) usually prayed eleven rak’ahs at night, saying the salaam after each two rak'ahs then praying one rak'ah on its own. But if sleep or sickness kept him from doing that, he would pray twelve rak’ahs during the day, as ‘Aa’ishah (may Allaah be pleased with her) stated. Based on this, if a person usually prays five rak’ahs at night but he sleeps or misses them for any other reason, it is prescribed for him to pray six rak’ahs during the day, saying salaam after each two rak’ahs. If his habit is to pray three rak’ahs, then he should pray four rak'ahs with two salaams, and if his habit is to pray seven rak’ahs, he should pray eight with the salaam after each two rak’ahs. End quote.

Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah, 7/172.




Question:
I have noticed that it takes me time to learn a certain dua or surah by heart .i know that dua -e - qunood is farz in 3 witr prayer of the isha prayer...i always used to read some other surah instead of this dua as i did not know the dua by heart but i recently found out that it is farz so i tried to learn the dua but it is taking me time...so for several days i have been doing this that when i do 3 witr , in the third rakah i read from a book which i pick up from the side table during the prayer..i still face the qiblah when i pick it up, infact i do not have to move to pick it up....i want to know if that is allowed that u read a surah or dua from a book during the prayer.

Answer:
Praise be to Allaah.

1 – There is noting wrong with reading the du’aa’ of Qunoot from a piece of paper or a booklet in Witr prayer until one is able to memorize it, after which you can stop reading it and can recite it from memory. It is also permissible to recite Qur’aan from the Mus-haf during naafil prayers for those who have not memorized a lot of Qur’aan.

Shaykh Ibn Baaz was asked about the ruling on reading Qur’aan from the Mus-haf in Taraaweeh prayer, and what the evidence is for that from the Qur’aan and Sunnah.

He replied:
There is nothing wrong with reading from the Mus-haf when praying at night during Ramadaan because that will enable the believers to hear all of the Qur’aan. And because the evidence of sharee’ah from the Qur’aan and Sunnah indicates that it is prescribed to recite Qur’aan in prayer, which includes both reading it from the Mus-haf and reciting it by heart. It was narrated from ‘Aa’ishah (may Allaah be pleased with her) that she told her freed slave Dhakwaan to lead her in praying night prayers during Ramadaan, and he used to read from the Mus-haf. This was narrated by al-Bukhaari (may Allaah have mercy on him) in his Saheeh, in a mu’allaq majzoom report.
Fataawa Islamiyyah, 2/155

2 – It is not obligatory for the du’aa’ of Qunoot to be in the words narrated from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him); rather it is permissible for the worshipper to say other words or to add to them. Even if he were to recite verses from the Qur’aan that include words of supplication, that would be sufficient. Al-Nawawi (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: Note that there is no specific du’aa’ for Qunoot according to the preferred point of view. Any du’aa’ that is said will serve as Qunoot, even if one recites a verse or verses from the Qur’aan that include words of supplication, this will count as Qunoot, but it is better to recite the words that were narrated in the Sunnah.

Al-Adhkaar al-Nawawiyyah, p. 50

3 – As for what the brother mentions about reciting Qur’aan instead of the du’aa’ of Qunoot, there is no doubt that he should not do this, because the purpose behind Qunoot is du’aa’ or supplication. Hence if these verses include words of supplication, it is permissible to recite them as Qunoot, for example, the verse in which Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“Our Lord! Let not our hearts deviate (from the truth) after You have guided us, and grant us mercy from You. Truly, You are the Bestower”
[Aal ‘Imraan 3:8]

4 – With regard to what the brother says about Qunoot being obligatory, this is not correct, because Qunoot is Sunnah. Based on this, if a worshipper omits Qunoot, his prayer is still valid.

Shaykh Ibn Baaz (may Allaah have mercy on him) was asked about the ruling on reciting the du’aa’ of Qunoot in Witr during the nights of Ramadaan, and whether it is permissible to omit it.

He replied:
Qunoot is Sunnah in Witr and if a person omits it sometimes, there is nothing wrong with that.

And he was asked about a person who always recites Qunoot in Witr every night – was that narrated from our forebears (the salaf)?

He replied:
There is nothing wrong with that, rather it is Sunnah, because when the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) taught al-Husayn ibn ‘Ali (may Allaah be pleased with him) to say Qunoot in Witr, he did not tell him to omit it sometimes or to do it all the time. This indicates that either is permissible. Hence it was narrated that when Ubayy ibn Ka’b (may Allaah be pleased with him) led the Sahaabah in prayer in the Mosque of the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), he used to omit Qunoot some nights; perhaps that was in order to teach the people that it is not obligatory. And Allaah is the Source of strength.

Fataawa Islamiyyah, 2/159.


Question:
Please I need duaae qunoot which is read in the witr prayer.

Answer:
Praise be to Allaah.

Firstly:
Du’a’ al-Qunoot is recited in the last rak’ah of Witr prayer, after bowing, but if one recites it before bowing it doesn’t matter. But reciting it after bowing is better.

Shaykh al-Islam [Ibn Taymiyah] said in Majmoo’ al-Fataawa (23/100):
With regard to qunoot: there are two extreme views and one middle (or moderate) view. Some say that qunoot should only be recited before bowing and some say that it should only be recited after bowing. The fuqaha’ among the scholars of hadeeth, such as Ahmad and others, say that both are allowed, because both are mentioned in the saheeh Sunnah, but they preferred reciting qunoot after bowing because this is mentioned more often.
Raising the hands is mentioned in a saheeh report from ‘Umar (may Allaah be pleased with him), as was narrated by al-Bayhaqi in a report which he classed as saheeh (2/210).

The worshipper should raise his hands to chest height and no more, because this du’aa’ is not a du’aa’ of supplication in which a person needs to raise his hands high. Rather it is a du’aa’ of hope in which a person holds out his palms towards heaven… The apparent meaning of the scholar’s words is that the worshipper should hold his hands close together like a beggar who asks someone else to give him something.

It is better not to recite qunoot in witr all the time, rather it should be done sometimes, because there is no evidence that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) did it all the time. But he taught al-Hasan ibn ‘Ali (may Allaah be pleased with him) a du’aa’ to recite in qunoot al-witr, as will be quoted below.

Secondly:
The du’aa’ of qunoot was narrated by Abu Dawood (1425), al-Tirmidhi (464), and al-Nasaa’i (1746) from al-Hasan ibn ‘Ali (may Allaah be pleased with him) who said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) taught me some words to say in qunoot al-witr:

“Allaahumma ihdini feeman hadayta wa ‘aafini feeman ‘aafayta wa tawallani feeman tawallayta wa baarik li feema a’tayta, wa qini sharra ma qadayta , fa innaka taqdi wa la yuqda ‘alayk, wa innahu laa yadhillu man waalayta wa laa ya’izzu man ‘aadayta, tabaarakta Rabbana wa ta’aalayta la manja minka illa ilayk

(O Allaah, guide me among those whom You have guided, pardon me among those whom You have pardoned, turn to me in friendship among those on whom You have turned in friendship, and bless me in what You have bestowed, and save me from the evil of what You have decreed. For verily You decree and none can influence You; and he is not humiliated whom You have befriended, nor is he honoured who is Your enemy. Blessed are You, O Lord, and Exalted. There is no place of safety from You except with You).”

The last phrase – Laa manja minka illa ilayka (There is no place of safety from You except with You) – was narrated by Ibn Mandah in al-Tawheed and classed as hasan by al-Albaani.

See Irwa’ al-Ghaleel, hadeeth no. 426, 429.

Then he should send blessings upon the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). See al-Sharh al-Mumti’ by Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (4/14-52).

Thirdly:
It is mustahabb to say after the tasleem: Subhaan al-Malik al-Quddoos three times, elongating the vowels the third time, as narrated by al-Nasaa’i (1699) and classed as hasan by al-Albaani in Saheeh Sunan al-Nasaa’i.

Al-Daaraqutni added the word: Rabb al-Malaa’ikah wa’l-Rooh (Lord of the angels and the Spirit), with a saheeh isnaad. See Zaad al-Ma’aad by Ibn al-Qayyim, 1/337.