Re: How to pray witr?
Ignorance does that. Perhaps had you invested time in studying their evidences, which are in accordance with the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) may I add, your confusion would go away!
Re: How to pray witr?
Once again sentences like that make the other school look bad. It is always good to state the whole opinion. They permit joining prayers when traveling, rain, sick, etc. One of their evidences (without getting into all of them):
Anas reported:
**When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) intended to combine two prayers on a journey, he delayed the noon prayer till came the early time of the afternoon prayer, and then combined the two.**
[Sahih Muslim]
And may I add that you are finding the opinion of the majority of schools of thought, in this issue, confusing. Only the Hanafis seem to give this Hadith a Taweel of Al-Jam’ Al-Soori.
Re: How to pray witr?
وقد جاء عن ابن عباس، وابن عمر أنهما كانا يجمعان لسبب المطر، إلا أن المالكية يجوزونه فقط تقديماً بين المغرب والعشاء، والحنابلة يجوزونه بينهما تقديماً أو تأخيراً ، وأجازه الشافعية بينهما وبين الظهر والعصر تقديماً فقط
And it has been established from Ibn Abbaas and Ibn Umar (Allah is pleased with them) that they joined prayers due to rain.
The Maaliki school of thought permits joining Maghrib and 'ishaa taqdeeman (meaning at the time of Maghrib you can pray 'ishaa) while the Hanbali permit it between them taqdeeman and ta’kheeran (you can join the prayers at the time of Maghrib or at the time of 'ishaa).
So, you see the majority understands Hadith quite differently at times from the Hanafis. As a matter of fact the absolute lack of understanding of the different schools of thought is what leads the Hanafis to become so violent against the Salafis. Anyone who has studied the views of scholars of the past is well aware of what a Waseeh thought they had and would accept difference of opinion without getting so irritated.
*Did you know that it is written in Tafsir Al-Qurtubi, regarding the Verse that the food of the People of Scripture is allowed for you, that there were scholars of the past which included two Companions (Allah is pleased with them) who said that even if the Christians slaughter in the name of Jesus and the Jews in the name of 'uzair the food is permissible? Would anyone here be bold enough say something against these Companions? If someone today says this we would have Fatwaas of Kufr flying all over the place!
Tafsir Al-Qurtubiextract:
الثانية : قوله تعالى : وطعام الذين أوتوا الكتاب حل لكم ابتداء وخبر ، والطعام اسم لما يؤكل والذبائح منه ، وهو هنا خاص بالذبائح عند كثير من أهل العلم بالتأويل ، وأما ما حرم علينا من طعامهم فليس بداخل تحت عموم الخطاب ; قال ابن عباس : قال الله تعالى : ولا تأكلوا مما لم يذكر اسم الله عليه ، ثم استثنى فقال : وطعام الذين أوتوا الكتاب حل لكم يعني ذبيحة اليهودي والنصراني ; وإن كان النصراني يقول عند الذبح : باسم المسيح واليهودي يقول : باسم عزير ; وذلك لأنهم يذبحون على الملة ، وقال عطاء : كل من ذبيحة النصراني وإن قال باسم المسيح ; لأن الله جل وعز قد أباح ذبائحهم ، وقد علم ما يقولون ، وقال القاسم بن مخيمرة : كل من ذبيحته وإن قال************ باسم سرجس************ - اسم كنيسة لهم - وهو قول الزهري وربيعة والشعبي ومكحول ; وروي عن صحابيين : عن أبي الدرداء وعبادة بن الصامت . وقالت طائفة : إذا سمعت الكتابي يسمي غير اسم الله عز وجل فلا تأكل ; وقال بهذا من الصحابة علي وعائشة وابن عمر ; وهو قول طاوس والحسن متمسكين بقوله تعالى : ولا تأكلوا مما لم يذكر اسم الله عليه وإنه لفسق ، وقال مالك : أكره ذلك ، ولم يحرمه
*While this isn’t an opinion one should go about following, it shows the ability in accepting difference of opinions then and the narrow mindedness today!
Re: How to pray witr?
Excellent question. Ibn Rajab Al-Hanbali has actually discussed this issue in his Sharh of the Hadith of Imaam Al-Bukhaari.
Without getting into details, the answer to your question would depend on whether you consider all of that which is related with that one Rak’ah to be Witr or only the last Rak’ah itself?
The scholars have differed in this issue with some saying all of it is Witr while others say only the last Rak’ah is Witr.
So, you have the following options:
- Make intention that all of it is Witr
- Make the intention that the Rak’ah before are the Sunnah of Witr and the last is Witr
- Make the intention that the Rak’ah before are from Tahjjud or Qiyaam Al-Layl and the last is Witr
Re: How to pray witr?
ZeeshanParvez brother 
Woah!
There is no need to show the rulings - I am aware they are there and are based on evidences … I just find them confusing. Or lets say perplexing. Uncomfortable will you … My heart settles on the Hanafi fiqh of salat - that is all .. now here are my reasons.
Prayer times are ordained for us - this has a wisdom in it - I would naturally resist finding cause to combine prayers whilst knowing that it given as dispensation in exceptional circumstances. I consider the Hanafi ruling on this greater in Warra.
Next matter … I have understood the matter of niyah to be very important in prayer … It is required .. i.e. it is an arkan of salat. So when imam stands for prayer and I pray something else behind him - that notion disturbs me. It is because his prayer and my prayer are joined. I haven’t seen the evidences for this - but I don’t doubt they are there … I find it odd that people can tap you without knowing what you are praying and expect you to lead them when the intention was either to follow an imam in jama’ or to be praying Sunnah.
To have a variety of witrs must have some wisdom - however it is easier to follow a prescriptive order and the act of doing your own du’a in prayer seems to me to be in breach of our condition in prayer which is to be in a different state - it is Salat and normal talking is prohibited, besides asking in our own tongue will be deficient as we don’t know how to ask properly … despite the allowance to me - it feels better that the Hanafi fiqh makes a clearer separation between condition (mindset) of Salat than one or two others … And your oversimplification of majority of scholars is also disturbing. There are differences between all madhabs in fiqh of Salat and in some cases two groups agree and in others one is on its own.
Re: How to pray witr?
This supports my confusion … Fiqh of Salat in Hanafi madhab is understandable by a 10 year old … And Salat is an obligation of a person of similar age … It is difficult to justify necessitation of something when even adults find it hard to understand which is which and these questions are coming from the people who have been following this fiqh for many years … Again this is not to put down its validity … I’m merely explaining my confusion.
Re: How to pray witr?
And by the way from previous dealings Salafis are not followers of a madhab … they may favour certain fiqhs in certain areas … but the Salafis pride themselves in their own ijtihad … based on selecting rulings from a variety of places. Usually ones that favour a certain disposition. It is not appropriate for you to call Shaf’is, Hanbalis and Malikis as Salafi collectively and try to alienate Hanafis … Rather - it is Hanafi, Shafi, Hanbali and Maliki who are traditional and Salafis are the extraneous other …
Re: How to pray witr?
Opinions of individuals among the blessed Sahabah is not the way the traditional scholars derive rulings, but they establish the consensus of the Sahabah and give greater importance to the scholars of the Sahabah. And there are examples to this effect where opinions of very high ranking Sahabah are not accepted based on the majority of Sahabah opinions that oppose it.
Re: How to pray witr?
The Hanafi fiqh has historically been the fiqh of jurists and is arguably among the most developed for coherence and internal consistency, simplicity and exactness. While other fiqh are good in establishing other things such as dispensation, variation and local norms … Hanafi fiqh has been the most widespread and taken as standard by the latest caliphate - so to say that it stands alone 3:1 against others is not true …
Re: How to pray witr?
That point would be open to debate.
The Hanafi Fiqh has always been a Fiqh of the Scholars of Conjecture (Ahl Al-Ray’) as opposed to the fiqh of the majority of scholars of Islam (Shaafi, Maalik, and Hanbali) which has been the Fiqh of the Scholars of Hadith (Ahl Al-Hadith) hence the designation even at that time.
Re: How to pray witr?
And I think you are aware that unlike the Shaafi fiqh - the founder of which actually wrote an entire book on his Usool known as Al-Risalah - there are no - absolute none, zilch - works on Usool from the founders of the school, namely Imam Abu Hanifah, Abu Yusuf, and Muhammad.
Rather, it was later scholars of the Hanafi Fiqh who had to take the fiqh of these and then develop the Usool from it.
Which leads to the question as to what the mindset of these later scholars was when developing the Usool. Since Karkhi explicitly stated in his Usool that any Verse of the Qur’aan or Hadith which goes against the verdicts of our Companions (Imam Abu Hanifah, Abu Yusuf, and Muhammad) will be given an interpretation to fit their verdicts or considered abrogated.
And when you look how the Hanafis choose to rebut, if you will, the other schools of thought in a given issue, you will see this rule in play as they more often than not always resort to the answer that this has been abrogated.
Re: How to pray witr?
Just follow the children of end of times.
Re: How to pray witr?
You are like the kid who has nothing constructive to say so he issues childish statements aren’t you! Now I see why you made prototype angry!!!
Re: How to pray witr?
For me lateness of scholarship in history is not a major concern - as long as they are connected to the golden chain of that scholarship …
Re: How to pray witr?
I think you missed the point. You have a book of Fiqh in front of you, while the author never clarified his Usool which he used to derive the Fiqh and you now some years later are trying to figure out the Usool?
The first person to formulate the Usool in Hanafi Fiqh was Karkhi who died in 340 H.
Re: How to pray witr?
Yes - I did say “arguably” so it is my opinion and if you must … up for debate. But calling a group of scholars - “People of Conjecture” is a slur and is not becoming of good character … A sign of authenticity in Islam is to seek out those who do not abuse scholars of the past. They respect them and differ with utter respect.
Re: How to pray witr?
And the first person to formulate Usool period in Islamic History was Imaam Al-Shaafi. So, even logically speaking the coherence and internal consistency you mention is hard to attribute to the Hanafi fiqh when its very own founders left no books as opposed to the Shaafi fiqh.
قال الإمام أحمد بن حنبل : لم نكن نعرف الخصوص والعموم حتى ورد الشافعي . وقال الجويني في شرح الرسالة " : لم يسبق الشافعي أحد في تصانيف الأصول ومعرفتها
Imaam Ahmad said: We did not know of the general and specific rules until Al-Shaafi.
And Al-Juwainy said: No one preceded Al-Shaafi in writing a book on Usool and recognizing it.
Re: How to pray witr?
You are unaware that the Hanafis have been called Ahl Al-Ray’ since their inception by all schools which literaly translates to People of conjecture?
Perhaps you can know way all of them also had bad manners!
Re: How to pray witr?
There are slurs for all schools … it does not make it correct to utter them …
Re: How to pray witr?
And I think you have taken “conjecture” in a negative sense!
فسبب ذلكهو أنهم اشتهروا بإعمال القياس أكثر من غيرهم، واعلم أن الرأي قد عمل به كل الأئمة، وليس العمل بالرأي عيباً،
The reason they were called that was becuase they made excessive use of Qiyaas more than the other schools and all scholars have used Qiyaas and it is not a defect!