How to Pray Witr: Rakats, Time and Dua Qunoot
How to pray witr: after Isha, pray an odd number of rakats, most often three, and say dua qunoot in the last one. Witr means "odd", and it closes the night's prayers: the Prophet ﷺ said, "Make witr the last of your prayer at night" (Bukhari 998, Muslim 751).
Is witr obligatory?
Most scholars hold that witr is a strongly emphasised sunnah. The Hanafi school holds it to be wajib, a level between fard and sunnah.
When to pray witr
Any time from after Isha until Fajr begins. Pray it straight after Isha if you might not wake up, or at the end of the night if you expect to (Muslim 755).
How many rakats?
Outside the Hanafi school, witr can be one rakat, three, or a larger odd number (Muslim 752, Abu Dawud 1422). The Hanafi school prays exactly three. Three is the most common.
Praying three rakats
Two, then one. Pray two rakats and end with salam, then pray a single rakat on its own. Ibn Umar prayed witr this way (Bukhari 991).
The Hanafi method. Pray all three with one salam, sitting for the tashahhud after the second rakat as in Maghrib. In the third rakat, after the recitation, raise your hands saying "Allahu Akbar", recite dua qunoot, and then go into ruku.
Hanbalis say qunoot after rising from ruku, all year. Shafi'is do the same, but only in the second half of Ramadan. Malikis generally don't say qunoot in witr.
What to recite
The sunnah is Surah Al-A'la in the first rakat, Al-Kafirun in the second and Al-Ikhlas in the third (Nasa'i 1699, Abu Dawud 1423).
Dua qunoot
This is the qunoot the Prophet ﷺ taught his grandson al-Hasan ibn Ali to say in witr. The line in brackets is in Abu Dawud's narration only.
اللَّهُمَّ اهْدِنِي فِيمَنْ هَدَيْتَ، وَعَافِنِي فِيمَنْ عَافَيْتَ، وَتَوَلَّنِي فِيمَنْ تَوَلَّيْتَ، وَبَارِكْ لِي فِيمَا أَعْطَيْتَ، وَقِنِي شَرَّ مَا قَضَيْتَ، إِنَّكَ تَقْضِي وَلَا يُقْضَى عَلَيْكَ، وَإِنَّهُ لَا يَذِلُّ مَنْ وَالَيْتَ، [وَلَا يَعِزُّ مَنْ عَادَيْتَ]، تَبَارَكْتَ رَبَّنَا وَتَعَالَيْتَ
Allāhumma-hdinī fī-man hadayt, wa ʿāfinī fī-man ʿāfayt, wa tawallanī fī-man tawallayt, wa bārik lī fī-mā aʿṭayt, wa qinī sharra mā qaḍayt, innaka taqḍī wa lā yuqḍā ʿalayk, wa innahu lā yadhillu man wālayt, [wa lā yaʿizzu man ʿādayt], tabārakta Rabbanā wa taʿālayt.
O Allah, guide me among those You have guided, pardon me among those You have pardoned, befriend me among those You have befriended, bless me in what You have given, and protect me from the evil of what You have decreed. For You decree and none decrees over You. Whoever You befriend is not humbled, [and whoever You take as an enemy is not honoured]. Blessed are You, our Lord, and Exalted.
Abu Dawud 1425 (Sahih, Al-Albani), At-Tirmidhi 464, An-Nasa'i 1745, Ibn Majah, Ahmad, Ad-Darimi, Al-Hakim and Al-Bayhaqi. The bracketed line is in Abu Dawud's narration. See also Al-Albani, Sahih At-Tirmidhi 1/144, Sahih Ibn Majah 1/194 and 'Irwa'ul-Ghalil 2/172.
The Hanafi school prefers the qunoot below, which is reported from Ibn Mas'ud (it isn't a hadith of the Prophet ﷺ), and also accepts the one above.
اللَّهُمَّ إِنَّا نَسْتَعِينُكَ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُكَ، وَنُثْنِي عَلَيْكَ الْخَيْرَ، وَلَا نَكْفُرُكَ، وَنَخْلَعُ وَنَتْرُكُ مَنْ يَفْجُرُكَ، اللَّهُمَّ إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ، وَلَكَ نُصَلِّي وَنَسْجُدُ، وَإِلَيْكَ نَسْعَى وَنَحْفِدُ، نَرْجُو رَحْمَتَكَ، وَنَخْشَى عَذَابَكَ، إِنَّ عَذَابَكَ الْجِدَّ بِالْكُفَّارِ مُلْحِقٌ
Allāhumma innā nastaʿīnuka wa nastaghfiruk, wa nuthnī ʿalaykal-khayr, wa lā nakfuruk, wa nakhlaʿu wa natruku man yafjuruk. Allāhumma iyyāka naʿbud, wa laka nuṣallī wa nasjud, wa ilayka nasʿā wa naḥfid, narjū raḥmatak, wa nakhshā ʿadhābak, inna ʿadhābakal-jidda bil-kuffāri mulḥiq.
O Allah, we seek Your help and Your forgiveness, we praise You with all good, and we are not ungrateful to You. We cast off and abandon whoever disobeys You. O Allah, You alone we worship, to You we pray and prostrate, and to You we hasten and strive. We hope for Your mercy and fear Your punishment; truly Your real punishment will overtake the disbelievers.
Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah 6965 (from Ibn Mas'ud)
More qunoot duas are on the dua qunoot page.
After witr
After the salam, say this three times, raising your voice on the third:
"سبحان الملك القدوس" ثلاث مرات والثالثة يجهر بها ويمد بها صوته "ربِّ الملائكةِ والرّوح"
Subḥāna ‘l-Maliki ‘l-Quddūs. [Recite three times, and raise and extend the voice on the third time and say...] Rabbi ‘l-Malā'ikati war-rūh.
Glory is to the King, the Holy. [Recite three times in Arabic, and raise and extend the voice on the third time and say...] Lord of the angels and the Spirit.
An-Nasa'i 3/244, Ad-Daraqutni and others. The final addition is from Ad-Daraqutni's version 2/ 31 and its chain of narration is authentic. See the checking of Zadul-Ma'ad by Shu'aib Al-Arna'ut and 'Abdul-Qadir Al-Arna'ut 1/337.
Checked against its sources on 2026-10-17. Where the schools of fiqh differ, follow the one you practise.