The witrprayer

In the Hanafi school witr is three rak'ahs prayed with a single salam. Structurally it resembles maghrib — three rak'ahs with a sitting after the second — with one crucial difference: in the third rak'ah, after the recitation, you do not bow immediately. Instead you make the takbir of qunut and recite the qunut supplication.

"Allah is witr and loves the witr," states a hadith recorded in the collections, and the Prophet (peace be upon him) instructed: "Make the last of your prayer at night witr."

The time runs from after isha until fajr enters. It is prayed after isha and its sunnah. The Hanafi school classifies witr as wajib — necessary, a category between obligatory and sunnah — which is why a missed witr must be made up. The other three schools treat it as a strongly emphasised sunnah.

If you plan to pray tahajjud, delay witr until after it. If you are not confident of waking, pray it before sleeping — and if you then do wake and pray tahajjud, you do not repeat witr: there is no witr twice in one night.

1. Make the intention. Intend to pray the three rak'ahs of witr. In the Hanafi school witr is wajib (necessary) and is prayed after the isha prayer and its sunnah.
2. Pray the first rak'ah. Begin with the opening takbir, recite the opening supplication, then al-Fatihah and a short surah. Bow, straighten, and perform the two prostrations as in any prayer.
3. Pray the second rak'ah and sit. Recite al-Fatihah and another short surah, complete the bowing and prostrations, then sit and recite the tashahhud. Do not give the salam — stand up for the third rak'ah.
4. Recite in the third rak'ah. Stand, recite al-Fatihah and a short surah. Here witr differs from every other prayer: you do not go into bowing at the end of the recitation.
5. Make the takbir of qunut. Raise the hands to ear or shoulder level, say 'Allahu akbar', and fold the hands again. This is the takbir of qunut, and in the Hanafi school it is wajib.
6. Recite the qunut dua. With the hands folded, recite the qunut dua. Someone who has not memorised it may instead recite 'Rabbana atina fid-dunya hasanatan…' or another supplication until they learn it.
7. Complete the prayer. Say 'Allahu akbar', bow, straighten, perform the two prostrations, then in the final sitting recite the tashahhud, the salawat and the closing supplications, and give the salam to the right and then the left.

For the mechanics of a rak'ah — the positions, what is said in bowing and prostration — see the how to pray guide.

Recited standing in the third rak'ah, after the takbir of qunut, with the hands folded:

Someone who has not yet memorised it may recite "Rabbana atina fid-dunya hasanatan wa fil-akhirati hasanatan wa qina adhab an-nar" three times instead, or any supplication they know, until they learn the qunut. More daily supplications with transliteration are on the duas page.

The differences are in form, not in the prayer's standing: all four schools regard witr as something a Muslim should not leave. The step-by-step method on this page follows the Hanafi practice, which is what is followed in Türkiye and across much of South and Central Asia.

Because it is wajib in the Hanafi school, a missed witr is made up whenever it is remembered — during the day, or the following night before that night's own witr. The general principle is the hadith: "Whoever sleeps through a prayer or forgets it should pray it when he remembers."

The qunut is recited in the make-up as in the original. If several witr prayers have been missed over time, they are made up in order alongside any other missed prayers — steadily rather than all at once.