277. Should I Make Up Witr Prayer If I Missed It ?

By Asma bint Shameem  

The time for witr ends at dawn

So if you didn’t pray it before that for some reason, you should make it up. 

The Prophet sal Allaahu Alayhi wa sallam said:

 “Pray Witr before dawn comes.” (Muslim)

How to make up Witr?

There are two ways to do that. 

1. BEFORE praying Fajr

You can pray the witr BEFORE you pray the Sunnah of Fajr. 

 Ibn Taymiyah said about a person who sleeps and missed Witr:

“He may pray between dawn and Fajr prayer, as ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Umar, ‘Aa’ishah and others did. 

Abu Dawood narrated in his Sunan that Abu Sa’eed said: 

The Messenger of Allaah Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam said: 

“Whoever sleeps and misses Witr or forgets it, let him pray it when morning comes or he remembers.” 

This includes obligatory prayers, qiyaam al-layl, Witr and regular Sunnah prayers.” 

(al-Fataawa al-Kubra, 2/240)

So you may read the witr before you pray Fajr. 

2. Make up Witr AFTER sunrise 

If you missed witr for some reason and you remember it AFTER you had prayed Fajr then you can make it up by praying Witr AFTER sunrise. 

But now you will ADD one rak’ah to the witr and make it even. 

That’s because the time for witr was at night and now it’s gone. 

Therefore in order to make up for it during the DAY, you’ll make it an EVEN numbered prayer. 

So if you usually pray witr with THREE rak’aat at night, you will now pray FOUR rak’aat when make it up by adding one more rak’ah to it. 

And read them two by two. 

And the same applies to any tahajjud/Qiyaam that you missed. 

 Shaikh Ibn Baaz said:

“If a person misses Witr, it is prescribed for him to pray what he usually prays, during the day but he should make it even-numbered by adding one rak’ah. If he usually prays three, he should make it four, and if he usually prays five, he should make it six, and so on, saying the tasleem after each two rak’ahs. 

It is narrated in Saheeh Muslim that ‘Aa’ishah radhi Allaahu anhaa said: 
“If the Prophet Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam missed witr at night because he was sick or sleeping, he would pray twelve rak’ahs during the day. And he usually prayed eleven rak’ahs.”

(Majmoo’ Fataawa Ibn Baaz, 11/305-308)

Conclusion

If you are praying Witr BEFORE Fajr, you’ll pray Witr as an ODD numbered prayer. 

But if you’re praying Witr AFTER sunrise, you should make up the Witr by praying an EVEN numbered prayer. 

And Allaah knows best