345 Muslim & Abu Daawood. This hadeeth and others make it disliked (makrooh) to stay awake the whole night, whether always or regularly, for it is against the example of the Prophet (sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam); for if staying up the whole night were better, he (sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam) would have done so, and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad. So do not be deceived by what is narrated from Abu Haneefah (rahimahullaah) that he prayed Fajr with the ablution of 'Ishaa' for forty years!! (translator's note: see Tablighi Nisab: Virtues of Salaat by Maulana Zakariyya Kandhalvi for examples of this type of claim) For this narration from him is totally baseless; in fact 'Allaamah al-Fairoozaabaadi says in Ar-Radd 'alaa al-Mu'tarid ((44/1): "This narration is a clear lie and cannot be attributed to the Imaam, for there is nothing excellent about it, whereas it was the nature of the likes of the Imaam to do the better thing; there is no doubt that the renewal of purification for each prayer is more excellent, most complete, and best. This is even if it is correct that he stayed awake the length of the night for forty consecutive years! This story seems more like a fairy tale, and is an invention of some of the extremely ignorant fanatics, who say it about Abu Haneefah and others, and all of it is lies."
346 Nasaa'i, Ahmad & Tabaraani (1/187/2); Tirmidhi declared it saheeh.
347 Nasaa'i, Ibn Khuzaimah (1/70/1), Ahmad, Ibn Nasr & Haakim, who declared it saheeh and Dhahabi agreed.
348 Ahmad & Bukhaari.
349 Nasaa'i & Haakim, who declared it saheeh.
350 Tirmidhi, Abul 'Abbaas al-Asamm in his al-Hadeeth (vol 2 no. 117) & Haakim, who declared it saheeh and Dhahabi agreed.
351 Nasaa'i & Ahmad with a saheeh isnaad.
352 The evidence for these two rak'ahs is found in Saheeh Muslim and others as a practice of the Prophet (sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam), but they oppose his saying: Make the last of your prayer at night odd (witr) transmitted by Bukhaari and Muslim. The scholars have differed in reconciling these two hadeeth, none of them being convincing to me, so the most cautious thing is to leave the two rak'ahs in compliance with the command of the Prophet (sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam). Allaah knows best. Later I came across an authentic hadeeth which had a command for two rak'ahs after witr, so the order of the Prophet (sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam) agrees with his action, and the two rak'ahs are validated for everyone; the first command is thus one of recommendation, not negating the two rak'ahs. The latter hadeeth is given in Silsilat al-ahaadeeth as- saheehah (1993) - see Appendix 7.
353 Ahmad & Ibn Nasr and Tahaawi (1/202) and Ibn Khuzaimah & Ibn Hibbaan with a hasan saheeh isnaad.
354 Muslim & Abu Daawood. It is given in Irwaa' (345).
355 ibid.
356 Muslim & Abu Daawood.
357 ibid.
358 ibid.
359 This is the saying of Imaam Shaafi'i, Ahmad and Ishaaq, and some of the later Hanafis who researched took this view. As for the recitation of a soorah after it, this is the view of some of the Shaafi'ees and it is the correct view.
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