Sunan an-Nasa'i 1601

Translation

He met Ibn 'Abbas and asked him about Witr. He said: "Shall I not lead you to one who knows best among the people of the world about the witr of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ?" He said: "Yes." (Ibn Abbas) said: "It is 'Aishah. So go to her and ask her (about witr) and then come back to me and tell me the answer that she gives you." So I went to Hakim bin Aflah and asked him to go accompany me to her. He said: "I shall not go to her, for I told her not to say anything about these two (conflicting) groups, but she refused (to accept my advice) and went on (to participate in the conflict)." I swore an oath, beseeching him (to take me to her). So he came with me and went unto her. She said to Hakim: "Who is this with you?" He said: "He is Sa'd bin Hisham." She said: "Which Hisham?" He said: "Ibn Amir." She supplicated for mercy for him and said: "What a good man Amir was." He said: "O Mother of the Believers, tell me about the character of the Messenger of Allah." She said: "Don't you read the Qur'an?" I said: "Yes." She said "The character of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was the Qur'an." He said: "I wanted to get up (and leave), then I thought of the Qiyam (night prayer) of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said: "Tell me about the Qiyam of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ." She said: "Do you not recite this surah: "O you wrapped in garments?" I said: "Yes." She said: "Allah, the Mighty and Sublime, made Qiyam Al-Lail obligatory at the beginning of this surah, so the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his companions prayed Qiyam Al-Lail for one year. Allah (SWT) withheld the latter part of this surah for twelve months, then he revealed the lessening (of this duty) at the end of this surah, so Qiyam Al-Lail became voluntary after it had been obligatory." I felt inclined to stand up (and not ask anything further), then I thought of the witr of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. I said: "O Mother of the Believers, tell me about the witr of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ." She said: "We used to prepare his siwak and water for his ablution, and Allah (SWT) would wake him when He wished during the night. He would use the siwak, perform ablution, and then pray eight rak'ahs in which he would not sit until he reached the eighth one. Then he would sit and remember Allah (SWT) and supplicate, then he would say the taslim that we could hear. Then he would pray two rak'as sitting after uttering the taslim, then he would pray one rak'ah, and that made eleven rak'ahs, O my son! When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ grew older and put on weight, he prayed witr with seven rak'ahs, then he prayed two rak'ahs sitting down after saying the taslim, and that made nine rak'ahs. O my son, when the Messenger of Allah ﷺoffered a prayer, he liked to continue to offer it, and when sleep, sickness, or pain distracted him from praying Qiyam Al-Lail, he would pray twelve rak'ahs during the day. I am not aware of the Prophet of Allah ﷺ having recited the whole Qur'an during a single night, or praying through the whole night until morning, or fasting a complete month, except Ramadan." I went to Ibn 'Abbas and told him what she had said, and he said: "She has spoken the truth. If I could go to her (and meet her face to face) I would so that she could tell me all of that verbally."

Notes

• فَأَتَيْتُ ابْنَ عَبَّاسٍ فَحَدَّثْتُهُ بِحَدِيثِهَا فَقَالَ صَدَقَتْ أَمَا أَنِّي لَوْ كُنْتُ أَدْخُلُ عَلَيْهَا لأَتَيْتُهَا حَتَّى تُشَافِهَنِي مُشَافَهَةً. قَالَ أَبُو عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ كَذَا وَقَعَ فِي كِتَابِي وَلاَ أَدْرِي مِمَّنِ الْخَطَأُ فِي مَوْضِعِ وِتْرِهِ عَلَيْهِ السَّلاَمُ

Grades by grader

What scholars said about it

In their own words, as Hadith Unlocked records them. They are shown, not summarised into a grade.

• Aḥmad ibn Shuʿayb al-Nasāʾī

  كذا وقع في كتابي ولا أدري ممن الخطأ في موضع وتره عليه السلام

  in سنن النسائي, p. 1602

Same hadith, other wordings

• Riyadhus Shalihin 1847: "كان خلق نبي الله صلى الله عليه وسلم القرآن"

Other narrations of this report

Sahih Muslim 746cSunan Ibn Majah 1191Musnad Ahmad 24777Sahih Ibn Hibban 2642aSahih Ibn Hibban 2644al-Mu'jam al-Kabir (al-Tabarani) 8090

Narrators

1. 1
   ʿĀʾishah bt. Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq

   Mother of the Believers, the most knowledgeable woman in jurisprudence absolutely (afqah al-nisāʾ muṭlaqan)d. 57 AH, or 58 AH
   عَائِشَةُ بِنْتُ أَبِي بَكْرٍ الصِّدِّيقِأم المؤمنين ، أفقه النساء مطلقا
   أنبئيني
2. 2
   Saʿd b. Hishām

   trustworthy (thiqah)d. between 81 AH and 90 AH
   سَعْدِ بْنِ هِشَامٍثقة
   عن
3. 3
   Zurārah b. Awfá

   trustworthy (thiqah), devout (ʿābid)d. 93 AH, or: 108 AH, also said: 106 AH
   زُرَارَةَثقة ، عابد
   عن
4. 4
   Qatādah b. Diʿāmah

   trustworthy, precise (thiqah thabt)d. 117 AH, or: 118 AH
   قَتَادَةَثقة ثبت
   عن
5. 5
   Saʿīd

   Trustworthy (thiqah), a memorizer (ḥāfiẓ), author of several works; however, he committed concealment (tadlīs) very often and his memory became confused (ikhtalaṭa), and he was among the most reliable of people in narrating from Qatādahd. 150 AH or 155 AH or 156 AH or 157 AH
   سَعِيدٍثقة حافظ ، له تصانيف ؛ لكنه كثير التدليس واختلط ، وكان من أثبت الناس في قتادة
   عن
6. 6
   Yaḥyā

   trustworthy (thiqah), meticulous (mutqin), a memorizer (ḥāfiẓ), an imam and exemplar (qudwah)d. 198 AH
   يَحْيَى بْنُ سَعِيدٍثقة متقن حافظ ، إمام قدوة
   حدثنا
7. 7
   Muḥammad b. Bashshār

   trustworthy (thiqah)d. 252 AH
   مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ بَشَّارٍثقة
   أخبرنا
8. 8
   al-Nasāʾī

   the preserver (al-Ḥāfiẓ)d. 302 AH, or 303 AH
   النَّسَائِيُّالحافظ

Who each narrator was and how reliable, from hdith.com

Latin names and English verdicts with a dotted underline are machine translations, not reviewed.

Also in

riyad 1132d