Introduction
Indeed, all praise and thanks are due to Allaah. We praise Him; seek His help and His forgiveness. We seek protection from Him from the evils of our own souls and from our bad deeds. Whomever Allaah guides, no one can misguide him, and whomever He sends astray, there is no other guide for him. I testify that nothing has any right to be worshipped except Allaah alone, having no partner, and I testify that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger-may the peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him, his family, companions and those who follow them in goodness until the Day of Judgment.
To proceed:
This is a concise explanation of the Du’aa, or supplication that is said during the Witr prayer.2 This explanation was given by Shaykh Muhammad Ibn Saalih al-‘Uthaymeen, may Allaah have mercy on him, during his lectures which he used to present in the central mosque in Mecca (al-Masjid al-Haraam) during the blessed month of Ramadhaan.
Thanks is given to ash-Shaykh Muhammad bin Saalih bin Muhammad al-Harbee may Allaah reward him with good for reviewing it over with his eminence, the Shaykh, the author-may Allaah have mercy upon him-as well as his looking after its first printed publication in the year 1417-may Allaah reward him for this.
For the sake of spreading benefit of this simple explanation, and after comparing the written copy that was reviewed and relied upon by his eminence, the Shaykh, the authormay Allaah have mercy upon him, then facilitated for the Lajnah ‘Ilmiyyah (The Committee of Scholarly Research) to combine distinctly this treatise and reinstate it’s publication with a fatwa given by his eminence-may Allaah have mercy upon himconcerning two questions related to the topic.
We ask Allaah Most High to place this action purely for His Noble Face, as a benefit to His servants, and that He reward his eminence, Our Shaykh, the Author in addition to Islaam and the Muslims, with the best of rewards, and that He place him to dwell in His spacious paradise, Verily He is All Hearing, All Near. All praise is to Allaah, Lord of all the worlds, and may the salutations, peace, and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad as well as his family and all of his companions.
Al-Lajnah al-‘Ilmiyyah for the ash-Shaykh Muhammad bin Saalih al-Uthaymeen Charitable Organization.
1 This lecture was provided by the Muhammd Ibn Saalih al-‘Uthaymeen Charitable Foundation. For more information or to listen or read (in Arabic) more from Shaykh Ibn al-‘Uthaymeen, please visit:
http://www.ibnothaimeen.com/index.shtml.
2 The Witr or “Odd” prayer is the last prayer one may pray at night, before the Morning Prayer, consisting of an odd number of Raka’hs, or units of prayer. The Prophet () used to say the Du’aa of Qunoot sometimes while standing during the Witr prayer. He would raise his hands while supplicating and would sometimes do it before bowing or after bowing.