What is the Sunnah Qirāʾah for Witr Ṣalāh?
بسم الله الرحمن الرحیم
The following combinations have been narrated from the Prophet ﷺ.
Mufti ʿAbd al-Raḥīm Lājpūrī Ṣāḥib (d. 1422/2001) interpreted the third combination differently in. Fatāwā Raḥīmiyyah (5: 235). According to him, the ḥadīth provides three different combinations, reciting one Sūrah in each Rakʿah as per the following:
(1) Sūrah 102, 103 & 109 (al-Takāthur,al-ʿAṣr, al-Kāfirun).
(2) Surah 97, 110 & 111 (al-Qadr,al- Naṣr, al-Lahab).
(3) Surah 99, 108 & 112 (al-Zilzāl, al-Kawthar, al-Ikhlāṣ).
However, the narration of Sunan al-Tirmidhī, Musnad Aḥmad and other collections is explicit in that the Prophet ﷺ would recite nine Sūrah in Witr Ṣalāh, reciting three Sūrah in each Rakʿah. It should also be noted that these nine Sūrah will be recited in the order outlined in the table above.
Allah knows best
Yusuf Shabbir
2 Dhū al-Qaʿdah 1436 / 16 August 2015
UPDATE
A colleague has queried the authenticity of the second and third narrations. The second narration has been categorised as ḥasan by Imam Tirmidhī (d. 279/892).
The third narration has been declared ṣaḥīḥ by ʿAllāmah ʿAynī (d. 855/1451) in Nukhab al-Afkār (6: 460) although the chain has Ḥārith al-Aʿwar, a famous and controversial narrator who has been deemed as weak according to most scholars. Mawlānā Yūsuf Kāndhalwī (d. 1384/1965) discusses this in detail in Amānī al-Aḥbār (4: 255) and concludes: لا ينحط حديثه عن درجة الاستشهاد.
Allah knows best
Yusuf Shabbir
4 Dhū al-Qaʿdah 1436 / 18 August 2015