بســـم اللــه الرحــمــن الـرحـــيــم
349◾️The reconciliation between the Ḥadīth: (Make the last Ṣalāh of yours during the night the Witr) and between the Ḥadīth: (Al-Nabī ﷺ prayed 2 Rakʿahs after Witr)◾️
Answered by Fadeelatushaykh Abu Hatim Yusuf Al-'Inaabi Al-Jazaa'iree - may Allah preserve him -
📥Question:
"How is reconciliation made between the Ḥadīth: (Make the last Ṣalāh of yours during the night the Witr) and between the Ḥadīth: (Al-Nabī ﷺ prayed 2 Rakʿahs after Witr)?
📤Answer:
"The Ḥadīth of Ibn ʿUmar, may Allāh be pleased with them both, in the Ṣaḥīḥayn, "Make the last Ṣalāh of yours during the night the Witr", points towards it being Mustaḥab for a person to end his night prayer with the Witr, with it being permissible to perform Ṣalāh after that as a reconciliation between the evidences.
Imām Ibn al-Mundhir said in his book, "Al-Awsaṭ" (5/201):
"Performing Ṣalāh is permissible at all times except the times the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ forbidden performing Ṣalāh in. And the times the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ forbade performing Ṣalāh in include: Time of Sunrise, Time of Zawāl, and the time of Sunset. And Ṣalāh at the rest of the times is unrestrictedly permissible, it's not for a person to forbid that except with evidence, and there is no evidence with those who say it is disliked to pray after Witr, and this action of his points towards that his statement : "Make the last Ṣalāh of yours during the night the Witr," is optional, and not obligatory.
Verily, we say it's Mustaḥab for a person to make his last Ṣalāh the Witr, and we do not make the Ṣalāh after the Witr disliked, and the one who takes this is someone who has taken both the reports entirely." End of Speech.
Imām Ibn Khuzaymah, may Allāh have mercy upon him, entitled a chapter heading in his "Ṣaḥīḥ", saying: "The chapter of mentioning the proof that Ṣalāh after Witr is permissible for all who wish to perform Ṣalāh after it, and the two Rakʿahs al-Nabī ﷺ used to pray after Witr were not exclusive to al-Nabī ﷺ, to the exclusion of the Ummah. As al-Nabī ﷺ ordered us with two Rakʿahs after Witr as a preferred and virtuous command, and not a command of obligation and Farḍ." End of speech.
And from that which points to its permissibility is the Ḥadīth of ʿĀʾishah may Allāh be pleased with her, that he (ﷺ) would perform Witr and then perform two Rakʿahs whilst sitting, and if he wished to make Rukūʿ, he would stand and make Rukūʿ.
So al-Nabī ﷺ would perform these 2 Rakʿahs in a specific manner, and he would read in them Sūrah al-Zalzalah and al-Kāfirūn, as reported by Aḥmad, from the Ḥadīth of Abī Umāmah may Allāh be pleased with him, which is in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Musnad.
And from that which proves the permissibility of performing Ṣalāh after Witr:
That it has been established from multiple companions that they would pray Shafʿan (in twos) after the Witr.
Their reports were reported by Ibn Abī Shaybah in "al-Muṣannaf", and from those companions are:
ʿAmmār Ibn Yāsir, Ibn ʿAbbās, and ʿAmr Bin ʿĀʾidh, may Allāh be pleased with them.
He (Ibn Abī Shaybah) said: Wakīʿ narrated to us, who said: Shuʿbah narrated to us on the authority of Qatādah, on the authority of Khilās Bin ʿAmr al-Hajarī, on the authority of ʿAmmār who said: "As for me, then I perform Witr, and if I wake up, then I pray in twos, and I leave my first Witr as it is."
Wakīʿ narrated to us on the authority of Shuʿbah, on the authority of Abī Jamrah, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās and ʿĀʾidh Ibn ʿAmr who said: "If you performed Witr in the first part of the night, then do not perform it during its last part, and if you perform it during the last part, then do not perform it during the first part."
Wakīʿ narrated to us, who said: Ḥammād Ibn Salamah narrated to us, Ḥafṣ narrated to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: "Whosoever performs Witr in the first part of the night, and then he wakes up, then let him pray 2 Rakʿahs, 2 Rakʿahs."
Check, also "al-Awsaṭ" of Ibn al-Mundhir.