Do the Shī‘ah regard witr prayer as obligatory?

 

           

                                               

Reply: Witr prayer is part of the supererogatory night prayers and it is one of the recommended [mustaḥabb] works which the Muslims who follow the Messenger of Allah (ṣ) perform, but the Shī‘ah jurists [fuqahā] who rely on the Book of Allah and the Prophet’s Sunnah say that the witr prayer is one of the things which are incumbent on no one except the Holy Prophet (ṣ).

In his book, Tadhkirah al-Fuqahā, ‘Allāmah al-Ḥillī enumerates about 70 salient features of the Prophet (ṣ) and at the beginning of his statement, he thus says:

السّواك،-أ :أمور أُمّته من غيره دون عليه الواجبات فأمّا

كتب ثلٰث :قال أنّه –ص- عنه روى .الأضحية-ج الوتر-ب

…الأضحية و والوتر السّواك :عليكم تكتب ولم عليّ

As for the things which are incumbent only upon him (ṣ) and not upon his ummah, they are: the use of tooth-stick [miswāk], witr prayer, and offering sacrifice [aḍḥiyah]. He (ṣ) is reported to have said: “Three things were made incumbent upon me but not you: the use of tooth-stick [miswāk], witr prayer and offering sacrifice.”[1]

Consequently, according to the Shī‘ah witr prayer is obligatory [wājib] upon the Holy Prophet (ṣ) and it is recommended [mustaḥabb] upon the other Muslims.

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[1] ‘Allāmah al-Ḥillī, Tadhkirah al-Fuqahā, vol. 2, “Kitāb an-Nikāh,” Introduction 4.