60. WITIR PRAYERS (part 1)

Witir prayer is one of the supererogatories which the Holy Prophet, peace be upon him, had parctised and ebcouraged us to do.
It was reported by Imam Ali bin Abi Thalib (God Blessed him) that the witir was not obligatory though it was observed by the holy Apostle who said :"O people of the Qur'an observed the witir, as God Witir beloving the Witir".
The appoined time for Witir prayers start from shortly after the evening prayers and runs up to the break of down as defined by the Prophet, pece be upom him, who said: "Perform the witir prayers beween the evening and dawn prayers".
To be on the safe side, it would be better to perform the witir prayers early night to avoid oversleeping although it is much preferable to pospone it until after midnight, in complience with the Hadits related by Gabir (God blessed him) that the apostle said :" He who doubts to get up late by night may do the witir earlier at night, and he who certain to get up late is all the best, as prayers at a leater time of night are attended by angels". (Recorded by Muslim and Tirmizi).