The Manner of the Night Prayer and its Number of Rak'ahs

✅ Answer: Pay attention to the following narrations:

1 From al-Reza in his letter to al-Ma'mun, he said: ...and the sunnah prayer is thirty-four rak'ahs: eight rak'ahs before the obligatory noon prayer... and eight rak'ahs at dawn, and al-Shaf' and al-Witr are three rak'ahs, you greet after the two rak'ahs, and the two rak'ahs of fajr.

📚 Uyun Akhbar al-Reza, Vol. 2, p. 123

Imam Reza, peace be upon him, said in a hadith: The sunnah prayers are 34 rak'ahs... until he said: eight rak'ahs at dawn, and three rak'ahs of al-Shaf' and al-Witr prayer, which you greet after its two rak'ahs, and the two rak'ahs of the morning optional prayer!

2 Raja' ibn Abi al-Dahhak said in a hadith: Al-Reza... then he would go to his bed, and when it was the last third of the night, he would rise from his bed with tasbih, tahmid, tahlil, takbir, and istighfar, and he would brush his teeth, then perform wudu, then stand for the night prayer, and he would perform eight rak'ahs and greet after every two rak'ahs... then he would stand and perform the two rak'ahs of al-Shaf', reciting in each of them al-Hamd once and Qul Huwa Allahu Ahad three times, and he would perform qunut in the second one before the bowing and after the recitation. When he greeted, he would stand and perform the one rak'ah of al-Witr, in which he would say the du'a of tawajjuh and recite in it al-Hamd once and Qul Huwa Allahu Ahad three times and Qul A'udhu bi Rabb al-Falaq once and Qul A'udhu bi Rabb al-Nas once, and he would perform qunut in it before the bowing and after the recitation... until he said: And he would say 'Astaghfirullah wa as'aluhu al-tawbah' (I seek forgiveness from Allah and I ask Him for repentance) seventy times. When he greeted, he would sit in the ta'qib (post-prayer supplication) as long as Allah willed, and when it was close to dawn, he would stand and perform the two rak'ahs of Fajr, reciting in the first one al-Hamd and Qul Ya Ayyuha al-Kafirun, and in the second one al-Hamd and Qul Huwa Allahu Ahad. When dawn appeared, he would call the adhan and the iqamah and perform the two rak'ahs of the morning prayer.

📚 Uyun Akhbar al-Reza, Vol. 2, p. 181

Raja' narrated in a hadith that Imam Reza, peace be upon him, would go to bed after the 'Isha prayer, and when it was the last third of the night, he would rise from his bed with tasbih, tahmid, tahlil, takbir, and istighfar, and he would brush his teeth and perform wudu, then he would stand for the night prayer and perform eight rak'ahs and greet after every two rak'ahs... then he would stand and perform the two rak'ahs of al-Shaf' prayer, and in each of them, he would recite Surah al-Hamd once and Surah al-Tawhid three times, and in the second rak'ah before the bowing and after the recitation, he would perform qunut. And when he greeted, he would stand and perform the one rak'ah of al-Witr prayer, in which he would say the du'a of tawajjuh and recite in it Surah al-Hamd once and Surah al-Tawhid three times and Surah al-Falaq once and Surah al-Nas once, and in it, after the recitation and before the bowing, he would perform qunut... until he said: In its qunut, he would say 'Astaghfirullah wa as'aluhu al-tawbah' (I seek forgiveness from Allah and I ask Him for repentance) seventy times, and when he greeted, he would sit in the ta'qib as long as Allah willed, and when it was close to dawn, he would stand and perform the two rak'ahs of the morning optional prayer, and in it, in the first rak'ah, he would recite Surah al-Hamd and Surah al-Kafirun, and in the second rak'ah, al-Hamd and Surah al-Tawhid. And when dawn appeared, he would call the adhan and the iqamah and perform the two rak'ahs of the morning prayer!

3 From Abu Abdullah, he said: The optional prayer is eight rak'ahs at the time of the sun's decline before the noon prayer... until he said: And eight rak'ahs at the end of the night, you recite in the night prayer Qul Huwa Allahu Ahad and Qul Ya Ayyuha al-Kafirun in the first two rak'ahs, and in the rest of them, you recite whatever you like from the Quran, then al-Witr is three rak'ahs in which you recite Qul Huwa Allahu Ahad in all of them and you separate between them with a greeting (i.e., after two rak'ahs) and then the two rak'ahs which are before the morning prayer, you recite in the first of them Qul Ya Ayyuha al-Kafirun and in the second Qul Huwa Allahu Ahad.

📚 Tahdhib, Vol. 2, p. 5

Imam Sadiq, peace be upon him, said: The optional prayer is eight rak'ahs at the time of the sun's decline before the noon prayer... until he said: And eight rak'ahs at the end of the night, you recite in the night prayer in the first two rak'ahs after al-Hamd Surah al-Kafirun and Surah al-Tawhid, and in the rest of them (after al-Hamd) you recite whatever you want from the Quran, and then al-Witr prayer which is three rak'ahs, in each of them after al-Hamd you recite Surah al-Tawhid, and you separate between them (i.e., after two rak'ahs of it) with a greeting, and then you perform the two rak'ahs of the optional prayer that are before the morning prayer, in which in the first rak'ah after al-Hamd you recite Surah al-Kafirun and in the second rak'ah after al-Hamd you recite Surah al-Tawhid!

✅ According to the above narrations and others, the night prayer, whose time begins at midnight, is as follows: First, 8 rak'ahs of prayer are performed as four two-rak'ah prayers with the intention of the night prayer, and then two rak'ahs of al-Shaf' prayer are performed, and then one rak'ah of al-Witr prayer is performed, in which qunut is performed in that one rak'ah, and among its highly recommended supplications is seventy times of istighfar, and after that, the optional prayer of the morning prayer is performed, which totals 13 rak'ahs.

✅ Of course, specific supplications and surahs are also recommended for the night optional prayer, which anyone who is willing can learn and perform.

https://feghh14.com/en

اللّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ و آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ

و عَجِّلْ فَرَجَهُمْ و العَنْ أعْدَاءَهم