Back to search

How can one combine the Sunnah of eleven rak'ahs and prolonging each rak'ah during Qiyam al-Layl within one hour? And is it sufficient to pray two long rak'ahs to achieve the purpose?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

It is not possible to combine the Prophet's long standing (in prayer) with praying eleven rak'ahs in a single hour, for his rak'ahs were very long. It has also been authentically reported that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, used to pray Qiyam al-Layl with seven and nine rak'ahs as well. It is sunnah to pray Witr with one rak'ah after two long rak'ahs. There are disagreements among scholars regarding what is better: prolonging the standing or increasing the number of prostrations, but the most important thing is not to abandon night prayer.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

Read the full answer on Ftawy