Zeeshan Virk

As we experience the blessed month of Ramadan once again, the majority of us will be offering the witr prayer at the mosque in congregation. During this holy month of heightened worship, many might harbour a natural curiosity or confusion as to why we conclude our night with this specific three-rak‘ah prayer. Why not two or four? What is the significance of this uneven number? Through detailed research into Islamic jurisprudence, the Holy Quran and the profound spiritual insights provided by the Holy Prophet (sa), the Promised Messiah (as) and the Khulafa, a magnificent philosophy emerges. Islam is a religion of absolute wisdom where nothing is left to chance. Every posture, every word and indeed every number holds a deep divine secret. Huzoor (aa) noted that the total number of farz rak‘ah in a day – two for Fajr, four for Zuhr, four for Asr, three for Maghrib and four for Isha – totals exactly 17. Seventeen is an odd number. Furthermore, Allah introduced the witr prayer at the end of the night. After offering all our sunnah and nawafil prayers, which are generally offered in sets of two, we cap them off with an odd number. This makes the grand total of our voluntary worship odd, perfectly mirroring the odd number of our obligatory prayers. The Holy Prophet (sa) said: “Verily, Allah is witr (Odd/Single), and He loves the witr.” (Sahih al-Bukhari) Allah states: وَّالشَّفۡعِ وَالۡوَتۡرِ “By the Even and the Odd.” (Ch.89: V.4) “And of everything have We created pairs, that you may reflect.” (Ch.51: V.50) In Islamic philosophy, the “even” represents the creation. Everything in this universe is dependent on a counterpart. The “odd” represents the Creator. God does not have a pair. He is Ahad – indivisible and unique. If you try to divide an odd number equally, you cannot do it without breaking it into fractions. It refuses to be split into two equal, independent halves. Islam desires the zahir to perfectly reflect the batin. By adding that odd number, the believer places the seal of divine oneness upon their entire night’s worship and declares that while they live in a world of pairs, their ultimate return and devotion is entirely to the One. Tap on the link in bio to read the full article 👆