A man came to the Prophet ﷺ and asked him about the night prayer, and I was standing between the questioner and the Prophet ﷺ.He said, "Two by two, and when you fear the approach of dawn, pray a single rakah as witr."Then the man came again at the turn of the year, and I was in that same position between him and the questioner. He asked him the same question.He said, "Two by two, and when you fear the approach of dawn, pray a single rakah as witr."
حدثنا وكيع حدثنا عمران بن حدير عن عبد الله بن شقيق العقيلي
جاء رجل إلى النبي ﷺ فسأله عن صلاة الليل وأنا بين السائل وبين النبي ﷺ فقال مثنى مثنى فإذا خشيت الصبح فأوتر بركعة قال ثم جاء عند قرن الحول وأنا بذاك المنزل بينه وبين السائل فسأله فقال مثنى مثنى فإذا خشيت الصبح فأوتر بركعة
Its isnad is sahih. Imran bin Hudayr Sadusi, his reliability was established earlier at 423, and we add here that Ibn Abu Hatim mentioned him in Jarh wa Tadil 3/296-297, and reported his reliability from Shubah, Ahmad, Ibn Main, and Ibn Madini, and reported from Yazid bin Harun who said, "Imran bin Hudayr was the most truthful of people."Abdullah bin Shaqiq Aqeeli, his reliability was established earlier at 431, and we add here that Ibn Saad mentioned him in the first generation of the successors of Basra and affirmed his reliability, and Ahmad, Ibn Main, Abu Hatim, and others also affirmed his reliability.The hadith was reported by Muslim, 1:208, through the route of Ayub and Budayl, and through the route of Ayub and Budayl and Imran bin Hudayr, and through the route of Ayub and Zubayr bin Khurayt, all of them from Abdullah bin Shaqiq from Ibn Umar with similar wording. It has already appeared in abbreviated form through the route of Khalid Haddan from Abdullah bin Shaqiq at 4987, and its meaning has already appeared in abbreviated form through other routes repeatedly, the most recent at 5159."At the joining of the year" means at the end of the year and the beginning of the next, as stated by Ibn Athir, while Muslim's version has "at the head of the year."