The Prophet ﷺ asked Abu Bakr, "When do you perform the witr prayer?"Abu Bakr replied, "I perform witr at the beginning of the night."He then asked Umar, "When do you perform witr?"Umar replied, "At the end of the night."The Prophet ﷺ said about Abu Bakr, "This one has taken the path of caution," and said about Umar, "This one has taken the path of strength."
أن النبي ﷺ قال لأبي بكر: متى توتر؟ قال: أوتر من أول الليل، وقال لعمر: متى توتر؟ قال: آخر الليل. فقال لأبي بكر: أخذ هذا بالحزم وقال لعمر: أخذ هذا بالقوة.
Abu Dawud (1434) reported it, he said, Muhammad bin Ahmad bin Abu Khalaf narrated to us, Abu Zakariya [Yahya bin Ishaq Silhini] narrated to us, Hammad bin Salama narrated to us, from Thabit, from Abdullah bin Rabah, from Abu Qatada, and he mentioned it.Ibn Khuzayma (1084) reported it, and from him Hakim (1/301), and Bayhaqi (3/35), from Bishr bin Musa, from Yahya bin Ishaq Silhini, with the same wording.Hakim said, "Sahih according to the criterion of Muslim." But Ibn Khuzayma said, "This, according to our companions, is a mursal narration from Hammad, Abu Qatada is not mentioned in it." He said this without mentioning the reason for it.