The Messenger of Allah ﷺ asked Abu Bakr, "When do you perform the witr prayer?"Abu Bakr replied, "At the beginning of the night, after the isha prayer."The Prophet ﷺ then asked, "And you, Umar?"Umar answered, "At the end of the night."The Prophet ﷺ said, "As for you, Abu Bakr, you have taken the safer course. And as for you, Umar, you have taken the stronger course."
قال رسول الله ﷺ لأبي بكر: أي حين توتر؟ قال: أول الليل بعد العتمة. قال: فأنت يا عمر؟ فقال: آخر الليل. فقال النبي ﷺ: أما أنت يا أبا بكر فأخذت بالوثقى، وأما أنت يا عمر فأخذت بالقوة.
Ibn Majah (1202) related it, he said, Abu Dawud Sulayman bin Tawba narrated to us, he said, Yahya bin Abu Bukayr narrated to us, he said, Zaida narrated to us, from Abdullah bin Muhammad bin Aqeel, from Jabir bin Abdullah, and he mentioned it. Its chain is hasan due to the discussion about Abdullah bin Muhammad bin Aqeel, though he is one whose hadith is hasan. Zaida is Ibn Qudama, and by this route Imam Ahmad (14323), Abu Dawud Tayalisi (1776), Abu Yaala (1821), and others related it.It is corroborated by the hadith of Ibn Umar, that the Prophet ﷺ said to Abu Bakr, "When do you pray witr?" He said, "I pray witr then sleep." He said, "You have taken the cautious approach." Then he asked Umar, "When do you pray witr?" He said, "I sleep then rise during the night and pray witr." He said, "You have done as the strong do." In another version, "You have done as the strong do."Ibn Khuzayma (1985), Ibn Hibban (2446), Hakim (1/301), and Bayhaqi (3/36) all related it, all by the route of Muhammad bin Abbad Makki, who said, Yahya bin Salim narrated to us, from Ubaydullah bin Umar, from Nafi, from Ibn Umar, and he mentioned the hadith. By this same route Ibn Majah also related it, following the narration of Jabir bin Abdullah, except that he did not give its full wording.Hakim said, Sahih. Busiri said in Misbah Zujaja, "This is a sahih chain, its men being reliable narrators."I say, it contains Yahya bin Salim Taifi, about whose memory there has been discussion, especially regarding his narration from Ubaydullah bin Umar. Bukhari said, He narrates hadiths from Ubaydullah in which he errs. Nasai said, There is no harm in him, but he is munkar al-hadith when narrating from Ubaydullah bin Umar, and for this reason the two Shaykhs (Bukhari and Muslim) avoided narrating from him through that route.The conclusion regarding him is that his hadith is hasan when he narrates from someone other than Ubaydullah bin Umar. As for Abu Hatim, he said, "A righteous shaykh, his standing is one of truthfulness, but he was not a memorizer. His hadith is written down but not relied upon as proof."