Narrated Saad bin Hisham: I divorced my wife. I then came to Madina to sell my land that was there so that I could buy arms and fight in battle. I met a group of the Companions of the Prophet صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم. They said: Six persons of us intended to do so (i. e. divorce their wives and purchase weapons), but the Prophet صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم prohibited them. He said: For you in the Messenger of Allah there is an excellent model. I then came to Ibn Abbas and asked him about the witr observed by the Prophet صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم. He said: I point to you a person who is most familiar with the witr observed by the Messenger of Allah صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم. Go to Aishah. While going to her I asked Hakim bin Aflah to accompany me. He refused, but I adjured him. He, therefore, went along with me. We sought permission to enter upon Aishah. She said: Who is this ? He said: Hakim bin Aflah. She asked: Who is with you ? He replied: Saad bin Hisham. She said: Hisham son of Amir who was killed in the Battle of Uhud. I said: Yes. She said: What a good man Amir was! I said: Mother of faithful, tell me about the character of the Messenger of Allah صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم. She asked: Do you not recite the Quran ? The character of Messenger of Allah صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم was the Quran. I asked: Tell me about his vigil and prayer at night. She replied: Do you not recite: O thou folded in garments (73: 1). I said: Why not ? When the opening of this Surah was revealed, the Companions stood praying (most of the night) until their fett swelled, and the concluding verses were not revealed for twelve months from heaven. At last the concluding verses were revealed and the prayer at night became voluntary after it was obligatory. I said: Tell me about the witr of the Prophet صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم. She replied: He used to pray eight rak'ahs, sitting only during the eighth of them. Then he would stand up and pray another rak'ahs. He would sit only after the eighth and the ninth rak'ahs. He would utter salutation only after the ninth rak'ah. He would then pray two rak'ahs sitting and that made eleven rak'ahs, O my son. But when he grew old and became fleshy he observed a witr of seven, sitting only in sixth and seventh rak'ahs, and would utter salutation only after the seventh rak'ah. He would then pray two rak'ahs sitting, and that made nine rak'ahs, O my son. The Messenger of Allah صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم would not pray through a whole night, or recite the whole Quran in a night or fast a complete month except in Ramadan. When he offered prayer, he would do that regularly. When he was overtaken by sleep at night, he would pray twelve rak'ahs. The narrator said: I came to Ibn Abbas and narrated all this to him. By Allah, this is really a tradition. Has I been on speaking terms with her, I would have come to her and heard it from her mouth. I said: If I knew that you were not on speaking terms with her, I would have never narrated it to you.