What he answered when asked about the night prayer
A man called out the question from the back.
مَثْنَى مَثْنَى، فَإِذَا خَشِيتَ الصُّبْحَ فَأَوْتِرْ بِوَاحِدَةٍ، تُوتِرُ لَكَ مَا قَدْ صَلَّيْتَ
Mathnā mathnā. Fa-idhā khashīta-ṣ-ṣubḥa fa-awtir bi-wāḥidah, tūtiru laka mā qad ṣallayt
Two by two. And when you fear the dawn, make it odd with one, which makes odd for you all that you have prayed.
Where this comes from
No total is given. You pray in pairs for as long as you have, and the single unit at the end is what closes whatever amount you managed.
The full narration
Narrated Ibn `Umar:A man came to the Prophet (ﷺ) while he was delivering the sermon and asked him how to offer the night prayers. The Prophet (ﷺ) replied, 'Pray two rak`at at a time and then two and then two and so on and if you are afraid of dawn (the approach of the time of the Fajr prayer) pray one rak`a and that will be the witr for all the rak`at which you have prayed." Narrated 'Ubaidullah bin `Abdullah bin `Umar: A man called the Prophet (ﷺ) while he was in the mosque
Source
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī · 473
- Agreed upon as authentic (al-Bukhārī / Muslim)