IS IT TRUE THAT THE NON ACCOMPLISHMENT OF WITR INVALIDATES EESHAA PRAYER?

All praise be to Allaah

To start with, Witr prayer is Sunnah Mu'akkadah (a confirmed suunah) according to the majority of scholars, and some of the Fuqaha' regarded it as Waajib.

The fact that it is not obligatory is indicated by the hadeeth narrated by Al-Bukhaari (1891) and Muslim (11) from Talhah ibn 'Ubayd-Allaah (may Allaah be pleased with him) who said: A man came to the Messenger of Allaah (sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam) and said: "O Messenger of Allaah, what prayers has Allaah enjoined on me?" He said: "The five prayers, unless you do anything voluntarily." The version narrated by Muslim says: "Five prayers every day and night." He said: "Do I have to do anything else?" He said, "No, unless you do it voluntarily."

Al-Nawawi said:

"This indicates that Witr prayer is not obligatory."

Al-Haafiz said in al-Fath:

"This indicates that no prayers during the day and night are obligatory apart from the five prayers; this is contrary to the view of those who say that Witr or the two Sunnah Rak'ahs of Fajr are obligatory."

However it is the most confirmed Sunnah and was enjoined by the Prophet (sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam) in more than one hadeeth. Hence we should continue to offer Witr prayer regularly.

So if Witr is not an obligatory prayer, how can the non-accomplishment of a non-obligatory prayer invalidates an obligatory prayer?? This is false.