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Assalamu3alaikum!
Among the things that are recommended to do in Ramadan, the virtue of Qiyaam (prayers) during this holy month is something that unfortunately is taken very lightly, or in some cases, completely deviated from the Sunnah of the Prophet (PBUH).
Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported:The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) used to urge (the people) to perform (optional Tarawih) prayer at night during the month of Ramadan. He did not order them or make it obligatory on them. He (PBUH) said, “Whosoever performs (optional Tarawih) prayers at night during the month of Ramadan, with Faith and in the hope of receiving Allah’s reward, will have his past sins forgiven.” (Muslim, Riyadh us-Saliheen) (1)
What we need to do is establish prayers as much as possible during this month. And what better than praying the Taraweeh every night? The importance of Taraweeh is stated in the hadith above. Even though Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) did not pray it every night BECAUSE he did not want to make it a mandatory practice to us.
How ironic. Praying 5 times a day is a burden on some. Imagine if Taraweeh was made obligatory too? Subhan’Allah!
(At this point, the Aalima said while Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) did this out of the fear of making Taraweeh obligatory, it doesn’t mean we don’t pray Taraweeh. Unfortunately, certain sects of Islam consider Taraweeh an innovation (bid’ah) because of this. This is a wrong practice and may Allah guide those people.)
The reward of establishing Taraweeh too is mentioned in the hadith above. If all of us pray with utter sincerity, inshaAllah Allah will forgive us. And the blessings for Taraweeh isn’t limited to that.
In another hadith:
‘Amr ibn Murrah al-Juhani said: “A man from Qudaa’ah came to the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and said, ‘O Messenger of Allaah! What do you think if I testify that there is no god except Allaah, and that you, Muhammad, are His Messenger, and I pray the five daily prayers, and fast in the month (of Ramadaan), and pray at night in Ramadaan, and pay zakaah?’ The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: ‘Whoever dies on that will be among the siddeeqeen (those who tell the truth) and the martyrs.’” (Albani) (2)
Both the hadiths above are crystal clear on what exactly is the importance of praying Taraweeh in Ramadan, even though it is not obligatory on us to pray.
The words Taraweeh/Tahajjud/Qiyam-ul-Layl (Prayer of the night) all mean the same. Though what people do is refer to the prayers directly after Isha as Taraweeh (ONLY during Ramadan) and the prayers after midnight as Tahajjud (regardless of the month).
(PS: Going into semantics isn’t necessary, just wanted to clear doubts!)
Now we have established it’s importance, we’ll move on to the duration and the number of rak’ahs prayed during Taraweeh.
The number of rak’ahs is eleven, ie
11 = 8 rakahs in twos + (2+1) witr
and it is preferable not to exceed this number, following the practice of the Messenger of Allaah (PBUH), because he never did more than that in his life.
Narrated Abu Salma bin `Abdur Rahman:
I asked `Aisha, “How is the prayer of Allah’s Messenger (PBUH) during the month of Ramadan.” She said, “Allah’s Messenger (PBUH) never exceeded eleven rak`at in Ramadan or in other months; he used to offer four rak`at– do not ask me about their beauty and length, then four rak`at, do not ask me about their beauty and length, and then three rak`at.” Aisha further said, “I said, ‘O Allah’s Messenger (PBUH)! Do you sleep before offering the witr prayer?’ He replied, ‘O `Aisha! My eyes sleep but my heart remains awake’!’
(Sahih Bukhari) (3)
What a wonderful hadith! Not only it debunks the 20 rak’at prayers that are held so ceremoniously everywhere, it even hints on praying the Witr late into the night!
Before I get slandered by people for the 20 rak’at comment, I would point out that most of the 20 rak’at hadiths are proven da’eef (weak). Even though 20 rak’at prayers are held in Masjid ul Haram, they do it for a lot of reasons. Firstly, people from all walks of life, Islamic sects pray in the Haram. If the Imam were to pray only 8 (which they used to once upon a time), they’d noticed that after the 8 raka’at there were mini congregations forming within the Haram which continued to pray among themselves. To avoid this, the Haram has sanctioned the 20 rak’ats Taraweeh.
If you have ever seen the Taraweeh prayer telecasted live from Makkah, you’ll notice that the Imam WILL change after 8 rak’ats of prayer. What does that mean? That we are recommended to pray 8 rak’ats, not 20 🙂
Moreover, Masjid ul Haram is such a magnificent masjid! It houses hundreds and thousands of people at one point of time. And therefore due to its vastness and the huge number of people who are trying to pray at the same time, not everyone gets place/time to start their Taraweeh with the Imam. So if one ends up missing a few rak’ats, they can always make up behind the imam!
It isn’t a bad thing to pray extra prayers. Its the intention (as usual) behind it. One can pray 20 rak’ats throughout the day instead. Why do we need to do something that wasn’t even recommended by Prophet Mohammed (PBUH)? When there is a Sahih hadith telling us not to go to such extremes, we still end up doing that. And then in those 20 rak’ats, the length of every rak’at shortens which is again the opposite of what we should be doing.
We should increase the length of our prayers by reciting as much as we remember. Every act of the Salah, from reciting the surah, to rukoo and the sujood, we should lengthen them.
Now to explain the miscellaneous issues related to Taraweeh:
1) Women can and should try to pray Taraweeh in congregation if a masjid is nearby.
2) Reading from the Mus’haf/Qur’an during Taraweeh is not bid’ah. Since it is a nafl prayer, the majority of the scholars have consented that the reading from the mus’haf during the taraweeh is possible. This is great news for people like me whose first language isn’t Arabic. So while the Imam recites the surah I make sure I read the translation and understand what the Imam is reciting!
3) The number of Rakat’s for Taraweeh is 11, which can be prayed from the time Isha starts till before Fajr.
4) Delaying the witr till late is recommended
5) It is better to pray Taraweeh in a congregation.
6) If the Imam is known to lengthen the prayer by a considerable amount, one can always sit during his recitation.
7) One can shorten his Taraweeh (if he or she is praying alone) if they are unable to withstand long periods of standing.
For a more detailed explanation of the virtues of Taraweeh I would recommend you all to read this link on IslamQA. The excerpt on this page is taken from Qiyaam Ramadaan by al-Albaani and I would request you all to read this as it has a lot of sunnah and recommended things to do when praying in Ramadan! http://www.islamqa.com/en/ref/3452/qiyaam
Jazakkallah Khair
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This brings us to the end of the Ramadan series. While I won’t be ending my blog here, I will still update it with other relevant topics in Islam 🙂
References:
1) http://sunnah.com/riyadussaliheen/9/198
2) Sahih Al Targheeb wat-Tarheeb Lil-Albani Vol 1 H. 993
3) http://sunnah.com/bukhari/19/28
The Struggle Within 