How to pray tarawih?
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question:
As-Salaam Alaikum!
Also, what is the exact procedure of praying the Tarawi?(pending
to answer)
I would like to get my reply as soon as possible.
Khuda Hafiz
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Answer:
How to pray tarawih?
In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask
for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever
He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that
there is no one (no idol, no person, no
grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai,
nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that
Muhammad(saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.
The tarawih prayers of Ramadan are voluntary night
prayers; if one prays them one will
receive a huge reward from Allah Subhanah,
and if one does not pray them,
there is no sin upon him. The
most that can be said of the person who does not offer these voluntary prayers
is that he missed an opportunity to earn a great reward from the Bounteous
Lord.
The Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (saws) was that he
prayed the voluntary night prayers in a two-rakah combination. There are several authentic narrations
which state that the Messenger of Allah (saws) used to pray eight rakahs + 3 rakahs for witr; or he (saws) used to pray ten rakahs + 3
rakahs for witr, and there are also
authentic narrations which state that he (saws) would pray twenty rakahs + 3
rakahs for witr.
Fiqh-us-Sunnah Fiqh 2.29
It is related that some people of the early
generations would pray with two hundred Aayahs or so, and the people would be leaning on staffs due to the protracted
standing during the Tarawih. They would
not leave their prayers until shortly before dawn, and some of them would rush their servants to prepare food for
them fearing that dawn may break soon.
Hadrat Abu Dharr (r.a.) related that : 'We
prayed with the Prophet (saws) until we feared that we would miss the pre-dawn
meal.’
Fiqh-us-Sunnah Fiqh 2.27a
Hadrat Aishah (r.a.) reported that the
Prophet (saws) would not pray more than eleven rak'at during Ramadan or
otherwise.
Related by Bukhari, Muslim, and others.
Ibn Khuzaimah and Ibn Hibban have recorded in
their sahihs on the authority of Jabir that the Prophet (saws) prayed eight
rak'at and the witr prayer with the companions.
It is also true that during the time of
Hadrat Umar (r.a.), Hadrat Uthman (r.a.) , and Hadrat Ali ibn Abi Taalib
(r.a.), the believers prayed twenty
rakahs in Tarawih, and this is the opinion of the majority of the jurists of
the Hanafi and Hanbali schools of thought.
At-Tirmidhi says: "Most of the people of
knowledge follow what has been related from Hadrat Umar (r.a.) and Hadrat Ali
(r.a.) and other companions of the Prophet, [i.e., that they prayed] twenty
rak'at. And this is the opinion of
al-Thauri, Ibn al-Mubarak, and ash-Shaf'i. And so I found the people of Makkah
praying twenty rak'at."
Al-Kamal ibn al-Hamam says: "The evidence indicates that the sunnah of the twenty rak'at is what the Prophet (saws) himself did and then he stopped out of fear that it would become something obligatory (for his followers), therefore, the rest of the rak'at are only preferred. It is however, confirmed that he only prayed eleven rak'at, including the witr, as is stated in the two sahihs. According to the scholars, the Sunnah is eight rak'at, while it is preferred to pray twelve rak'at."
There is a difference of opinion amongst the scholars of Islam regarding the exact number of Rakahs prayed by the Messenger of Allah (saws) in Tarawih; some state eight, some ten, and some twenty; but the majority are unanimous in their opinion that it was prayed in a two rakah formation.
Since the Tarawih are considered ‘nafl’ or voluntary
prayers, there is no minimum or maximum
limit to the amount one may pray. If
one wishes he may pray only two rakahs,
and if one wishes one may pray more than twenty.
Abu Hurairah reports that the Prophet (saws) would encourage people to perform the special prayers during Ramadan (Tarawih) without commanding them as obligatory and he (saws) said: "Whoever prays during the nights of Ramadan [tarawih] with a firm belief and hoping for reward, all of his previous sins would be forgiven."
Related by Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmidhi, Abu Dawood, Ibn Maajah and others.
Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.
Your Brother in
Islam,
Burhan