Alright then....do you pray 8 or 20 rakats for tarawih?

[Armstrong]

Salaamz,

 

are you supposed to pray 8 or 20 rakaca for tarawix salaat?

 

I follow my local Masjid where they pray 20 but I have seen people pray 8 and then they leave.

 

What I am asking is do you pray 8 or 20 ? which one is correct or are both ok?

 

Take it away akhiyaarta

 

P.S. show us some daliil

[Thinkerman]

Salam aleikum Mujahid

 

I suppose if u look @ it from the point of view of the rewards, then its best to stay throught the 20 rakkahs, i mean wot could be more pressing that would make u miss out on getting the rewards of the remaing 12 rakkac's.

But that said its ddone to the individual as always, but the 3 day's that i have managed to go to pray tarawix salat i have stayed for the 20.

[nuune]

it is the same sxb since it is read only one juz of the quran every night,laakiin waxaan xasuustaa inaan tuganjirnay 8,20ka abidkeeey matukkan.

 

taraawiix mar hore ayaa iigu danbeessay aniga becaause the masjid is too far from where i live!!!

[HONEY-D]

Most ppl pray 11 ragcaad and some do 8 ragcaad and perform the 3 remaining ragcaad known as witir at home. I have neve heard of 20 ragcaad b4 21 yes but not 20.

 

 

alahuma inaka cafuuwun kariimun tuxibun cafwa fu'fucana.

[Thunder]

Asalaamu Calaykum

 

Taraweeh is 20 rak'ahs followed by 3 witr rak'ahs, not 8 or 11!

 

Daliil: Abu Hanifah, Malik, Shafi'i and Ahmad ibn Hanbal (Allah's mercy be upon them) agree that traweeh is 20 rak'ahs followed by 3 rak'ahs of Witr.

 

Hafiz Taqi-ad-Din Ahmad Ibn Taymiyya al-Hanbali (d. 728/1328)

He has said in his Fatawa Ibn Taymiyya (vol.1, pg. 191):

 

"It has been proven without doubt that Ubayy ibn Ka'b (Allah be pleased with him) used to lead the Companions, during Ramadan, for 20 rak'ahs and 3 rak'ahs of witr. Hence it is the principle (maslak) of most of the Ulama that this is the Sunnah, because Ubayy ibn Ka'b led 20 rak'ahs of prayer in the presence of the Muhajirin (the emigrants) and the Ansars (the helpers) and not a single Companion repudiated it!"

 

Shaykh al-Islam Ahmad ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (d. 852/1449; R.A.)

 

The Hafiz of Hadith, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani has reproduced from Imam Rafi'i (Allah's mercy be on him):

 

"For two nights the Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him) led twenty rak'ahs of prayer each night; on the third night the people gathered but the Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him) did not come out. Then the next morning, he told the people, 'It so occurred to me that it would be made obligatory for you, and you would not be able to discharge this obligation.'"

After reproducing this tradition, Hafiz Ibn Hajar said:

"All the traditionalists (Muhaddithin) are unanimous about the soundness of this report." (see Talkhis al-habir fi takhrij ahadith al-Rafi'i al-Kabir, vol. 1, pg. 119, by Hafiz ibn Hajar).

 

Imam al-Azam Abu Hanifah (d. 150 AH; Rahimahullah)

It was stated in Fayd ul-Bari Sharh Sahih al-Bukhari (by Shaykh Anwar Shah Kashmiri):

 

"Imam Abu Yusuf (Rahimahullah) asked Imam Abu Hanifah (Rahimahullah), 'Did Hadrat Umar (Allah be pleased with him) have any compact from the Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him) for 20 rak'ahs of Taraweeh?' The Imam replied, 'Hadrat Umar was not one to invent on his own; certainly he had some proof with him for this!'" (also found in Maraqi ul-Falah, pg. 81, by Imam al-Shurunbulali and Bahr ur Ra'iq, vol.2, pg. 66, by Imam ibn Nujaim al-Misri).

 

Imam al-Tirmidhi (d. 279/892; Rahimahullah)

 

Imam Tirmidhi said:

 

"Umar, Ali as well as other Companions (Allah be pleased with them all) and Sufyan al-Thauri, Ibn al-Mubarak and Imam al-Shafi'i (Allah's mercy be upon them), all believed in 20 rak'ahs of Taraweeh, and Imam Shafi'i has stated that he had seen the people of Makkah saying 20 rak'ahs (see Sunan al-Tirmidhi, vol.1, pg. 99).

 

Wasalaam

[Rahima]

1. The Salat of Tarawih is a Sunnah Mo’akkida (stressed upon) for all men and women according to all Fiqh scholars. It is Mustahab (better) for men if it is performed in Jama’at but Jama’at (congregation) is not obligatory and it is permitted to perform it individually. The Prophet (Pbuh) led Sahaba in Tarawih Salat for three consecutive days and then did not turn up on the 4th day stating, his apprehension that lest it be considered compulsory. Sahaba continued to perform Tarawih individually during Hazrath Abu Bakr’s Caliphdom and Hazrath Umar in his reign collected people behind an Imam and established a system of Jama’at. As no Sahabi of his time objected to it, Shafai and Hanbali scholars insist on Tarawih with Jama’at, calling it an obligatory Sunnah. According to Malikis, Tarawih congregation is only Mustahab and Hanafi scholars consider it a Sunnah-kafaya, that is, some people establish a Jama’at it is not binding on others to join it but if no one in the habitat establishes Jama’at, all will be sinners. It may be noted that Hazrath Umar who established the system of Jama’at, apparently himself did not join the Jama’at.

 

“Narrated Abdur Rahman Bin Abdul Qari, when he accompanied Umar to the Mosque, one Ramadan night, people were performing Tarawih. Some were performing individually while a few made a congregation. Umar said, he thought it was better if he gathered them all behind one Imam. Then he gathered them behind Ubai Bin Ka’ab. When on another night, he visited the Mosque, he saw people following one Imam in Tarawih. Umar commented: How good is this new tradition.” (Bukhari ; Baihaqi)

 

It may obviously be deduced from above that Hazrath Umar who reintroduced the Jama’at system of Tarawih, did not himself join the Jama’at. In my opinion, Maliki and at best the Hanafi point of view is preferable over others and you may perform your own Tarawih after your martial art classes. There is no harm in it.

 

2. There is no one fixed number of Rakats of Tarawih Salat. Hazrath Ayesha said: “that the Prophet (Pbuh) did not (at night) perform more than 11 Rakats (including witr) in Ramadan or otherwise.” (Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawood, Trimizi, Nisai, Ibne -Maja).

 

“Narrated Jabir that the Prophet (Pbuh) led people in 8 Rakats for three days and then led them in witr. People waited on the 4th night but he did not come to the Mosque” (Tabrani) “Narrated Ibne Abbas that the Prophet (Pbuh) used to perform 20 Rakats of Tarawih without Jama’at in Ramadan.” (Baihaqi)

 

Ahle Hadiths say that the latter of the above noted narrations being weak, there are only 8 Rakats of Tarawih. Hanafis and Shafais, on the basis of Hazrath Umar establishing a system of 20 Rakats, think that he must have established the Prophet’s (Pbuh) Sunnah, considering that no other Sahabi opposed it. Imam Ahmad Bin Hanbal does not fix any particular number. Imam Malik himself performed 11 Rakats (including witr) but did not bind others on any number. He said: “people at our place in Madinah perform 39 (36+3) Rakats while in Makkah the tradition is of 23 (20+3). There is much flexibility in it.” Some other traditions indicate 16, 24, 34, 36, 38 and 40 Rakats of Tarawih.

 

In the light of above, I think that there is no fixed number of Tarawih Rakats, (minimum being 8), if you want to perform it individually, but a number shall have to be fixed when Jama’at is organised. Hazrath Umar put it at 20 which is a balanced number out of all the above. If there were lesser Rakats, say 8, each Rakat would become very long for the capacity of all Namazis, if the target of completing the Qur’an once during the month is to be achieved. No companion objected to it because they knew that any number could be chosen, as there was flexibility in the Prophet’s (Pbuh).

______________________________________________

 

So bottom line is, there are proofs for praying 11 rakats (3 being witr) and for praying 23 (3 being witr), therefore, we can't say it's like this and not that. Inshallah, it's best that we pray a salat with khashuuc and attentiveness rather than a hurried one while trying to reach the limit (but of course 11 is the minimum).

[Armstrong]

Salaamz,

 

Shujui-1: Habari Ghani? Thanks for the comments!

 

Nuune: Miskiin Perform your own one at home yaa saxibi or Jamaaca with family and friends.

 

Canbaro Luul: Yeah there is twenty tarawih plus thalaatha for witr prayer hence 23. And some pray 8 tarawih plus 3 for witr hence 11. No one prays 21 sis either 20 or 8 for tarawih. Anyways, thanks for your contributions it is much appreciated we are all here to learn na'mean.

 

Thunder: Elegantly presented argument, I like your daliil but it concentrates more on hanafi madhab nevertheless fab articulation saaxiib.

 

Rahiima Somaal: lol sis another one bites the dust! Shukran for the enlightment walaal indeed the stage of khushuuc in prayer is the pinnacle of perfecting one's salaat as we Muslims are taught by our nabi (SAW)that when we pray, we should pray as though Allah is infront of us if not know that Allah sees us. This is khushuuc as defined by the noble Al Mustafa (SAW).

 

If any one else wishes to contribute please do not hesitate since we all here to learn.

 

Wa Bilaahi Tawfiiq

 

Ramadhan Kariim

 

Mujahid over and out !