Tarawih - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

This is a sub-article of Sunnah salat

Sunnah salat

Sunnah salat are optional prayers that can be performed by Muslims at almost any time of the day. These prayers are performed in addition to the five daily prayers, which are compulsory for all Muslims. There are a range of prayers available: some are done at the same time as the compulsory...

and Ramadan

Ramadan

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, which lasts 29 or 30 days. It is the Islamic month of fasting, in which participating Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex during daylight hours and is intended to teach Muslims about patience, spirituality, humility and...

Tarawih refers to extra congregational prayers performed by Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

s at night in the Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

ic month of Ramadan

Ramadan

. They are not compulsory; however, many Muslims pray these prayers in the night during Ramadan. Some scholars maintain that Tarawih is not a Sunnah

Sunnah

The word literally means a clear, well trodden, busy and plain surfaced road. In the discussion of the sources of religion, Sunnah denotes the practice of Prophet Muhammad that he taught and practically instituted as a teacher of the sharī‘ah and the best exemplar...

, but is the preponed Tahajjud

Tahajjud

Tahajjud , also known as the "night prayer" is a voluntary prayer, performed by followers of Islam. It is not one of the five obligatory prayers required of all Muslims, yet still, the Islamic prophet, Muhammad has been recorded as performing the tahajjud prayer regularly and encouraging his...

prayer shifted to post-Isha

Isha

* Hebrew word meaning "woman"* Isha'a, the Fard daily Salah prayers in Islam* A Sanskrit term for "God, deity", see Ishvara* A name meaning: deity; the ruling Goddess; the Lord, One who protects, Supreme.* Another name of Goddess Kali* An Indian given name...

for the ease of believers.

Overview

Tarawih prayers are prayed in pairs of two and can be prayed in at least 20 raka‘āt

Raka'ah

Rakaʿah are the prescribed movements and words followed by Muslims during salah .After turning to God in mind and ritual cleansing , the worshipper will stand quietly while reciting the first verses of the Qur'an. The second part of the rak'ah involves bowing low with hands on knees, as if...

according to two schools (Hanafis, Shafi'i) of Sunni Islam. Some believe that 8, 12 or 20 can be read. A break is taken after every 4 rak'ah - Imam Malik added 4 raka'h in each break (to account for the time spent in Tawaf

Tawaf

Tawaf is one of the Islamic rituals of pilgrimage. During the Hajj and Umrah, Muslims are to circumambulate the Kaaba seven times, in a counterclockwise direction...

, since he was in Madinah) thus taking the total number to 36. Due to varying numbers, the number of prayers performed is broad in scope. This prayer is performed only during Ramadan

Ramadan

of the Islamic calendar

Islamic calendar

The Hijri calendar , also known as the Muslim calendar or Islamic calendar , is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days. It is used to date events in many Muslim countries , and used by Muslims everywhere to determine the proper day on which to celebrate Islamic...

after Salāt of Isha'a

Isha'a

The Isha prayer is the night-time daily prayer recited by practising Muslims. It is the fifth of the five daily prayers– [islamic evening begins at maghrib]. The five daily prayers collectively are one pillar of the Five Pillars of Islam, in Sunni Islam, and one of the ten Practices of the...

. Muslims believe it is customary to attempt a khatm "complete recitation" of the Qur'an

Qur'an

The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...

in Ramadan by reciting at least one juz'

Juz'

A juz is one of thirty parts of roughly equal length into which the Qur'an is sometimes divided. This division facilitates recitation of the Qur'an in a month, especially during Ramadan when the entire Qur'an is recited in the Tarawih salat; reciting approximately one juz' a night...

per night in tarawih. Tarawih prayers are considered optional, not mandatory.

Sunni Muslims view

A majority of Sunni Muslims regard the Tarawih prayers as Sunnat al-Mu'akkadah, a salaat that was performed by the Islamic prophet Muhammad

Muhammad

Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...

very consistently. Sunni Muslims believe tarawih is a Sunnah salat

Sunnah salat

and may be performed at home if one is unable to attend a Masjid. According to this tradition, Muhammad initially prayed the tarawih in congregation during Ramadan even though there is no evidence to prove such practice. He prayed in congregation for three consecutive nights but discontinued this practice out of fear that it would be made mandatory, rather than sunnah. During the time when Umar ibn al-Khattab was the Caliph

Caliph

The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...

, he reinstated the praying of Tarawih in congregation since the Prophet Muhammad had passed away and as such there was no longer any misapprehension of it being made mandatory. However, Imam Malik prefers that Tarawih be prayed at home, if one has a strong intention to do so.

Shia Muslims view

The Shia view differs among the three main schools of thought, Ismaili, Twelvers and Zaydis. However, some Zaydis have been known to regard tarawih as sunnah.
Twelvers believe in the Tahajjud Prayer or Salatul layl (Night Prayer) which Muhammad recommended during nights of Ramadan.
Salatul-Layl or Tahajjud Prayer is made up of eleven Rak’ats.

The first eight Rak’ats are prayed as normal in pairs of two Rak’ats each with the niyyah of Nawafilatul-Layl.
The next two Rak’ats are prayed with the Niyyah of Salatul Shaf’a.
The remaining one Rak’at is prayed with the Niyyah of Salatul Witr.

In the last one Rak’at, Qunoot is recited before or after Rukuu and the Salat is completed as usual with Tashahud and Salaam.

Conflation with Tahajjud

Other scholars maintain that the Tarawih is actually a substitute for the Tahajjud

Tahajjud

prayer, and under all circumstances it is better to pray the Tahajjud than the Tarawih. Javed Ghamidi, for instance, contends that Tarawih was never performed by Muhammad, and was instituted by Umar when he already saw people preponing their Tahajjud. The collective prayer of Tarawih, thus, is not established as a religious practice.

External links

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