***IMPORTANT MESSAGE*** Taraweeeh and Tahajjud Every year unfortunately in Ramadhan the debate of 20 or 8 is revived. People are confused whether taraweeh is 8 or 20 rakaats. Those people who claim it to be 8 base their opinion primarily on the hadeeth of our Beloved Mother Aaisha RA that she has reported the night prayer of the Prophet ﷺ to "never be more than eleven rakaats ( 8 rakaats tahajjud and 3 rakaats witr) , be it Ramadhan or other than Ramadhan." Those who are of the opinion that taraweeh is 20 rakaats base their argument primarily on the fact that the prophet ﷺ has commanded the muslims to follow "his sunnah and the sunnah of the rightly-guided khulaafa"( as they knew Rasoolullah ﷺ best and were with Him ﷺ throughout His ﷺ life ), and during the khilaafah of Hazrat Umar RA, he established the practice of 20 rakaats of taraweeh and 3 rakaats witr. This practice was established amongst the Muhaajiroon and Ansaar and it continued during the khilaafah of Uthmaan RA, Ali RA and in the subsequent era with no one objecting not even Aaisha RA. So it becomes clear that the night prayer of the prophet ﷺ reported by Aaisha RA is not taraweeh but tahajjud as both are prayed at night, but there are fundamental differences between tahajjud and taraweeh: 1. Tahajjud was ordained in the beginning of Islam and taraweeh was prayed by the Prophet ﷺ in the last year of his life. 2. Taraaweeh is prayed in the early part of night while tahajjud is prayed in the later part of night. 3 .Taraweeh was prayed in the masjid while tahajjud was generally prayed at home. 4.Taraaweeh is prayed in congregation while tahajjud was prayed alone by the Prophet ﷺ. 5 . Taraaweeh is prayed only in Ramadhaan while tahajjud is prayed throughout the year. 6 . Tahajjud was ordained by Allah SWT and Taraaweeh the Prophet ﷺ said, " I have made it sunnah". 7. Taraweeeh was prayed amongst the sahaabahs while tahajjud was prayed in front of His ﷺ wives at home. So if we want to know the correct number of rakaats to be prayed we should look to the practice and lives of sahaabah as to how mannny rakaats they used to pray and that was 20 rakaats.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Jul 2013 13:07:43 +0000
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