All Praise be to Allah Who has guided us to the blessed month of Ramadaan wherein we find an opportunity to draw closer to Him through performing both obligatory and recommended acts of worship. During this month we focus on fulfilling Allah's right by fasting during the day. And for all those who can and wish, we have an opportunity to further draw closer to Him by performing Taraweeh prayer as an additional act of worship during the night.
Abu Hurairah narrated that the Messenger of Allah used to to exhort people to observe the night prayer in Ramadan but never ordered it definitely. (muwatta of maalik)
It is clear from the authentic narrations that the performance of Taraweeh Prayer is not obligatory; rather it is a recommended act that is stressed upon. So we should strive to perform it and encourage others to do likewise without going to extremes by making it obligatory upon the people.
Aeysha narrated that the Messenger of Allah went out during the late part of the night and prayed in the masjid and some men prayed with him. The following day the people began to talk about it and then more people prayed. Again the following morning the people began to talk about it, and and on the third night many more people came out. The Messenger of Allah came out and they all prayed with him. On the fourth night the masjid was unable to hold the amount of people that came out, however the Messenger of Allah did not come out. He came out for the Fajr prayer instead. After finishing the prayer he turned to the people and declared the shahaadah and said, 'Your position was not hidden from me, but I was afraid that it would be made obligatory upon you and then you would not be able to continue performing it. ' (saheeh of bukhaari)
From the above hadeeth and others like it we know that Taraweeh prayer was performed by our Prophet (saw) in congregation. So it is a Sunna established by him. Although he only offered Taraweeh for three days in congregation, the reason for this was restricted to his concern that it might become obligatory upon the Muslims. Thus through his speach and action Allah guided this ummah to its performance as an optional recommended act of worship.
Abdur Rahmaan said, 'I went out with Umar to the masjid during a night of Ramadaan and the people were divided. You could see one person praying by himself while another would be praying with others praying behind him (saheeh of bukhaari)
After the Prophet (saw) died his companions had a choice whether or not to pray the Taraweeh prayer. So the companions would be seen praying the Taraweeh prayer in the mosques. However they would pray either individually or in small groups with no collective Imaam. There are numerous texts which describe the practice of offering Taraweeh prayer during the lifetime of the companions.
Abdur Rahmaan said, "I went out with Umar to the masjid during a night of Ramadaan and the people were divided. you could see one person praying by himself while another would be praying with others praying behind him. Umar then said, 'I see that if I bring together these people and make them all one congregation led by one person that would be better.' He then decided to do this so he gathered them and made Ubay ibn Ka'b as their Imaam.' (saheeh of bukhaari)
However it was Umar who decided to unite the Muslims under one Imaam. Although he was the one who united them together during his rule, he simply restored the practice of the Prophet (saw) at a time when the fear of the prayer becoming obligatory was lifted. So in all reality he restored the Sunna of Allah's Messenger as an action from him.
With this, we should strive to perform Taraweeh and encourage others to do so without being harsh on those who neglect it for it is an act of worship which is recommended. Likewise we should not be critical of those who only perform a few nights of prayer for even a single prayer has its reward if Allah accepts it. Similarly we should not be confused by Umars action thinking Umar was the one who established it, for it is clear from the narrations that Taraweeh prayer was an act of worship performed by our Prophet as a Sunna originating from him.
Written by Kamillah Khan
