The Taraweeh Debate, 8 rakaahs or 20 rakaahs; Its time to move on

From Fatawa Noor alad-Darb:

"There is no specific number for the Rak'ahs of Tarawih. Rather, it is open to choice. One may
offer twenty-one, eleven, thirteen, forty-one or fifty-one Rak'ahs including the Witr (Prayer with
an odd number of units) as the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "The (optional) Salah during
the night should consist of pairs of Rak`ahs, but if one of you fears morning is near, he should
pray one Rak`ah, which will make his Salah an odd number for him."

He (peace be upon him) did not specify a number, but he said: "The (optional) night Salah is
offered as two Rak`ahs followed by two Rak`ahs and so on."

Then, he (peace be upon him) said: " If any of you fears the Fajr (prayer would be due while
praying), let him offer one Rak'ah as Witr for what he prayed"

This shows that there is nothing wrong if one offers eight, ten, twenty, thirty or more Rak'ahs
and then performs Witr. However, it is preferable to do what the Prophet (peace be upon
him) did by offering eleven or thirteen Rak'ahs. If one offers seven, nine, five, or three
Rak'ahs, there will be no blame on him, whether in Ramadan or in any other month.

It is better, in Ramadan, to offer eleven or thirteen Rak'ahs as the Companions did in the era of
Umar, (may Allah be pleased with him).

They, sometimes, offered twenty-three Rak'ahs including three of them as Witr. The
matter is open to choice. Though it is preferable to offer thirteen or eleven Rak'ahs, as the
Prophet (peace be upon him) did. Yet there is nothing wrong with offering more or less
Rak'ahs than that. There should be neither denial nor inflexibility regarding this because,
as previously mentioned, the matter is open to choice.

(Volume 9>Book of Salah / Chapter on Optional Prayer / There are much flexibility with regard
to Tarawih Prayer)

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Shaikh Ibn Baaz (rahimahullah) has given a very good explanation and reconciled this
matter beautifully.

He said in Majmoo' al-Fataawa (11/322): It is proven that 'Umar (may Allaah be pleased with
him) told the one whom he appointed among the Sahaabah to pray eleven rak'ahs, and it is
proven that they prayed twenty-three rak'ahs based on his command.

This indicates that the matter is broad in scope and that the matter was flexible according
to the Sahaabah. That is also indicated by the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him): "The night prayers are two by two." End quote.
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Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said, when speaking about the
matter of one who prays ten rakahs with the imam, then sits down and waits for Witr and does
not complete the Taraaweeh prayers with the imam:

It grieves us deeply that we find in the Muslim ummah a group which differs concerning
matters in which differences of opinion are acceptable, and they take these differences as a
means to cause division. Differences within the ummah existed at the time of the Sahaabah, yet
they remained united. The youth in particular and to all those who are committed to Islam must
remain united, because they have enemies who are laying in wait.

Al-Sharh al-Mumti, 4/225

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Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah said:

If a person prays Taraaweeh according to the madhhabs of Abu Haneefah, al-Shaafai and
Ahmad, with twenty rakahs, or according to the madhhab of Maalik, with thirty-six rakahs, or
with thirteen or eleven rakahs, he has done well, as Imam Ahmad said, because there is
nothing to specify the number. So the greater or lesser number of rakahs depends on how long
or short the qiyaam (standing in the prayer) is.
Al-Ikhtiyaaraat, p. 64
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Additional Comment:

Fiqhi differences are being given, way too much importance; while we have dangerous issues of
major Kufr and major Shirk to deal with. It has pre-occupied a lot of time, and its time to stop.

Its okay for someone who understands usool al-fiqh and other sciences to discuss these issues for
academic benefit; but the way some ahl-hadeeth moulanas are dealing with this issue in the IndoPak region is a disaster because

1. This issues and a few other fiqhi issues have become the pinnacle of the dawah, because of
which there is a neglect of other important matters of the deen.

2. They have made this issue a matter of public debate, and the common folk unable to handle
the twists and turns of the matter, fall into very dangerous matters. So if someone tells them, that
the sahabah prayed 23 they simply say, 'the sahabah are not a daleel for us!!!'; or saying Ibn
Taymeeyah is not our Imaam in Fiqh; or that Ibn Baaz is a hambali or muqallid, etc. etc.

All this for a matter that is nafl to begin with.

3. A follower of madhhab is considered worst than modernists and hadeeth-rejectors; so the

common AH are open to their dawah but extremely allergic to what they see as fiqh of the
madhhabs. On the questions, "was the messenger afflicted by magic or not", "can the jinn

possess a human", you will find many open to discussion and consider it a mater of
disagreement, but on Taraweeh, no debate, no discussion - an open-shut case of sunnah v/s
enemy of the sunnah.

As for the muqallids of our region, then it is their job to fight over fiqhi issues, and make it a
matter of being guided or misguided. Therefore they insist:

1. Taraweeh is sunnah muakiddah, and has the ruling of waajib, and its not just nafl.
2. The one who prays less than 20 goes against the ijmaa of ahlul-sunnah; and thus deviated or
innovator, etc. So they make it a criterion for sunnah and bidah
3. When they can, they resort to expelling people from masjids, harming and backbiting them.

But despite this our dawah should not be dictated by their extremism and foolishness. And we of
all the people, should know how to give issues their just importance. Our way is biased on
understanding the book and the sunnah; not on our reaction to others.

Additional Quotes:

Ibn Abd al-Barr said in al-Istidhkaar (2/68):

It may be understood as meaning that at first qiyaam at the time of Umar was eleven rakahs,
then he reduced the length of qiyaam for them and made it twenty-one rakahs, to make the
recitation lighter for them and so that they would bow and prostrate more. But it seems most
likely to me that the report about eleven rakahs is a mistake. And Allaah knows best. End quote.

Ibn Taymiyah (may Allaah have mercy on him) said in Majmoo al-Fataawa (23/113):

When Ubayy ibn Kab led them in praying qiyaam in a single congregation, he could not make
them stand for too long, so he increased the number of rakahs to make up for the long standing.
So they doubled the number of rakahs. He used to pray eleven or thirteen rakahs of qiyaam allayl, then it seems that after that the people of Madeenah found it difficult to stand for so long
during the recitation, so they increased the number of rakahs until it reached thirty-nine. End
quote.