Source: Fatāwā Amunpuri by Shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Amunpuri
❖ Question:
What is the ruling if a person prays half of the Tarāwīḥ rakʿāt with the Imām and completes the rest later during the last part of the night?
✿ Answer:
This is permissible, but the virtue of completing the entire Qiyām with the Imām will not be fully attained.
❀ Sayyidunā Abū Dharr رضي الله عنه narrates:
“We fasted in Ramaḍān with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and he did not lead us in Qiyām until the 23rd night, in which he led us for one-third of the night.
On the 24th night, he did not lead us.
On the 25th night, he led us for half the night.
I said: O Messenger of Allah! If only you had led us for the whole night!
He ﷺ replied:
إِنَّ الرَّجُلَ إِذَا صَلَّى مَعَ الإِمَامِ حَتَّى يَنْصَرِفَ، كُتِبَ لَهُ قِيَامُ لَيْلَةٍ.
“When a man prays with the Imām until he finishes, it is recorded for him as if he stood in prayer for the entire night.”
📚 Musnad Aḥmad: 5/159
📚 Sunan Abī Dāwūd: 1375
📚 Sunan al-Nasā’ī: 1606
📚 Sunan al-Tirmidhī: 806
📚 Sunan Ibn Mājah: 1327
🔎 Chain is authentic (ṣaḥīḥ).
✅ Conclusion:
- If someone splits their Tarāwīḥ — part with the Imām and part later — it is valid.
- However, to gain the reward of an entire night’s Qiyām, one must remain with the Imām until he finishes.
