➊ It is narrated in Sahih al-Bukhari that Abu Salamah bin Abd al-Rahman asked Hazrat Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) about how the Prayer of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was in Ramadan. In reply she said:
ماكان رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم يزيد فى رمضان ولا فى غيره على إحدى عشرة ركعة
Translation: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ did not pray more than eleven rak’ahs in Ramadan or in other months.”
➋ Hazrat Jabir bin Abd Allah (may Allah be pleased with him) says that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ led us in eight rak’ahs and witr in Ramadan. The next night came and we gathered, and we hoped that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ would come out of the house, but we waited until morning. Then we spoke to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about this matter, and he said: “I feared that witr would be made obligatory upon you.”
Shaykh al-Albani (may Allah have mercy on him) declared the chain of this hadith to be hasan in Takhrij Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah. Some muhaddithun have criticised its narrator Isa bin Jariyah, but the criticism is vague (mubham), while Abu Zur’ah and Ibn Hibban have affirmed his reliability (tawthiq). Therefore, this affirmation will be given precedence over the vague criticism.
➌ Imam Malik narrated from al-Sa’ib bin Yazid that “Hazrat Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) ordered Ubayy bin Ka’b (may Allah be pleased with him) and Tamim al-Dari (may Allah be pleased with him) to lead eleven rak’ahs.”
From these hadiths it is known that:
➊ The night prayer of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in Ramadan and in other months was eleven rak’ahs.
➋ The same eleven rak’ahs were also led by him ﷺ in congregation for the Sahabah (may Allah be pleased with them) in Ramadan.
➌ Then when Hazrat Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) gathered people for the Tarawih prayer, he ordered two Sahabah, Ubayy bin Ka’b (may Allah be pleased with him) and Tamim al-Dari (may Allah be pleased with him), to lead only eleven rak’ahs.
Tarawih itself is Tahajjud in the month of Ramadan.
“Hazrat Abu Dhar (may Allah be pleased with him) says: We fasted Ramadan with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He ﷺ did not lead us in qiyam during it until only seven days remained. He then performed qiyam with us on the 23rd night and recited so long that a third of the night passed. Then on the 24th night he ﷺ did not lead qiyam. Then on the 25th night he led qiyam until half the night had passed. Then the 26th night passed and he did not lead qiyam. Then on the 27th night he led such a long qiyam that we feared we would miss suhur.”
From this hadith it is known that the Prophet ﷺ confined himself in Ramadan to the Tarawih prayer and did not pray Tahajjud after it, because he ﷺ continued leading the Tarawih prayer until suhur. And if there were a difference between it and the Tahajjud prayer, or if they were two separate prayers, he ﷺ would have prayed Tahajjud after Tarawih. So in Ramadan Tarawih is the Tahajjud prayer, and the prayer that is called Tahajjud on ordinary days is called Tarawih in Ramadan. This is why the muhaddithun narrated Hazrat Aisha’s (first) hadith in the Kitab al-Tarawih; therefore, taking it to mean Tahajjud and then distinguishing it from Tarawih is absolutely not correct.
Did Hazrat Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) order twenty rak’ahs of Tarawih to be prayed?
We have cited, through the Muwatta and Ibn Abi Shaybah, the report of al-Sa’ib bin Yazid that Hazrat Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) ordered Ubayy bin Ka’b (may Allah be pleased with him) and Tamim al-Dari (may Allah be pleased with him) to lead eleven rak’ahs. Imam Malik, immediately after narrating this report, also brings another report, whose words are that Yazid bin Ruman said that people used to pray 23 rak’ahs in Ramadan in the time of Umar (may Allah be pleased with him).
But this second report is munqati’ (broken chain), i.e., da’if, because its narrator Yazid bin Ruman did not meet the time of Umar (may Allah be pleased with him). And even if it is accepted as sahih, the first report would still be preferred (rajih), because in it Hazrat Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) ordered two Sahabah to lead eleven rak’ahs, whereas in the second report it is that people used to pray 23 rak’ahs in the time of Umar (may Allah be pleased with him). So the matter that Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) ordered will be preferred, because it is in accordance with the Sunnah.
Note: All the reports about twenty rak’ahs of Tarawih attributed to Hazrat Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) are da’if, and not one of them is proven to be sahih.
Summary
From the preceding brief discussion, it is clear that regarding the prayer of Taraweeh, the authentic Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ is eleven rak’ahs, and ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him) also revived this Sunnah and adhered to eleven rak’ahs.
As for the position of some scholars that the Taraweeh prayer may be performed with more than eleven rak’ahs, this is not on the basis that the Sunnah is more than that, but merely on the basis that since this prayer is a nafl (voluntary prayer), and in nafl prayers there can be increase or decrease, therefore more than eleven, twenty or even more rak’ahs may be performed. We believe that at least this much is agreed upon by all; the difference lies only in what is the Sunnah and what is the preferred (afdal). So when it has been established with proof that the Prophet ﷺ used to pray eleven rak’ahs, and the night nafl prayer which the Prophet ﷺ used to pray on ordinary days is the same prayer which is called Taraweeh in Ramadan, then certainly in the matter of Taraweeh the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ is eleven rak’ahs. As for anyone who prays more than eleven considering it nafl, there should be no objection to him; however, it cannot be regarded as Sunnah. And this position has been adopted by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) and by the Saudi scholars.
The Issue of Taraweeh and the Saudi Scholars
The position of the Saudi scholars on the issue of Taraweeh is exactly the same as what we have mentioned in the preceding lines. So let us look at their clear statements:
➊ Shaykh Ibn Baz (may Allah have mercy on him)
والأفضل ما كان النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم يفعله غالبا وهو أن يقوم بثمان ركعات يسلم من كل ركعتين، ويوتر بثلاث مع الخشوع والطمأنينة وترتيل القراءة، لما ثبت فى الصحيحين من عائشة رضي الله عنها قالت : كان رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم لا يزيد فى رمضان ولا فى غيره على إحدى عشرة ركعة
“The preferable (afdal) is what the Prophet ﷺ used to do most of the time, and it is that a person prays eight rak’ahs, making salam after every two rak’ahs, then performs three witr, and throughout the entire prayer khushu’, tranquility and slow recitation of the Qur’an are necessary. In Bukhari and Muslim it is reported from Aisha that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ did not pray more than eleven rak’ahs in Ramadan or in other months….. ”
➋ Fatwa Committee (Saudi Arabia’s fatwa)
صلاة التراويح سنة سنها رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم، وقد دلت الأدلة على أنه صلى الله عليه وسلم ما كان يزيد فى رمضان ولا فى غيره على إحدى عشرة ركعة
“The Taraweeh prayer is a Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and the evidences indicate that the Prophet ﷺ did not pray more than eleven rak’ahs in Ramadan or in the rest of the year.”
This fatwa bears the signatures of four Saudi scholars:
Shaykh Abdullah ibn Qaud, Shaykh Abdullah ibn Ghadyan, Shaykh Abd al-Razzaq Afifi, Shaykh Ibn Baz
➌ Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him)
واختلف السلف الصالح فى عدد الركعات فى صلاة التراويح والوتر معها، فقيل : إحدى وأربعون ركعة، وقيل : تسع و ثلاثون، وقيل : تسع و عشرون، وقيل ثلاث وعشرون، وقيل : تسع عشرة، وقيل : ثلاث عشرة، وقيل : إحدى عشرة، وقيل : غير ذلك، وأرجح هذه الأقوال أنها إحدى عشرة أوثلاث عشرة لما فى الصحيحين عن عائشة رضي الله عنها . . . وعن ابن عباس رضي الله عهنما قال : كانت صلاة النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم ثلاث عشرة ركعة، يعني من الليل، رواه البخاري، وفي الموطأ عن السائب بن يزيد قال : أمر عمر بن الخطاب رضى الله عنه أبى بن كعب و تميما الداري رضي الله عنهما أن يقوما للناس بإحدى عشرة ركعة
“The salaf al-salih differed on the number of rak’ahs of the Taraweeh prayer together with the witr prayer. Some have stated forty-one, some thirty-nine, some twenty-nine, some twenty-three, some nineteen, some thirteen and some eleven rak’ahs, and some have narrated other numbers apart from these statements. But among all these statements, the most preponderant (rajih) is the statement of eleven or thirteen rak’ahs, because in the Two Sahihs
Aisha has narrated eleven rak’ahs, and in another narration of Bukhari Ibn Abbas has mentioned thirteen rak’ahs, and in the Muwatta of Imam Malik the statement of al-Sa’ib ibn Yazid is that ʿUmar instructed both Ubayy ibn Kaʿb and Tamim al-Dari to lead the people with eleven rak’ahs.”
From the above excerpts of the Saudi scholars it becomes clear that:
➊ These scholars rely on the hadith of Aisha regarding the number of rak’ahs of Taraweeh, and by the eleven rak’ahs mentioned in it they mean precisely the eleven rak’ahs of the Taraweeh prayer.
➋ In the matter of Taraweeh, the preferable course is to act upon the number of rak’ahs established from the Prophet ﷺ, and that is: eleven rak’ahs including the witr.
➌ The Saudi scholars hold that ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him) also ordered only eleven rak’ahs to be prayed.
Note: The thirteen rak’ahs mentioned by Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) are in reality, of them, two rak’ahs which the Prophet ﷺ prayed once or twice after the witr. Scholars say that since the Prophet ﷺ used to pray witr in the last part of the night and after that the adhan of Fajr would occur, perhaps he had prayed the two Sunnahs of Fajr, which Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) considered part of the night prayer; or else the Prophet ﷺ prayed these two rak’ahs after the witr so that the permissibility of voluntary prayer after witr would remain. And Allah knows best!
