Source: Fatāwā Amunpuri by Shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Amunpuri
Is it authentically proven that Sayyidunā ʿAlī رضي الله عنه prayed twenty rakʿāt of Tarāwīḥ?
There is no authentic evidence that Sayyidunā ʿAlī رضي الله عنه established twenty rakʿāt of Tarāwīḥ.
❀ Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī رحمه الله narrates that Sayyidunā ʿAlī رضي الله عنه instructed the Qurra’ (reciters) to lead the people in Tarāwīḥ during Ramaḍān, and he himself would lead them in Witr.
(Al-Sunan al-Kubrā by al-Bayhaqī: 2/496)
However, this narration is weak due to the following reasons:
① Ḥammād bin Shuʿayb is weak.
Imām Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn, Imām Abū Zurʿah, Imām al-Nasā’ī, and Ḥāfiẓ al-Dhahabī رحمهم الله have all declared him weak.
② ʿAṭā’ bin al-Sā’ib is mukhtaḍ (confused in old age).
Ḥammād bin Shuʿayb is not among those who heard from him before his confusion, so the narration is unreliable.
❀ Abū Ḥasnā’ reports that Sayyidunā ʿAlī رضي الله عنه appointed someone to lead twenty rakʿāt of Tarāwīḥ.
(Muṣannaf Ibn Abī Shaybah: 2/393)
This chain is weak, because Abū Ḥasnā’ is majhūl (unknown).
❀ Ḥāfiẓ al-Dhahabī رحمه الله writes:
"Lā yuʿraf"
(He is not known.)
(Mīzān al-Iʿtidāl: 4/515)
Hence, Allah has not made us responsible to follow narrations that come through unknown narrators.
❖ Question:
Is it authentically proven that Sayyidunā ʿAlī رضي الله عنه prayed twenty rakʿāt of Tarāwīḥ?
✿ Answer:
There is no authentic evidence that Sayyidunā ʿAlī رضي الله عنه established twenty rakʿāt of Tarāwīḥ.
❀ Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī رحمه الله narrates that Sayyidunā ʿAlī رضي الله عنه instructed the Qurra’ (reciters) to lead the people in Tarāwīḥ during Ramaḍān, and he himself would lead them in Witr.
(Al-Sunan al-Kubrā by al-Bayhaqī: 2/496)However, this narration is weak due to the following reasons:
① Ḥammād bin Shuʿayb is weak.
Imām Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn, Imām Abū Zurʿah, Imām al-Nasā’ī, and Ḥāfiẓ al-Dhahabī رحمهم الله have all declared him weak.
② ʿAṭā’ bin al-Sā’ib is mukhtaḍ (confused in old age).
Ḥammād bin Shuʿayb is not among those who heard from him before his confusion, so the narration is unreliable.
❀ Abū Ḥasnā’ reports that Sayyidunā ʿAlī رضي الله عنه appointed someone to lead twenty rakʿāt of Tarāwīḥ.
(Muṣannaf Ibn Abī Shaybah: 2/393)This chain is weak, because Abū Ḥasnā’ is majhūl (unknown).
❀ Ḥāfiẓ al-Dhahabī رحمه الله writes:
"Lā yuʿraf"
(He is not known.)
(Mīzān al-Iʿtidāl: 4/515)Hence, Allah has not made us responsible to follow narrations that come through unknown narrators.
