In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise belongs to Allah, Lord of the Worlds. Prayers and salutations be upon the Master of the Messengers ﷺ, and upon his family and Companions. There is no power nor strength except through Allah, the Mighty, the Wise.
The positions of the overwhelming majority of fuqahāʾ became settled upon the view that the Tarāwīḥ prayer consists of twenty rakʿāt, with ten salām, excluding Witr. This amounts to five tarwīḥāt (lit. rests), each tarwīḥa consisting of four rakʿāt with two salām.
Numerous aḥādīth have been transmitted concerning this, including the following:
- It is narrated on the authority of al-Sāʾib b. Yazīd that he said: “They used to stand in prayer during the time of ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb (Allah be pleased with him) in the month of Ramaḍān, for twenty rakʿāt.” He also said: “They used to recite the long suwar consisting of hundreds of āyāt, and during the time of ʿUthmān b. ʿAffān (Allah be pleased with him) they would lean upon their staffs due to the length of the standing.”
- It is narrated on the authority of Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī, from ʿAlī (Allah be pleased with him) that he said: “He summoned the reciters in Ramaḍān and appointed one of them to lead the people in twenty rakʿāt.” He said: “And ʿAlī (Allah be pleased with him) would lead them in Witr.”
- It is narrated on the authority of Abū al-Ḥasnāʾ that ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib (Allah be pleased with him) instructed a man to lead the people in five tarwīḥāt, namely twenty rakʿāt.
As for the statements of the fuqahāʾ, they are also numerous. Among them, in affirming agreement upon the number of rakʿāt, is the statement: “Upon this is the practice of the people in the East and the West.”
ʿAllāma al-Dardīr (Allah have mercy upon him) said:
“The practice of the early and later generations has proceeded upon this (i.e., twenty rakʿāt).”
ʿAllāma al-Dasūqī (Allah have mercy upon him) said:
“That is, the practice of the Companions and the Followers.”
Imām Ibn Ḥajar al-Haytamī (Allah have mercy upon him) said:
“According to us, for those other than the people of Madinah, it is twenty rakʿāt, as they unanimously adopted during the time of ʿUmar (Allah be pleased with him), when his sound judgement led him to gather the people behind a single imām, and they agreed with him. They would then perform three rakʿāt of Witr after it. The reason for the number twenty is that the emphasised regular Sunna prayers outside Ramaḍān are ten, so they were doubled in Ramaḍān because it is a time of striving and exertion. It then became widespread and was not objected to, so it attained the status of tacit consensus.”
Imām Ibn Qudāma (Allah have mercy upon him) said:
“Tarāwīḥ was attributed to ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb (Allah be pleased with him) because he gathered the people behind Ubayy b. Kaʿb, who would lead them in it […] Mālik narrated from Yazīd ibn Rūmān that the people, during the time of ʿUmar, used to stand in Ramaḍān for twenty-three rakʿāt. And it is narrated from ʿAlī that he instructed a man to lead them in Ramaḍān in twenty rakʿāt. This is like consensus [ijmāʿ].”
ʿAllāma al-Buhūtī (Allah have mercy upon him) said:
“This was in a context where it would normally have become widely known, in the presence of the Companions, and therefore it constituted consensus.”
Proper Conduct & Etiquette
Tarāwīḥ prayer is an emphasised Sunna [sunna muʾakkada] by the ijmāʿ of the scholars, transmitted from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. One should therefore beware of neglecting it, given its immense reward and virtue.
The intention for it, in every two rakʿāt, is: “two rakʿāt of Tarāwīḥ” or “two rakʿāt of the night prayer [qiyām al-layl] of Ramaḍān.”
This is because the scholars agreed that Tarāwīḥ prayer is what is intended by the statement of the Prophet ﷺ: “Whoever stands in prayer during Ramaḍān, out of faith and seeking reward, his previous sins will be forgiven.” Agreed upon: al-Bukhārī §2008; and Muslim §759. “Out of faith” means affirming that it is true and believing in its virtue. “Seeking reward” means with sincerity.
For Tarāwīḥ prayer, the same etiquettes are recommended [mustaḥab] as those recommended for the other congregational prayers and for Jumuʿa, such as:
- bathing [ghusl] for every night of the month of Ramaḍān;
- applying perfume; wearing clean, white clothing, and;
- refraining from eating garlic, onion, smoking, and anything else offensive before going to the mosque.
