Is Taraweeh A Part of Sunnah?
Kamran Ilahi from Ankara, Turkey asks:
Wa 'alaykum al-salaam
Many scholars say that there was no taraweeh (voluntary night prayers) in the era of Prophet Mohammad (saw)
rather, Prophet Mohammad used to pray 3-11 tahajjud rakat (night prayers).
And taraweeh was introduced by Hazrat Umar.
Please enlighten us on this matter.
Yes, many scholars think
that a common man is obligated to pray five times a day
and, God forbid, Prophet Mohammad is obligated to pray six times.
They say the sixth prayer is the tahajjud prayer.
So Prophet Mohammad would regularly recite the tahajjud prayer.
Now looking at this action of Prophet Mohammad
I am talking about what the scholars say,
this is not my opinion.
Please keep that in mind.
They say that when the companions saw Prophet Mohammad reciting the tahajjud prayer regularly,
they came and said, ‘O’ Messenger of God, please allow us to offer these prayers as well.’
And they were given the permission.
They came after some time and said, ‘The tahajjud prayer is offered early in the morning
and some of us have to travel,
is it possible to offer it after the Isha prayer?’
And it is said that Prophet Mohammad gave them the permission
to offer the tahajjud prayers with the Isha prayer.
Therefore, the 3 rakat of tahajjud prayers were included in the Isha prayer as ‘witr’.
The 17 rakat in the Isha prayer,
they say that 3 rakat are of witr which come from the tahajjud prayers.
The tahajjud prayer has been mixed with it
and they call it witr instead of tahajjud.
Do you understand?
Now when it comes to taraweeh
some clerics say that there was no such thing as ‘taraweeh’.
Some scholars say that taraweeh did not exist at all
and that people would only offer the tahajjud prayers during Ramadan.
But because there were long chapters in it,
so they would sit down to catch their breath
and then stand to pray again.
Sitting down is called ‘tarwiyah’ in Arabic.
So their act of sitting down or ‘tarwiyah’ - pluralised into ‘taraweeh’ -
means that they would offer the Salat while sitting down.
And the word ‘witr’ means an ‘odd number’.
Like in Urdu it is taak (odd) and juft (even).
Witr means an odd number; one, three, five, seven, nine, eleven, thirteen, fifteen.
So they recite 3 rakat of the tahajjud prayer with the Isha prayer.
Now, people in Pakistan are offering these prayers
but they don’t know that they are offering witr prayers of tahajjud.
One group says
and this is the group
which consists of Wahhabis and Deobandis
and the one who is most vocal on this matter is Javed Ghamidi.
And another group of scholars say
that taraweeh is a custom of Prophet Mohammad (saw).
The former group says that Prophet Mohammad never offered taraweeh prayers
and the latter says Prophet Mohammad did offer taraweeh prayers,
sometimes 8 rakat
sometimes 12 rakat
and sometimes 20.
There was no fixed number.
However, when the era of Umar bin Khattab arised,
he affixed 20 rakat
and that became the regulation
however this was not proven by Prophet Mohammad.
Prophet Mohammad sometimes prayed 8 rakat.
The thing is
that the rakat does not make a difference.
For example, someone prayed four rakat and he read four chapters
and you prayed 20 rakat but didn’t manage to complete one chapter
so would it make a difference?
Now, these are the opinions of two groups of scholars.
One group says that taraweeh does not exist
and the other group says that taraweeh is a custom
but Prophet Mohammad did not give a fixed number for it.
He would either read 8, 12 or 20.
I have presented you the statements of the two groups.
Let me tell you what I think is the truth.
I am going to tell you what I believe is the truth.
When I used to live in Pakistan,
during the month of Ramadan
we would go to Kotri to perform taraweeh with His Divine Eminence Gohar Shahi.
His Divine Eminence would perform taraweeh there
and when a disciple would realise that His Divine Eminence is performing taraweeh,
everybody would gather and I would also go there and perform taraweeh with His Divine Eminence.
There was a Hafiz there, Hafiz Jameel
he is a relative of Farhan
and Hafiz Farid would also perform taraweeh in Kotri.
There are some disciples like Anwar who wish to
spend as much time with His Divine Eminence, by hook or crook, even if it troubles His Divine Eminence.
So those who were Hafiz would elongate the taraweeh so much, he would recite Surah Bakarah
and it would take an hour to complete two rakat.
One day, when this happened, after the taraweeh
some of the disciples said His Divine Eminence must be tired
but do you know what His Divine Eminence said?
His Divine Eminence said, ‘No, I am not tired. This is ordinary for me.
I am offering the taraweeh prayers with you for your sake,
otherwise I would go to offer the taraweeh prayer with Prophet Mohammad.
And over there the entire Koran is recited every day.’
This incident and this response alludes that
His Divine Eminence Gohar Shahi offers the taraweeh prayers with Prophet Mohammad (saw)
and since both Prophet Mohammad and Imam Mehdi are offering the taraweeh prayers
so now those who rebuff the existence of the taraweeh prayers are liars.
This is a great mischief by people.
Keep your mind clear of all confusion
because offering taraweeh prayers is not only a custom of Prophet Mohammad but also Imam Mehdi (as).
What did I say?
The taraweeh prayers is a custom of Prophet Mohammad (saw)
as well as the custom of Imam Mehdi (as).
Those who reject it are ignorant.
They are unaware of the Esoteric Knowledge.
Forget about the actions of Prophet Mohammad from 1440, he is eternally present you can see his actions from today.
But they don't have the sight.
Denying the existence of the taraweeh prayers is rejecting the custom of Prophet Mohammad (saw).