Qiyaam or Taraaweeh Prayer

Allah has made five daily prayers obligatory on the Muslims, which He, due to His Grace, made the reward thereof fifty-fold.[1]

He also encourages the believers to perform supererogatory of nafil prayers. Among these is the night prayer which falls between midnight and dawn. Allah praised those who engage themselves in prayer at night:

“Their sides forsake their beds to invoke their Lord in fear and hope ….” [Surat As-Sajdah :16].

The Prophet (Peace be upon him) said: “The best prayer next to obligatory is the night prayer.”[2] In another tradition he said: “O people! Spread the (Islamic) greeting (i.e. by saying ‘assalaamu alaykum”), give the food (to those who need it), connect your relatives (by visitation) and pray at night while the others are asleep, and you shall enter Jannah peacefully.”[3] Of the night prayer is Witr, the minimum of which is one rak’ah and maximum of which is eleven rak’ahs.[4]

Performing night prayer in Ramadhaan is far more superior to the performing in any other month by virtue of its recommendation by the Prophet, (Peace be upon him) who said, “Whoever prayed at night in it (i. e. Ramadhaan) out of sincere faith and hoping for a reward from Allah, then all his previous sins will be forgiven.”[5]

Taraaweeh prayer is considered the night prayer in Ramadhaan, and, therefore, one should take good care the observe it, To pray taraaweeh in jamaa’ah (congregation) is a sunnah initiated by our beloved Prophet (Peace be upon him) and revived by the second Rightly-Guided Khaleefah, Umar[6] (May Allah be pleased with him). Though there has been a difference if opinion among the scholars in the past as to how many rak’ahs taraaweeh should be, all of them unanimously agreed that the best is to apply the sunnah of performing it with eleven rak’ahs only. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) did not pray more than eleven rak’ahs in Ramadhaan or any other month. ‘Aa’ishah, the wife of the Prophet (Peace be upon him) said, “The prophet never prayed more than eleven rak’ahs at night in Ramadhaan or in any other month.[7]  The full reward of taraaweeh is obtained only when it is performed in jamaa’ah.

The person who performs it in jamaa’ah will be considered, according to authentic tradition, as if he spent the rest of that night praying.”[8]