Benefits of Tarawih Prayer

Tarawih Prayer has all the benefits of the prayer which fills many books to write about.  From a health perspective, the special characteristic of Tarawih Prayer is the frequent repetitions of the acts of prayer.

In other words, more of both physical and spiritual activities are taking place including longer social interaction with other Muslims. This will increase two very important health benefits of prayer which is special to Tarawih.

1- The postures of bowing and prostrating many times distribute blood very well to all parts of the body which is an extremely of healthy benefit that bathing all cells of the body.

That is why whenever I have a headache and go to Tarawih, my headache disappears after several Rak`ahs.

The distribution of blood to places in the body where normally not much blood is reaching will remove pain and also heal wounds and get rid of infections.

As the brains cells get more blood and therefore more nutrients, the brain works better and can make better judgment about good and bad. Such increased flow of blood to the brain will also bring a happy and calm feeling to the person improving our feelings towards other people and stimulate us to do well and be good.

2- During Tarawih, the repeated pressure on the end of our toes, leads to reduction of pressure on the brain.

This has been known by physiology experts and is practiced by some health specialists to cause relaxation and a feeling of calmness in the person. That is why when a person performs Tarawih, he feels very calm and can sleep very well.

3- By virtues of its length, people spend more time with a congregation during Tarawih. The physical, psychological, and social health benefits of being together with people of similar belief (your brothers and sisters in Islam and family members and relatives) are too many to mention in this short summary.

In brief, social closeness and social network bring feeling of social protection as opposite to social isolation. The hormone cortisone increases in social isolation and stays low when people feel connected with others.

Social isolation can increase the incidence of diseases such as depression and heart diseases while social protection reduces the incidence of such diseases. In Pakistan, where war has torn many families and friends apart, Tarawih can restore our feelings of belonging and therefore is deeply healing.

You may add to all these benefits the great blessing of Ramadan, Tarawih is a great blessing that brings health, unity, and peace.

I am sure there are many other benefits of Tarawih that will be discovered as science advances.

For us, Muslims, we do it because through it we repeatedly remember Allah (Glory be to Him)  in the Month of the Qur'an.