Whenever the month of Ramadan comes around, its first port of call is Tarawih. That is the famous supererogatory Salat that entertains Muslim congregations with special hospitality in virtually all Mosques across nations in the evenings of the month.
Tarawih is a special Salat observed voluntarily, according to Sunnah, only in the month of Ramadan. It contains many genuflexions (raka‘at) ranging from six to twenty depending on the choice of its observers. Despite its significant role in Ramadan, Tarawih was not observed congregationally at the inception of Islam. When Prophet Muhammad (SAW) first introduced it as an attribute of Ramadan in Madinah, he was the only one observing it every evening after Salatul ‘Isha’i.
But some of his companions soon joined him as a congregation to observe it. However, when the Prophet observed that Tarawih, a supererogatory Salat, was gradually being turned into another obligatory, congregational Salat, he stopped observing it in the Mosque to avoid turning it into another Salat of obligatory status.
At that point, his companions wanted to know his reason for stopping the observance of Tarawih in the Mosque and he told them that he did not want it to be misconceived as another obligatory Salat. Thus, the congregational observance of Tarawih came to an end. Thence, it became a Salat for individuals mostly in their private homes.
However, shortly after the demise of Abubakr Siddiq, the first Khalif, Umar Bn Khattab who became the second Caliph walked into the Mosque one evening and met a congregation of Muslims observing Tarawih. Each of them was reciting the verses of the Qur’an aloud to the disturbance of others. Umar then asked all of them to stop reciting those verses and ordered them to queue up for a congregational Salat. He then asked them to pinpoint the most knowledgeable person among them and told him to lead the rest in observing Tarawih congrgationally while he watched with admiration.
After the completion of the Salat, Umar said satisfactorily that “I have established a beautiful tradition”. From thence, congregational observance of Tarawih became a tradition which is today enthusiastically observed throughout the world by Muslims in the month of Ramadan.
Tarawih, being a supererogatory Salat, has no definite number of genuflexions (rakats). Some people observe six rakats. Some observe ten while others observe twenty depending on the school of jurisprudence to which individuals belong. Tarawih is one of the two spiritual attributes preceding daily Ramadan fasting. The second is Sahur. But the latter is weightier than the former. Please read about Sahur tomorrow. Dr.Femi Abbas is a columnist at Thenation and can be reached via: e-mail: femabbas756@gmail.com Tel: 0811708536 (Text only)
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