Chapter on Tarāwīḥ — Tuḥfat al-Mulūk

Ruling270

2 notes

It is a stressed sunna: five tarwīḥāt; each tarwīḥa has two salāms; he sits between each two tarwīḥāt for about a tarwīḥa; likewise between the fifth and witr; he does not sit after the fifth salām in the sound view; then he performs witr with them.

From the editors

1.

Each tarwīḥa is four rakʿāt prayed two-by-two (two salāms). The imām sits between completed tarwīḥāt for roughly the time a tarwīḥa takes, and likewise between the fifth tarwīḥa and witr. In the sound view he does not sit for a full tarwīḥ-length pause after the fifth taslim of the sequence—that is, after the tenth rakʿāt—whereas some scholars treated a long middle pause as mustaḥsan; the relied-upon position follows the former. He then performs witr with the same congregation. See: al-Hidāyah.

2.

Tarāwīḥ is a stressed (muʾakkad) sunna because the Rightly Guided caliphs maintained it as a public Ramadan observance after the pattern of the Prophet, upon him blessings and peace; classical compendia cite reports in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and Muwaṭṭaʾ Mālik on congregational night prayer in Ramadan as part of the basis for treating it as more than an ordinary nafl.

Ruling271

3 notes

Its sunna is to finish [recitation] in the month or in each rakʿa ten verses; congregation in it is a communal sunna.

From the editors

1.

The completion sunna should not be set aside merely because people are reluctant; legitimate difficulty is met by pacing (for example the ten-verse benchmark or shorter passages), not by abandoning khatm altogether when it remains feasible for the community.

2.

Congregation for Tarāwīḥ is a communal sunna (sunna ʿalā al-kifāya): if the people of a mosque who could establish it collectively neglect it, they incur wrongdoing; if some establish it, those who stay away forfeit the virtue without necessarily sharing in the communal fault. Compare the duty-weighting of other kifāya acts.

3.

“Finishing in the month” means completing a khatm of the Qurʾān across Tarāwīḥ in Ramadan; many manuals additionally encourage generous recitation on the twenty-seventh night in view of traditions identifying it with Laylat al-Qadr, whilst the matn’s pairing with “ten verses in each rakʿa” offers a measured alternative pace when khatm in full would overburden the congregation.

Ruling272

1 note

The imām omits supplication after the tashahhud if he knows the congregation is weary.

Ruling273

1 note

ووقتها بعد أداءِ العشاء إلى طلوع الفجر قبل الوتر وبعده.

Its time is after performing ʿIshāʾ until Fajr dawn—before witr and after it.

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