What do the Tarawih prayers represent? The blessed month of Ramadan is well and truly here. The faithful hasten to break their fast at sunset and can hardly wait to go to their neighborhood mosque to carry on the practice of the Tarawih, which are the night prayers performed in congregation during Ramadan. This article will attempt, in all humility, to answer a few of the many questions that the faithful who are new to their religious practice may ask, and above all any person outside of Islam wondering what this word Tarawih means.
Tarawih: definition?
This word Tarawih is the plural of the word tarwihatun meaning “rest”. It is used in the sense of a pause, since the Tarawih are the night prayers performed during the holy month of Ramadan with a pause after each pair of prayer units is completed.
Indeed, Muslims all over the world perform, every evening starting from the eve of Ramadan, supererogatory prayers, in congregation and at the mosque, to carry on a prophetic Tradition that was nonetheless set aside by the Prophet Muhammad out of compassion for the believers.
This is why some Muslims believe that this prayer is an innovation. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, having performed the night prayer during Ramadan, noticed that the faithful were gathering behind him to perform it with him. After the third consecutive night on which he was joined by the believers to pray with him, in rows in the mosque, he stopped praying in this way. He, peace and blessings be upon him, explained his refusal to continue to lead this prayer for fear that Allah might make it an obligation and that this would be too heavy to bear for everyone.
Such was the love of our beloved one for humanity!
This prayer is indeed part of the Sunnah of our Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, according to consensus. Even though he put an end to this practice in congregation because of his concern for the community, which surpassed all understanding, he loved to keep vigil in prayer during Ramadan and encouraged the Muslims to do so. This Hadith (prophetic Tradition) bears witness to it:
Allah, to Him the Glory and the Majesty, has made obligatory upon you the fast of Ramadan, and I have instituted for you its night prayer. Whoever therefore fasts it and keeps vigil in prayer, with faith and hoping for the divine reward, will be freed of his sins like the day his mother gave birth to him. Reported by Al-Nasa'i
Under the caliphate of Omar Ibn Al-Khattab, he revived the Tradition of our Prophet by once again performing the Tarawih in congregation, since the fear that Allah might make it an obligation through a revelation was no longer possible!
How to perform the Tarawih night prayer?
Questioned on this subject, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, answered to perform it in sets of two prayer units with final salutations, without exceeding eight prayer units in all. Then he would finish, and we are enjoined to do so, with three prayer units for the Shaf' and the Witr (even and odd prayers) which constitute the conclusion of the daily prayers.
That makes 11 units in all, and this is accepted by consensus. Moreover, most of the imams (the person who leads the prayer in congregation) leading this night prayer during the nights of Ramadan begin this series of night prayers one night before the first day of Ramadan, with the aim of completing a full reading of the Quran during Ramadan, or even by the twenty-seventh night.
There is a differing opinion among many scholars who consider that, since the Prophet did not explicitly express himself on the precise number of prayer units to perform, the matter of the night prayer remains open as regards the number to perform. That said, it is fitting always to strive, as far as possible, to perform our rites in the same manner as the Prophet performed them.
Someone who prays the Tarawih at the mosque, or even at home, therefore performs them as follows:
- Two prayer units + final salutations + a pause
- Two prayer units + final salutations + a pause
- “ “ “ “
- “ “ “ “
- Two prayer units of Al-Shaf'
- One prayer unit called Witr to finish.
Indeed, our mother of the believers Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, was questioned about the prayer of the Prophet during Ramadan, and here is her answer:
He did not pray more than eleven rak'ahs (prayer units), whether during Ramadan or outside of it. Reported by Bukhari and Muslim
What are the purposes of practicing the Tarawih prayers?
The spirit of the Tarawih, the series of night prayers, lies in the meditation upon the verses recited each night and in the gathering of the community to celebrate it, in order to revive, at each Ramadan, this Sunnah (prophetic Tradition).
Its purpose is not at all a question of quantity to recite, but this prayer is to be performed in the hope of the reward of Allah, with devotion, meditation and sincerity.
The purpose of this prayer is to follow the practice of our Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, and through it to devote oneself to the reading and understanding of the Quran. How can one meditate upon the Word of Allah when one does not understand it? Or in any case, how can one draw all the benefits of this meditation when one does not devote oneself to it body and soul, seeking guidance, striving to listen, full of humility and reverence?
The night prayer, just like the obligatory prayer every day, is an intimate moment between our Lord and us. A moment in which we draw from His Word (the Quran) our Path, our inner happiness, and in which we are in search of His Nearness. The gathering in the mosque adds to this quest for Allah a dimension of communion of hearts.
Ramadan is the month of the Quran, and the night prayer, in which His Word is recited for long hours, is the Sunnah of the Prophet that connects us all to Him even more intensely. The purpose of these prayers is to remember Him and to celebrate the descent of the Quran in this blessed month, meditating upon it verse by verse, imploring Allah sincerely to draw us closer to the Truth, to Uprightness, to help us understand what He wants from us so as to worship Him as He ought to be worshipped.
All of this through His Word, the Quran.
The Tarawih are not meant to be reduced to an accumulation of standing and sitting positions, several minutes or even several hours spent listening to someone recite the Quran, but rather to attain an attentive listening and/or an assiduous, active recitation, in order to increase in faith through this listening (or better still our recitation) with meditation.
This is not an impossible goal to reach. One still needs to set oneself an achievable objective during Ramadan...
Tarawih, a single series of night prayers, a different objective for each person
The Word of Allah is intended for humanity, as we have already said in a previous article. So each person, depending on their environment, their initial reading level, their abilities, their speed of adaptation and learning, will be able to prepare a personal action plan for the Tarawih.
A person who has just begun to pray without understanding Arabic will not have the same expectations and objectives during the Tarawih prayers as an initiated person who has been praying and fasting for months or years. The novice believer will be lenient toward himself while remaining assiduous in the night prayers, even if he does not yet understand what is being said.
The action to favor will be to set the pure intention of obtaining from the All-Merciful the merits linked to the Tarawih prayers, the merits of following the Sunnah and of loving to do what our Prophet Muhammad did, peace and blessings be upon him. The goal, in attending the night prayers in congregation, will be to soak up the atmosphere at the mosque and to be able to feel the connection with Allah through them, while waiting to understand Arabic for the next times.
For all those who cannot attend the Tarawih at the mosque, for example, the objective could be to do everything possible to pray with their family at home a set number of night prayer units and to seek thereby the reward of Allah. Or even to do it alone if one cannot gather one's loved ones with him.
Finally, the one who attends the Tarawih while understanding Arabic could have as a goal to strive to follow the imam's recitation with concentration and devotion, without being distracted, in order to draw the benefits of meditation upon the verses of Allah.
The one who finds it hard to go and pray the Tarawih, without there being anything preventing him from going, can set himself the personal goal of making the effort to go to the night prayer as many times as possible during the month.
And finally, the one who cannot attend the entire series of prayers, because of fatigue or another reason, will be able to compete with himself and aim to stay each time a little longer than the previous time. This in order to become attached to this Sunnah gradually without abandoning it.
May Allah allow us to taste the sweetness of the night prayer in full submission to His Will, with reverence, and in total connection with Him (khushu'). Amin
And how about telling us in the comments what your own objective would be for the accomplishment of the Tarawih this year?