Dear brothers and sisters in Islam and
humanity, assalamu alaykum. Welcome back
to the show Ramadan, a date with Dr.
Zakia. I'm your host Ysef Chambers and
today we are discussing the topic kama
the night's prayer.
Asalam alaikum.
Dr. Zakia, I would call upon you to
resolve one of the most common disputes
in the Muslim Ummah during the month of
Ramadan regarding the number of rakat
that are prayed in the tarawi or the
kyal or the night prayer. Is it eight or
should it be 20? Our beloved prophet
wasallam said it's mentioned in say
bkari volume number one in the book of
salah had number 472 he said that when a
person asks that how should you offer
the lal the prophet said that he should
offer in two raat followed by two raat
followed by two raat followed by two
raat and so on and when he fears that
dawn is approaching he should offer one
raat so all the rakat become wither
become odd that means You can pray as
many as you wish. Later on have one
number an odd number so that everything
becomes odd. So as far as the number of
rakas are concerned you can pray as many
as you wish. But as far as the practice
of Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam
is concerned this mentioned in say bkari
volume number two in the book of taj had
number
1147 that aa may Allah be pleased with
her. She says that the
prophet while offering in Ramadan used
to always offer 11 raat not more than 11
raat and this used to do even other
months that means eight raat of and
three raat of so it becomes 8 + 3 11 and
there are various other hadith which
always say that all the hadith that we
find of the prophet wasallam whether
being say bkari say Muslim all of them
said that he prayed or this 11 lakh 11
includes 8 + 3 and further the same
hadith of Sai Bkari volume number two in
the book of Tajj had number 11
147 her when she says that the prophet
always offered 11 dakat in Ramadan and
even other times and she said that he
used to offer four akat and I cannot
narrate to you the time the beauty and
the length of this rakat and it's to
again offer four akat and I cannot
narrate to you the beauty and the length
of these four akat and then you have to
offer three raat indicating 8 plus
three. But if you read the practice of
the
surface of a
predecessor of the Sahabas, the tabain
tab, we find from records that they
prayed 11 rakat, some prayed 13, some
prayed 19, some prayed 23, some prayed
36, some prayed 39 raats also. And if
you read the mass of Abisha volume
number two page number 165 166 it says
that the tabin when they offered the
camel in Ramadan which is known as
taravi they offer 20 raat some place it
says that they offered 36 raat. So as
far as the rakarss are concerned as the
prophet the call the command of the
prophet was that
read as much as you wish then one and as
I mentioned earlier in say bkari had
number 472 volume number one you can
read as many rakars as you want in two
to2 and then
one but if you want to follow the sunnah
of the prophet the prophet always
offered eight raat plus three so what is
permissible as many as you
8 10 20 36 no problem and then followed
by three with her but the prophet
offered 8 + 3 11 but you can offer as
many as you wish. Well of course you've
mentioned that one could pray as much as
you like in terms of uh the number of
raqa um but the sunnah is eight. This is
what you've said that's prophet offered
eight. Alhamdulillah. But he permitted
you can offer as many as you wish.
Right. Right. So as many as you like but
the suner is eight. However um if a
person or a group of people pray 8 in 1
hour and another group of people pray 20
in 1 and a half
hours which would you say is the best?
The question has got two portions. One
is the number of rakat other is the
length. As I mentioned in the earlier
answer that the longer it is the better
it is. The prophet said that and the
other is that any is fine. Prophet
offered eight. Now you know eight and 1
hour is better or 20 and 1 and a half
hour is better. Before I answer this
question, I'll tell you that if a person
is offering his salah in a
mosque which is praying in congregation
8 rakat, he should
not get up and pray additional 12 and
make it 20 because he feels 20 is
better. Neither should a person who
offering tarawi or
the in
Ramadan offers his in a mosque which is
offering 20 raat in jama. He should not
offer a rakat and walk out because the
prophet said that a person who prays
along with the imam and ends with the
imam it is as though he has offered the
salah for the whole night. So we should
be more tolerant and agree with that
prophet allowed all
types. If a person wants to offer 20, if
he's offering in a mosque of eight raat
in Jamaat in Jamaat, he can go and offer
the remaining balance of the 20 that's
12. As far as the question is concerned
which is better eight rakat and 1 hour
or 20 rakat and one and a half
hour here again as I said that the call
the command of the prophet is that you
can offer as many as you wish and the
longer it is the longer it is better but
the prophet offered long and so if you
ask me which is better both acceptable
but the better would be that if he
offers the same length but
withat same length with eight rakat
whether it be 1 hour 2 hour or 3 hours.
So if you ask me 1 hour with 8 rakat is
better or 1 hour with 20 raat is better
I would prefer 1 hour with 8 rakat but
as your question is if it's 1 hour with
8 rakat and 1 and a half hour with 20
rakat I would prefer 20 raat one and a
half hour because the call of the
prophet is longer the better which
you're doing and again the call is you
can offer as many as you wish. So I
would prefer 20 raat and one and a half
hour rather than eight rakat and 1 hour.
And that's what we see in the 20 raat
but they have long for approximately 2
hours
there. And in the other mos they have
eight rakat and shorter duration but in
both the majam in makka and madina
mashallah they have for long as it is
the you get multiple rewards you get
1,000 times in the maj and 100,000 inj.
Yes, absolutely. Well, thank you very
much Dr. Zakia regarding that uh superb
answer. I think we've um once again
we've learned an awful lot about uh this
particular aspect the night prayer uh
kale um during the month of Ramadan.
Alhamdulillah. And hopefully we will all
take as much benefit as possible and
implement it during this Ramadan and the
coming Ramadan
inshallah. Brothers and sisters, I truly
hope inshallah that you have benefited a