In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
A summary of the book:
Ramadan:
Events and Lessons.
Gathering the people under
Ubayy ibn Ka‘b, may Allah be pleased with him,
for the prayer of
Tarawih.
The time is the month of Ramadan,
in the fourth year
of the Hijrah.
Ramadan is a month of abundant
goodness and overflowing
blessings.
Within its course, the competitors
race,
and the rivals vie,
not for the debris
of this world and its fleeting pleasures,
but for the deeds
of the Hereafter and the means
of salvation therein.
For in Ramadan,
tables of diverse acts of worship
are spread for those who fast,
and various righteous deeds
are presented to them,
displayed in the most beautiful manner,
so that they may turn
toward them and strive to perform them.
Among those
great acts of worship
is the Tarawih prayer.
"Tarawih"
is the plural of "tarwiha,"
which is originally
a term for a sitting in general.
It was then used to name the sitting
that occurs after every four rak‘ahs
during the nights of Ramadan,
for the people to rest therein.
Then, every four rak‘ahs
were metaphorically called a "tarwiha."
Eventually, the
name was applied to this entire prayer,
so it is said:
"Tarawih prayer."
The Tarawih prayer
in the era of the Messenger of Allah,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
The Tarawih prayer
is a recommended act of worship.
The Messenger of Allah,
peace be upon him,
performed it and encouraged the people to do so.
People gathered on some nights,
and he led them
as an Imam.
But when the mosque became crowded with its people,
the Kind,
the Merciful feared that it might be made obligatory upon his Ummah.
Out of his perfect compassion,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
he did not continue
praying it in congregation
for that reason.
This is evidenced by numerous
hadiths,
including the hadith of ‘A’ishah, may Allah be pleased with her,
that the Messenger of Allah,
peace be upon him,
went out in the middle of the night one
night and prayed
in the mosque,
and some men prayed with him.
The next morning, the people spoke
about that,
so a larger number gathered.
The Messenger of Allah,
peace be upon him,
went out on the second night,
and they prayed with him.
The next morning, the people mentioned that,
and the number of people in the mosque increased
on the third night,
so he went out and they prayed
with him.
When the fourth night came,
the mosque could not contain
its people,
so the Messenger of Allah,
peace be upon him, did not go out to them.
Some men among them began
to call out, "The prayer!"
But the Messenger of Allah,
peace be upon him, did not go out to them
until
he went out for the dawn prayer.
When he finished the dawn prayer,
he turned to the people,
then testified and said:
"To proceed:
Your presence last night did not escape me,
but I feared that the night prayer
would be made obligatory
upon you,
and you would be unable to perform it."
In one narration,
this was in Ramadan.
The Tarawih prayer
in the era of the Rightly Guided
Caliphs.
First, in the era of Abu
Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him.
The caliphate of
al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, came,
and the matter of the Tarawih prayer
remained as it had been
during the life of the Messenger of Allah,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
And since
the duration of his caliphate was short,
no change
occurred therein.
Second:
The era of ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him.
The matter remained in that state
for a portion of the caliphate of
‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him.
Then, a consensus was reached
to gather the people under one Imam.
It is narrated from ‘Abd
al-Rahman ibn ‘Abd al-Qari
that ‘Umar
ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him,
went out one night in Ramadan,
and ‘Abd al-Rahman
went out with him.
He walked through the mosque,
and in the mosque were scattered groups;
a man would pray
by himself,
and a man would pray,
and others would pray following his prayer.
‘Umar said,
"By Allah, I think
that if we gathered them under one reciter,
it would be better."
Then he resolved
to gather them under one reciter,
and he ordered
Ubayy ibn Ka‘b
to lead them in Ramadan.
‘Umar went out while the people were praying
behind their reciter,
and with him was ‘Abd al-Rahman
ibn ‘Abd al-Qari,
and ‘Umar said:
"What an excellent innovation this is!
But the one they sleep through
is better than the one they are performing now,"
meaning
the end of the night,
whereas the people were performing it at the beginning.
The answer regarding
the statement of ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him:
"What an excellent innovation this is!"
It may occur
to the minds of some people
that what ‘Umar meant
by his saying "this innovation"
is the religious innovation, which is that
which has no
previous precedent, but the matter
is not so,
due to the aforementioned
hadiths indicating the legitimacy of
the Tarawih prayer in congregation
in the mosques.
So what is the meaning of "innovation"
in this statement of ‘Umar?
Al-Bayhaqi said,
after mentioning the hadith of ‘Abd al-Rahman
ibn ‘Abd al-Qari:
"I say: We have explained that
the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
only
refrained from leading them in prayer
on the fourth night
for fear that it would be made obligatory upon them.
When Allah,
the Almighty, took him to His mercy,
the obligations were finalized,
so ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, did not fear
that,
whereas the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
did fear it.
He saw that gathering them
upon a single reciter.
He deemed this best, so he gathered them,
and there was nothing in what he did
that contradicted what had passed from the Book,
or the Sunnah, or consensus.
Thus, it was not
a blameworthy innovation,
but rather a beneficial development
that has a basis in the Sunnah,
which is what we mentioned
regarding the prayer of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
in the report of ‘A’ishah,
for three nights.
And in the report of Abu Dharr,
there is an added encouragement for it,
and a mention of the virtue it contains,
and the increased reward.
Third:
In the era of ‘Uthman, may Allah be pleased with him,
the situation continued
during the era of the Possessor of the Two Lights,
just as it had been in the era of ‘Umar,
may Allah be pleased with them both.
The one who would lead the people in prayer was
‘Ali ibn Abi Talib,
may Allah be pleased with him.
For it is narrated from al-Hasan that he said:
‘Ali ibn Abi Talib led us in prayer,
may Allah be pleased with him,
during the time of ‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan,
may Allah be pleased with him, for twenty
nights, then he stopped.
Some said,
“He has become occupied with his own affairs.”
Then Abu
Halimah Mu‘adh led them,
the reciter, and he would perform the qunut.
Fourth:
In the era of ‘Ali, may Allah
be pleased with him,
the matter did not change during the era of
the Commander of the Faithful, ‘Ali, may Allah
be pleased with him.
For it is narrated from Abu ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami,
from ‘Ali, may Allah be pleased with him,
who said: He summoned
the reciters during Ramadan,
and commanded one of them
to lead the people in twenty
rak‘ahs. He said:
‘Ali, may Allah be pleased with him,
would perform the witr with them.
Al-Bayhaqi said:
This was narrated from another source
from ‘Ali, may Allah be pleased with him.
The position
regarding the Tarawih prayer
is the school of the Imam Zayd ibn ‘Ali,
and this was transmitted from his grandfather,
the Commander of the Faithful, ‘Ali,
may Allah be pleased with him.
For in his Musnad, in the chapter on
standing in prayer during the month of Ramadan,
the narrator from him said:
Zayd ibn ‘Ali narrated to me,
from his father,
from his grandfather, from ‘Ali,
that he commanded the one who leads
the people in the night prayer
during the month of Ramadan
to pray with them twenty
rak‘ahs, saying the taslim
after every two rak‘ahs,
and to take a rest between every
four rak‘ahs,
so that those with needs may return,
and a man may perform wudu’.
And that he should perform the witr with them at the end
of the night upon finishing.
The history of the event:
Ibn Jarir said,
regarding ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him:
He was the first to gather
the people behind one imam
to lead them in the Tarawih prayer
in the month of Ramadan,
and he wrote to the regions regarding this,
and commanded them to do it.
That was according to what al-Harith narrated to me,
who said:
Ibn Sa‘d narrated to us,
from Muhammad ibn ‘Umar,
in the year fourteen.
He appointed for the people
reciters:
for the men,
and a reciter to lead the women.
Al-Mas‘udi said:
In the year fourteen,
‘Umar ibn al-Khattab ordered
the standing in prayer during the month of Ramadan
for the Tarawih prayer,
and ‘Umar wrote
to the provinces to establish
the Tarawih prayer.
In this event, there are lessons:
First:
A demonstration of the great kindness of
our noble Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
and the perfection of his compassion
for us.
This is something that increases us
in love for him and in following
what he brought.
Second:
Some recommended acts of worship may be left
for a valid reason,
and the practice of them is resumed
when that reason ceases to exist.
Third:
The consensus of the Companions on following
‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him,
in gathering the people behind a single
imam,
and continuing to do so,
indicates the correctness of what he did,
given the existence of the legal
basis,
in that it occurred as a congregation
in the mosque during the life of the Messenger of Allah,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
Ramadan:
Events
and Lessons.