Part of Ramadan events and lessons (series completed)
· Lesson 13 of 31
Ramadan events and lessons | Episode (13) | People gathered around Ubayy ibn Ka'b, may God be pleased with him, for Tarawih prayer
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Transcript
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In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
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A summary of the book:
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Ramadan:
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Events and Lessons.
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Gathering the people under
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Ubayy ibn Ka‘b, may Allah be pleased with him,
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for the prayer of
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Tarawih.
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The time is the month of Ramadan,
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in the fourth year
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of the Hijrah.
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Ramadan is a month of abundant
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goodness and overflowing
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blessings.
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Within its course, the competitors
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race,
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and the rivals vie,
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not for the debris
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of this world and its fleeting pleasures,
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but for the deeds
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of the Hereafter and the means
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of salvation therein.
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For in Ramadan,
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tables of diverse acts of worship
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are spread for those who fast,
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and various righteous deeds
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are presented to them,
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displayed in the most beautiful manner,
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so that they may turn
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toward them and strive to perform them.
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Among those
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great acts of worship
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is the Tarawih prayer.
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"Tarawih"
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is the plural of "tarwiha,"
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which is originally
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a term for a sitting in general.
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It was then used to name the sitting
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that occurs after every four rak‘ahs
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during the nights of Ramadan,
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for the people to rest therein.
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Then, every four rak‘ahs
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were metaphorically called a "tarwiha."
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Eventually, the
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name was applied to this entire prayer,
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so it is said:
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"Tarawih prayer."
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The Tarawih prayer
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in the era of the Messenger of Allah,
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peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
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The Tarawih prayer
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is a recommended act of worship.
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The Messenger of Allah,
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peace be upon him,
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performed it and encouraged the people to do so.
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People gathered on some nights,
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and he led them
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as an Imam.
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But when the mosque became crowded with its people,
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the Kind,
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the Merciful feared that it might be made obligatory upon his Ummah.
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Out of his perfect compassion,
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peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
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he did not continue
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praying it in congregation
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for that reason.
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This is evidenced by numerous
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hadiths,
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including the hadith of ‘A’ishah, may Allah be pleased with her,
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that the Messenger of Allah,
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peace be upon him,
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went out in the middle of the night one
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night and prayed
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in the mosque,
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and some men prayed with him.
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The next morning, the people spoke
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about that,
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so a larger number gathered.
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The Messenger of Allah,
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peace be upon him,
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went out on the second night,
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and they prayed with him.
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The next morning, the people mentioned that,
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and the number of people in the mosque increased
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on the third night,
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so he went out and they prayed
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with him.
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When the fourth night came,
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the mosque could not contain
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its people,
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so the Messenger of Allah,
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peace be upon him, did not go out to them.
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Some men among them began
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to call out, "The prayer!"
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But the Messenger of Allah,
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peace be upon him, did not go out to them
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until
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he went out for the dawn prayer.
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When he finished the dawn prayer,
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he turned to the people,
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then testified and said:
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"To proceed:
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Your presence last night did not escape me,
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but I feared that the night prayer
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would be made obligatory
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upon you,
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and you would be unable to perform it."
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In one narration,
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this was in Ramadan.
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The Tarawih prayer
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in the era of the Rightly Guided
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Caliphs.
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First, in the era of Abu
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Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him.
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The caliphate of
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al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, came,
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and the matter of the Tarawih prayer
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remained as it had been
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during the life of the Messenger of Allah,
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peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
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And since
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the duration of his caliphate was short,
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no change
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occurred therein.
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Second:
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The era of ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him.
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The matter remained in that state
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for a portion of the caliphate of
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‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him.
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Then, a consensus was reached
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to gather the people under one Imam.
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It is narrated from ‘Abd
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al-Rahman ibn ‘Abd al-Qari
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that ‘Umar
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ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him,
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went out one night in Ramadan,
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and ‘Abd al-Rahman
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went out with him.
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He walked through the mosque,
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and in the mosque were scattered groups;
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a man would pray
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by himself,
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and a man would pray,
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and others would pray following his prayer.
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‘Umar said,
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"By Allah, I think
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that if we gathered them under one reciter,
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it would be better."
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Then he resolved
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to gather them under one reciter,
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and he ordered
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Ubayy ibn Ka‘b
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to lead them in Ramadan.
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‘Umar went out while the people were praying
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behind their reciter,
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and with him was ‘Abd al-Rahman
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ibn ‘Abd al-Qari,
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and ‘Umar said:
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"What an excellent innovation this is!
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But the one they sleep through
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is better than the one they are performing now,"
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meaning
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the end of the night,
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whereas the people were performing it at the beginning.
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The answer regarding
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the statement of ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him:
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"What an excellent innovation this is!"
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It may occur
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to the minds of some people
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that what ‘Umar meant
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by his saying "this innovation"
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is the religious innovation, which is that
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which has no
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previous precedent, but the matter
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is not so,
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due to the aforementioned
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hadiths indicating the legitimacy of
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the Tarawih prayer in congregation
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in the mosques.
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So what is the meaning of "innovation"
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in this statement of ‘Umar?
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Al-Bayhaqi said,
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after mentioning the hadith of ‘Abd al-Rahman
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ibn ‘Abd al-Qari:
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"I say: We have explained that
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the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
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only
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refrained from leading them in prayer
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on the fourth night
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for fear that it would be made obligatory upon them.
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When Allah,
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the Almighty, took him to His mercy,
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the obligations were finalized,
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so ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, did not fear
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that,
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whereas the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
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did fear it.
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He saw that gathering them
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upon a single reciter.
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He deemed this best, so he gathered them,
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and there was nothing in what he did
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that contradicted what had passed from the Book,
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or the Sunnah, or consensus.
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Thus, it was not
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a blameworthy innovation,
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but rather a beneficial development
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that has a basis in the Sunnah,
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which is what we mentioned
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regarding the prayer of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
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in the report of ‘A’ishah,
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for three nights.
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And in the report of Abu Dharr,
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there is an added encouragement for it,
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and a mention of the virtue it contains,
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and the increased reward.
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Third:
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In the era of ‘Uthman, may Allah be pleased with him,
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the situation continued
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during the era of the Possessor of the Two Lights,
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just as it had been in the era of ‘Umar,
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may Allah be pleased with them both.
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The one who would lead the people in prayer was
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‘Ali ibn Abi Talib,
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may Allah be pleased with him.
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For it is narrated from al-Hasan that he said:
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‘Ali ibn Abi Talib led us in prayer,
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may Allah be pleased with him,
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during the time of ‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan,
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may Allah be pleased with him, for twenty
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nights, then he stopped.
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Some said,
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“He has become occupied with his own affairs.”
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Then Abu
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Halimah Mu‘adh led them,
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the reciter, and he would perform the qunut.
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Fourth:
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In the era of ‘Ali, may Allah
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be pleased with him,
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the matter did not change during the era of
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the Commander of the Faithful, ‘Ali, may Allah
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be pleased with him.
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For it is narrated from Abu ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami,
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from ‘Ali, may Allah be pleased with him,
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who said: He summoned
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the reciters during Ramadan,
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and commanded one of them
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to lead the people in twenty
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rak‘ahs. He said:
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‘Ali, may Allah be pleased with him,
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would perform the witr with them.
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Al-Bayhaqi said:
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This was narrated from another source
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from ‘Ali, may Allah be pleased with him.
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The position
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regarding the Tarawih prayer
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is the school of the Imam Zayd ibn ‘Ali,
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and this was transmitted from his grandfather,
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the Commander of the Faithful, ‘Ali,
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may Allah be pleased with him.
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For in his Musnad, in the chapter on
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standing in prayer during the month of Ramadan,
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the narrator from him said:
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Zayd ibn ‘Ali narrated to me,
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from his father,
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from his grandfather, from ‘Ali,
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that he commanded the one who leads
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the people in the night prayer
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during the month of Ramadan
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to pray with them twenty
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rak‘ahs, saying the taslim
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after every two rak‘ahs,
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and to take a rest between every
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four rak‘ahs,
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so that those with needs may return,
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and a man may perform wudu’.
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And that he should perform the witr with them at the end
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of the night upon finishing.
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The history of the event:
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Ibn Jarir said,
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regarding ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him:
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He was the first to gather
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the people behind one imam
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to lead them in the Tarawih prayer
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in the month of Ramadan,
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and he wrote to the regions regarding this,
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and commanded them to do it.
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That was according to what al-Harith narrated to me,
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who said:
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Ibn Sa‘d narrated to us,
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from Muhammad ibn ‘Umar,
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in the year fourteen.
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He appointed for the people
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reciters:
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for the men,
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and a reciter to lead the women.
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Al-Mas‘udi said:
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In the year fourteen,
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‘Umar ibn al-Khattab ordered
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the standing in prayer during the month of Ramadan
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for the Tarawih prayer,
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and ‘Umar wrote
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to the provinces to establish
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the Tarawih prayer.
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In this event, there are lessons:
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First:
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A demonstration of the great kindness of
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our noble Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
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and the perfection of his compassion
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for us.
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This is something that increases us
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in love for him and in following
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what he brought.
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Second:
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Some recommended acts of worship may be left
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for a valid reason,
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and the practice of them is resumed
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when that reason ceases to exist.
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Third:
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The consensus of the Companions on following
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‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him,
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in gathering the people behind a single
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imam,
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and continuing to do so,
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indicates the correctness of what he did,
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given the existence of the legal
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basis,
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in that it occurred as a congregation
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in the mosque during the life of the Messenger of Allah,
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peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
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Ramadan:
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Events
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and Lessons.