Is The Night Prayer (Tarāwīḥ/Tahajjud) Restricted to a Specific Number of Units? On the authority of Ibn ʿUmar, may Allāh be please with them both, he said: A man asked: O Allāh's Messenger! how is the night prayer performed? He replied: ❝Two units by two units. And if you fear the dawn (will come upon you), then pray Witr with one unit.❞ Report by Bukhārī (1137); and the wording is his, likewise by Muslim, Abū Dāwūd, Tirmidhī, Nasāʾī, Ibn Mājah, Mālik, Dārimī and Aḥmad. Ibn Ḥajr, may Allāh have mercy on him, said, ❝Through the answer it became clear was the question about the number of units or about separating or joining the units.❞ Fatḥ al-Bārī (2/478) Commenting on this Ḥadīth Ibn ʿUthaymīn said, ❝And he did not restrict it to a number. And it is understood that the one who asked him about the night prayer did not know the number; because the one who does not know the method, then he is all the more unaware of the number.❞ Sharḥ al-Mumtiʿ (4/73) What remains from the objectors is the ḥadīth of ʿĀʾishah, may Allāh be pleased with her, about the Prophet, may Allāh raise his rank and grant him peace, not exceeding eleven units in his night prayer during Ramaḍān or other than it, that this quantifies the previous ḥadīth, then this is rejected from various angles: 1 - The action of the Prophet, may Allāh raise his rank and grant him peace, alone does not necessitate obligation unless or until accompanied by his unequivocal statement or an indicative evidence. In abscence of that, the ruling remains that of permissibility or preference at most. And this is agreed upon among the scholars. And that is the case here. 2- The fact that she has narrated from him, may Allāh raise his rank and grant him peace, having prayed thirteen units in the night prayer. 3- The fact that it is authentically established that he, may Allāh raise his rank and grant him peace, performed the night prayer with more than two connected units with a single tashahhud and taslīm, which we have collected in a chart showing seventeen authentic ways of performing the night prayer, so refer to it. While he, may Allāh raise his rank and grant him peace, said: ❝two units by two units.❞ This shows that the reply indicates preference not obligation, and the action entails permissibility. This is the required synthesis between the action (feʿl) and statement (qawl) of the Prophet, may Allāh raise his rank and grant him peace. 4- And it is an agreed upon fundamental principle that: it is not permissible for the Messenger to delay the clarification beyond the instance of necessity. Therefore in the instance of the questioner in the ḥadīth of Ibn ʿUmar, may Allāh be pleased with the both, it cannot be fathomed that the Messenger knew the limit yet did not clarify it! 5- The understanding and action of the overwhelming majority of scholars from the Salaf; from among the companions, their successors, their followers, those who followed them from the great compilers of Ḥadīth, the Fuqahāʾ (jurists), the Shurrāḥ (the commentators), the Muḥaqqiqīn (the expert researchers) and the contemporary Imāms, who are all in agreement that the action of the Prophet, may Allāh raise his rank and grant him peace, in this case does not entail restriction, rather it is the most virtuous, yet his statement clarifies the permissibility to increase upon that number. 6- The presence of many companions who prayed the night prayer more than eleven units, yet none among them censured or criticized that, let alone call it an innovation! 7- Even a greater number of successors who established more than eleven units while the companions were present, yet none censured or criticized or disliked that, let alone call it an abhorrent innovation! 8- The overwhelming statements of the Imāms of Ḥadīth and Fiqh in narrating the action of the muslims in their time from different lands including the major centres of knowledge like al-Madīnah, Makkah, Baghdād etc. with regards to the night prayer, or their preponderance to a given number of units which were prevalent during their time, which all conclude with a number more than eleven. Rather some of them narrated there being an agreement or there being no differing among them about the units of the night prayer that it is not restricted to a number. 9- Which brings us to the final aspect, which is the fact that the scholars have categorized the voluntary prayer into two types: a- the restricted (muqayyadah): which is further divided into two sub-categories: i- Emphasized (muʾakkadhah): like the twelve voluntary units alongside the five obligatory prayers, The two ʿĪd festival prayers, the solar (al-kusūf) and lunar (al-khusūf) eclipse prayers, the prayer for invoking rain (al-Istisqāʾ), the prayer for greeting the mosque (Taḥiyyatul-Masjid) etc. ii- Non-emphasized (ghayru-muʾakkadah): like the four units before ʿAṣr prayer, the two before each Maghrib and ʿIshāʾ prayers, the Duḥā prayer etc. b- The unrestricted (muṭlaqah): which are prayed during other than the three prohibited times of voluntary prayer namely: during sunset, after Fajr prayer till sunrise (forenoon) and during midday; like the unrestricted number of units the companions used to pray before the Friday sermon, the two units after renewing the ablution. Or the time between Ẓuhr and ʿAṣr, or between Maghrib and ʿIshāʾ. Likewise between ʿIshāʾ and Fajr, which is the night prayer. And this is the category which the night prayer (Qiyāmul-Layl) falls under. It is refered to as Tarāwīḥ when prayed in the ealier part of the night after ʿIshāʾ, and Tahajjud when it is prayed in the later part of the night. To conclude: This establishes the fact that the most virtuous way of performing the night prayer is that which was the practice of the Prophet, may Allāh raise his rank and grant him peace, and that is eleven units, while making its standing (qiyām), bowing (rukūʿ) and prostration (sujūd) lengthy. While it is permissible to exceed upon this to any number, preferably that which was mostly practiced by the Salaf i.e. twenty one units; shortening the standing (qiyām) while increasing the quantity of bowing (rukūʿ) and prostration (sujūd). Therefore, those who restrict the number of units to eleven or thirteen and prohibit increasing beyond that are at one extreme, while those who limit it to twenty-one or twenty-three and forbid reducing from it are at another extreme. Both groups label what contradicts their view as innovation and opposition to the Sunnah and/or the consensus (ijmāʿ)! In reality, it is their rigid stance which is closer in nature to contradicting the collective understanding of the Salaf, the great Imāms of Ḥadīth and Fiqh, whose statements clearly affirm the permissibility of adopting either of these numbers. Moreover, they even acknowledged other opinions that existed in their time, such as thirty-six or forty-one units. Yet, their discussions and debates revolved around what was more preferable (mustaḥab), never what was disliked (makrūh). And Allāh knows best. Written by Zubayr bin Muḥammad ʿAbbāsī Saturday, 30th Shaʿbān 1446AH