After that he did not lead us again for the remainder of the month.”

Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr said, “All of this indicates that the night prayer of Ramadan may rightly be ascribed to the Prophet ﷺ, for he urged it and practiced it; ʿUmar—may Allah be pleased with him—merely revived what the Prophet ﷺ had already instituted as sunnah.”

Al-ʿIraqi states in Tarḥ al-Tathrīb: “The hadith of ʿĀʾisha demonstrates that it is preferable to perform the Ramadan night prayer in the mosque and in congregation, since the Prophet ﷺ did so. He ceased only for a reason that disappeared with his death—his fear that it might become obligatory.”

This is the position of the majority of Muslim scholars, including the three imams—Abu Ḥanīfa, al-Shāfiʿī, and Aḥmad—and it has become one of the manifest symbols of Islam.

Number of rakʿahs

Al-ʿIraqi said, “This hadith does not specify how many rakʿahs the Prophet ﷺ prayed on those nights in the mosque. ʿĀʾisha reported, ‘The Prophet ﷺ never exceeded eleven rakʿahs in Ramadan or at any other time’ (al-Bukhārī 1579). The apparent sense is that he did the same on this occasion.”

However, when ʿUmar—may Allah be pleased with him—gathered the people for the tarawih prayer in Ramadan under the leadership of Ubayy ibn Kaʿb, he led them in twenty rakʿahs, not counting the witr, which is three rakʿahs. This became the practice adopted by the imams—Abu Ḥanīfa, al-Shāfiʿī, Aḥmad, al-Thawrī—and the majority.

Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr said, “This is the view held by the great majority of scholars and is our chosen position; they considered what occurred in the time of ʿUmar to be tantamount to consensus.”

Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah remarked, “The Prophet ﷺ did not stipulate a specific number for the Ramadan night prayer. He himself did not exceed thirteen rakʿahs, but he lengthened them. When ʿUmar gathered the people behind Ubayy ibn Kaʿb, he led them in twenty rakʿahs,