in any particular month or on any particular night, whereas Laylat al-Qadr is without doubt in Ramadan. Allah knows best, and may blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muḥammad.

The Tarāwīḥ Prayer

Question: Is the Tarāwīḥ prayer a sunnah or an obligation, and how did the Companions perform it? Please advise me, and may Allah bless you.

Answer: The Tarāwīḥ prayer is an emphatically recommended sunnah, not an obligation. If a person were to leave it he would incur no sin, yet if he observes it he earns abundant good and a tremendous reward—provided his intention is sound and his heart is sincere for Allah—because the Tarāwīḥ prayer is among the most important acts of worship legislated for the nights of Ramadan. The Prophet ﷺ prayed it with his Companions for several nights toward the end of Ramadan, after which he stayed away and did not come out to them on the remaining nights. The congregation had grown so large that the mosque could no longer accommodate them, and he ﷺ later explained that the only reason he refrained from joining them was his fear that it might be made obligatory upon them and they would then be unable to perform it.

After the Prophet’s death, the Companions continued to pray Tarāwīḥ in the mosque in scattered groups: one man praying alone, another with one or two others, and yet another leading a small company. They remained in this state for a period after the Prophet ﷺ had passed away. Then, during the caliphate of ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him), he noticed the Companions performing Tarāwīḥ in this piecemeal fashion and decided to unite them behind a single imam. He gathered them behind Ubayy ibn Kaʿb—may Allah be pleased with him—and from that time until today the Tarāwīḥ prayer has been performed as one congregation in the mosque. All praise and thanks belong to Allah.