Guidance for the last ten nights of Ramadan

Question:
Honorable Shaykh, this noble and great month contains blessed and great days, which are the nights and days of the last ten. What is your guidance for Muslims in general regarding this noble month and the arrival of these blessed days?

Answer:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah. After that, there is no doubt that Ramadan as a whole is a great and blessed month with great virtues. However, the last ten days of it have a special merit and additional virtue over the first part of the month because they are the conclusion of the month, and deeds are judged by their endings. Also, they are the nights of being freed from the Fire, as mentioned in the hadith. Furthermore, they are the nights in which the search for the great Night of Decree is most likely to succeed. And they are the nights in which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) exerted himself in worship more than in any other time. He (peace and blessings be upon him) would exert himself in worship during the last ten days in a way he did not in the first part of the month. In the first part of the month, he (peace and blessings be upon him) would pray and then sleep. But when the last ten days arrived, he would gird himself with determination, wake up his family, and keep the night awake in prayer (peace and blessings be upon him), increasing his late-night prayer.
Likewise, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would specifically dedicate these ten days to i'tikaf (spiritual retreat in the mosque). Initially, he (peace and blessings be upon him) would perform i'tikaf in the middle ten days. Then it became clear to him that the Night of Decree was in the last ten days, so he moved his i'tikaf to the last ten days to search for the Night of Decree. These are great days; their nights are for late-night prayer, and their days are for fasting and dhikr (the remembrance of Allah). So they are ten blessed days in which a Muslim should increase his effort and his late-night prayer compared to what he did in the first part of the month. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to increase his effort and late-night prayer in the last ten days.
As for those who say that he did not increase beyond thirteen rak'ahs in Ramadan or otherwise, as in the hadith reported from 'A'ishah, yes, this is correct. But what was the nature of his prayer (peace and blessings be upon him) in thirteen or eleven rak'ahs? He (peace and blessings be upon him) would stand for a long time, bow for a long time, and prostrate for a long time. It is reported that he would recite three long surahs in the two rak'ahs: al-Baqarah, 'Ali 'Imran, and al-Nisa. He would not pass a verse of mercy without stopping to ask for it, and he would not pass a verse mentioning punishment without stopping to seek refuge from it. This is the nature of his prayer (peace and blessings be upon him).
He would stand on his feet until they cracked from the length of standing. Where are we from the standing of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)? So whoever wants to stand as the Messenger stood, let him restrict himself to thirteen or eleven rak'ahs. But we are not able to do that. Therefore, the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) increased beyond thirteen rak'ahs in Ramadan. They would pray twenty-three rak'ahs because they would lighten the standing, bowing, and prostration to be kind to the people. To be kind to the people. The result is that late-night prayer in the last ten days is more than late-night prayer in the first twenty days. The first twenty days are restricted to the tarawih prayer after 'Isha'.
And as for the last ten days, the late-night prayer is added to the tarawih prayer at the end of the night, as the Companions used to do. They would not leave until the dawn, until the suhur (the pre-dawn meal). Yes.