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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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What is the number of rak'ahs in the Tarawih and Tahajjud prayers?

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Question:
This person is asking about an imam of a mosque who prays four rak'ahs of Tarawih and four rak'ahs of Tahajjud. He has forbidden himself and forbidden the congregation praying behind him in this great month and these ten nights.

Answer:
It is obligatory to strive in these ten nights by increasing the Tahajjud and prayer. As for shortening the prayer to this extent, meaning limiting the number of rak'ahs to this extent, this is stinginess; he is stingy with himself. He has also wronged the congregation praying behind him by depriving them of Tahajjud, depriving them of Tarawih, and depriving them of striving in these last ten nights.
Yes, so in reality, he is not fit to be an imam. The imam considers the interests of the ma'mum (those praying behind him); he does not waste their reward or these days for them. He is not fit to be an imam. This makes him a deceiver of his flock. It is obligatory for the imams, may Allah grant them success, it is obligatory for them to strive in these ten nights and pray like the Muslims in the mosques, praying the full Tarawih and the full Tahajjud.
Because these days are not permanent; they are few days and they pass. So if you preserve them and strive in them, you will find them with Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He. But this playing around, where he prays four at the beginning of the night and four at the latter part of the night, and the rest of the night, where does it go? The rest of the night, where does it go? You have forbidden yourself and forbidden your congregation. Yes.
Source قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، ما هو عدد ركعات صلاة التراويح والتهجد؟ — youtube.com

The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.

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