What is the reported number of rak'ahs for the tarawih prayer
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question : Honorable Shaykh, what is the best number of rak'ahs for the tarawih prayer? And what is reported regarding this? May Allah reward you with good.
Answer : The best number for the tarawih is eleven or thirteen rak'ahs, as this is reported from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). How did the Prophet Sahih al-Bukhari 483 Sunan Abi Dawud 1341Sahih (Al-Albani) three, and these four and four. Distributed such that every four are concluded with two taslims, as came in her hadith (may Allah be pleased with her) where she described the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) night prayer and mentioned that he used to say the taslim after every two rak'ahs. If one prays more than that, there is no harm; if he prays twenty-three as is well known from the madhhab of Imam Ahmad, he has done nothing wrong. But the most important thing is that he prays a prayer with composure, in which he is at peace, makes du'a, and allows the ma'mums to do so if he is an imam, so that he exits from a prayer that is truly a prayer due to its composure, slowness, tasbih, and du'a. As for what some people, meaning some imams, do:
rushing through the tarawih to the extent that it may compromise the obligatory composure in order for the people to increase with him, this is a great error. It is obligatory upon the imams to fear Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and to lead the people in a prayer that is in the utmost perfection, because they are trustees over acts of worship.
Answer : The best number for the tarawih is eleven or thirteen rak'ahs, as this is reported from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).
And the Mother of the Believers, Aisha, was asked
وقد سئلت أم المؤمنين عائشةNarrated Fudail bin Sulaiman: Musa bin `Uqba said, "I saw Salim bin `Abdullah looking for some places on the way and prayed there. He narrated that his father used to pray there, and had seen the Prophet (ﷺ) praying at those very places." Narrated Nafi` on the authority of Ibn `Umar who said, "I used to pray at those places." Musa the narrator added, "I asked Salim on which he said, 'I agree with Nafi` concerning those places, except the mosque situated at the place called Sharaf Ar-Rawha."
صلى الله عليه وسلم يصلي في رمضان؟She said: He did not exceed eleven rak'ahs in Ramadan or in other times.
قالت ما كان يزيد في رمضان وعلى غيره على إحدى عشرة ركعة.He would pray four rak'ahs. Do not ask about their elegance and length. He then
يصلي أربعا فلا تسأل عن حسنهن وطورهن، ثم يصليrushing through the tarawih to the extent that it may compromise the obligatory composure in order for the people to increase with him, this is a great error. It is obligatory upon the imams to fear Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and to lead the people in a prayer that is in the utmost perfection, because they are trustees over acts of worship.
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، 548- ما هو الوارد في عدد ركعات صلاة التراويح/سؤال على الهاتف 📞 /ابن عثيمين — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.