The Meaning of the Two Light Rak'ahs in Opening the Night Prayer
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Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. He says: In the two hadiths, the hadith of 'Aishah and the hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with them both), regarding the prayer of two light rak'ahs, does it imply that the beginning of the prayer is with two light rak'ahs, and then the rest of the night prayer? If he wants to lengthen it, he lengthens it?
Answer:
Yes, that is so, that is so. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would lengthen the Tahajjud prayer until Hudhayfah was unable to stand with him due to the length of the standing. So he (peace and blessings be upon him) would lengthen the standing, lengthen the bowing, and lengthen the prostration. This is if he is praying alone. If he is praying with people, as was mentioned to you before, he lightens it for the people. He lightens it, increases the number of rak'ahs, and lightens the manner of the prayer. Yes, this is the combining of the evidence. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. He says: In the two hadiths, the hadith of 'Aishah and the hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with them both), regarding the prayer of two light rak'ahs, does it imply that the beginning of the prayer is with two light rak'ahs, and then the rest of the night prayer? If he wants to lengthen it, he lengthens it?
Answer:
Yes, that is so, that is so. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would lengthen the Tahajjud prayer until Hudhayfah was unable to stand with him due to the length of the standing. So he (peace and blessings be upon him) would lengthen the standing, lengthen the bowing, and lengthen the prostration. This is if he is praying alone. If he is praying with people, as was mentioned to you before, he lightens it for the people. He lightens it, increases the number of rak'ahs, and lightens the manner of the prayer. Yes, this is the combining of the evidence. Yes.
Source
شرح كتاب المنتقى من أخبار المصطفى صلى الله عليه وسلم، بداية من باب ما جاء في قيام الليل — islamhouse.com (40:41)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.