The Meaning of Aisha’s Hadith Regarding the Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) Prayer of Four, Then Four

The questioner : This is a question asking: What is the meaning of Aisha’s (may Allah be pleased with her) statement that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) the hadith. This is the first part.

The Shaykh : Its meaning is clear: the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) used to pray eight rak'ahs, but he would separate them. He would pray four, lengthening them and perfecting them in recitation, bowing, prostration, standing, and sitting, then he would pause briefly, then pray four. For this reason, the Salaf (may Allah have mercy on them) used to pray tarawih this way: they would pray four rak'ahs, then sit for a while to rest, then resume the prayer. This is why it is called tarawih, from the word for rest, because they rested after every four rak'ahs. The apparent meaning of her hadith, that he prays four, is that he combines the four.
This is possible, but this possibility is among the ambiguous (mutashabih) that must be interpreted according to the clear (muhkam). The clear is the statement of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) And on this basis, it is four, but in pairs of two; he says the taslim after two rak'ahs. The benefit of mentioning the four is that these four were not separated by a break like the break between them and the remaining four.