People are enthusiastic about the quantity, not the quality, in the tarawih prayers

The Shaykh : Now, those who are enthusiastic about the twenty-three rak'ahs have become heedless of this self-evident legal reality: that the best is what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did. The best is what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) persisted in throughout his blessed life. There is absolutely no doubt about this. Why has this reality been forgotten? First, it is the prevailing custom, and second, it is the following of desires. And here is the crux of the matter, as they say in this phrase of mine. I say, on this occasion, that people today are enthusiastic about the quantity and not at all enthusiastic about the quality. They take from the narration they rely on to support their numerical reality—twenty-three rak'ahs—rather than the quality. This is the sunnah of 'Umar and and so on. Well, in the time of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, those who were praying twenty-three rak'ahs, how was their prayer? No one looks into this. How? No one looks into this. How? One of them would lean on a stick because of the length of the standing. They would hurry the servants because of the length of the standing, before the dawn appeared: "Oh, oh, prepare the suhur, the dawn is about to break." And we? We do twenty-three rak'ahs in twenty-three minutes. Why the insistence on the number without what? The quality. If they were to be fair in their research, they would say, "By Allah, this is a reality that cannot be argued with. Just as we insist on the quantity, we must insist on the quality." But I will also say another reality: we are with them in that we cannot do it. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), as we all know, his prayer and recitation in the standing were long, and very long indeed. And the story of Ibn Mas'ud that was reported in the two Sahihs: that he followed the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) at night, so he prolonged the standing and prolonged the standing until I was on the verge of doing something bad. They asked him, "What were you on the verge of doing?" He said, "That I would leave him standing and sit down..."

The questioner : Ibn Mas'ud or Ibn 'Abbas?

The Shaykh : No, Ibn Mas'ud. This is "That I would leave him standing and sit down." The second story is Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman. He followed the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) at night, in common parlance, and in the way of exaggeration to awaken hearts: when the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) began Surat al-Baqarah, his heart sank. Yes, Surat al-Baqarah. But he consoled himself, thinking, "Why not reach a hundred verses and bow and rest?" He said, "So he continued." There, at the two hundred, he said, "So he continued." He finished al-Baqarah and began Al 'Imran, and he surrendered himself to the divine decree. He no longer said, "Four of the long surahs in one rak'ah: al-Baqarah, Al 'Imran, al-Ma'idah, and back to al-Nisa' in one rak'ah, one standing." But the bowing was close to his standing, and his second standing was close to his bowing, and so on. This is something we cannot do, without a doubt. We barely... The conclusion, but we must not forget a poetic wisdom:
"So imitate them, if you are not like them *** For imitating the noble ones is success"
The Shaykh : And there is no one more noble than the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) for all Muslims. If that is the case, my brothers, fear Allah. We are praying twenty-three rak'ahs. The good ones among you do it in one hour. Well, in one hour, pray thirteen, just as the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed, so that the recitation in it is measured and the bowing and prostration have tranquility, close, somewhat close, to what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did. Keep the number twenty-three, and these are, as I said about that man, bankrupt. He said, "Did you call us bankrupt?"

Another questioner : Bankrupt.

The Shaykh : Bankrupt. By Allah, we hope that Allah the Exalted and Majestic will allow us to approximate the prayer of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) in both how and what. And there is no doubt that maintaining the quantity is easier than maintaining the quality. Therefore, you find these people do not know of the tarawih prayer except what? Only the quantity. No, add to it the quality. The quality. Then you will find yourselves compelled to return to the sunnah, and then his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) in a hadith not on this occasion will be true of them: We know that we reached this age, and there was no one in Syria who prayed tarawih eleven rak'ahs, nor in Jordan. But now, by the will of Allah, many mosques, even those of the madhahib, have realized that this is the sunnah, my brother, and it is more worthy of adherence, religiously first, and then for the comfort of the body second.

Another questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : That is it.
Abu Malik : A woman called me in Ramadan, and she is, I mean, from

The Shaykh : the committed women
Abu Malik : the committed women and from the da'iyah (female callers to Islam). She said to me that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: This is, of course, a general hadith. So as long as the night prayer is in pairs, meaning if one exceeds eight, ten, or twenty, is there no harm?

The Shaykh: Yes.
Abu Malik : I told her, "It is true, we cannot say no." But I, of course, think she hinted at the hadith of 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him).

The Shaykh : Twenty-three rak'ahs.
Abu Malik : Yes. I said to her, "Well, I am now asking you a question. 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), Abu Bakr, and the rest of the Companions, and the mosque that was crowded on the days when he (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed, how many rak'ahs were they praying with the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)? Did the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), who is the one who said, or A'ishah said, "The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not exceed eleven rak'ahs," did they pray with him more than eleven rak'ahs?" She said, "No." I said to her, "Well, since that is the case, do you think that someone like 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) or Abu Bakr or others would contradict, after his death, the excellence they followed in his life with him?" This is absolutely inconceivable.

The Shaykh: Yes.
Abu Malik : So the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): This is not in its absolute generality, but rather in the form and state in which the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) used to pray.

The Shaykh : Without a doubt.
Abu Malik : And therefore, it does not occur to any Muslim at all that these Companions prayed with him (peace and blessings be upon him) this wonderful, illuminating, and great prayer in which their feet would become weary and their bodies would nearly collapse. I do not think they did so. Rather, I am certain and I say, I swear by Allah, they did not do anything but eight.