The Response to Those Who Understand the Statement of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him)

The Shaykh: Likewise, the one who says: 'Umar ibn al-Khattab said, “What a good innovation this is,” and then does not look at the hadiths that came one after another condemning religious innovation absolutely, and does not pay any attention to them at all, and stops at 'Umar’s statement, “What a good innovation this is,” and moreover, he does not understand 'Umar’s word as 'Umar intended it; that is because this word was said on a specific occasion. If the one who uses it as evidence for permitting some of the newly invented matters had studied the occasion on which 'Umar said this word, he would not have dared to use it as evidence for the permissibility of celebrating the night of the middle of Sha'ban, or the night of the twenty-seventh of Rajab, or celebrating the Mawlid, or anything else. That is because, first of all, 'Umar does not mean by “innovation” here religious innovation, but rather linguistic innovation; that is: “What a good occurrence this is.” And what does he mean by “occurrence”? It is not like a celebration; he means the prayer of tarawih. So how did he bring the prayer of tarawih to a celebration? The prayer of tarawih, first of all, existed, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) clarified its prescribed nature and its status as a recommended practice by his action and his speech. So 'Umar does not mean that the prayer of tarawih is an innovation in the religion, nor does he mean that the prayer of tarawih is an innovation in worldly affairs; he does not mean any of this at all. Rather, he means: “What a good action this is that occurred just now” — meaning in the time of 'Umar — where they revived by this action a recommended practice of worship that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) established by his action and supported by his speech. You all know that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) went out in the last Ramadan of his life (peace and blessings be upon him) on some nights to the mosque and prayed standing, so some of the Companions who were in the mosque followed him. During the day, the news spread among the Companions that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) had prayed the night prayer in congregation in the mosque the previous night. So the worshippers increased on the second night, and the Messenger went out and prayed, and they followed him. And so it was on the third night, and on the second night the mosque was crowded with worshippers.

The questioner: ... this prayer of tarawih?

The Shaykh: It is the night prayer, the prayer of tarawih. The night prayer, as we all know, is prescribed on every night of the year, but it is a jurisprudential convention that the night prayer in Ramadan is called tarawih. As for it in the books of knowledge, it is the night prayer, the prayer of Ramadan, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , and , and . So the prayer of Ramadan is the legal term, and the prayer of tarawih is a jurisprudential convention, and there is no objection to it.
The point is: On the fourth night, the Companions gathered as they had on the third night, and they waited for the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) to come out, but he did not come out. Some of those with narrow hearts were distressed and could not bear it, so they began to throw stones at the door, assuming that the Messenger was sleeping, but he was not sleeping. Therefore, he came out angry and said: . And from that night on, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not pray the night prayer of Ramadan for the rest of that year’s Ramadan, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) did not reach the second Ramadan; he passed away, as you know, in Rabi' al-Awwal.
Then Abu Bakr al-Siddiq came after him, and his caliphate was two and a half years, and the people were praying individually, and some of them were praying in groups of four or five, here four or five, there in groups and individually. When Abu Bakr al-Siddiq passed away and the caliphate of 'Umar came, he went out one night as was his custom to check, and he saw this scene and it pleased him: people in groups and people individually scattered about. He said: “If we gathered them behind one imam.” Then it occurred to him to gather them, and he ordered Ubayy ibn Ka'b to lead the people in prayer. The first night he went out to check and this scene pleased him: all the Muslims praying behind one imam. So he said: “What a good innovation this is, and the one in which they sleep is better.” Who understands from 'Umar’s statement, “What a good innovation this is,” that he means worldly innovation? Or the one you translated as “vital,” an expression, names; . Who understands from 'Umar’s statement, “What a good innovation this is,” that he means introducing something that has absolutely no basis in the religion? But it is not a pure act of worship like celebrating, for example, the night of the Isra and Mi'raj, or anything else? 'Umar means here: “What a good innovation,” that is: what a good revival they revived with the prescribed recommended practice. For the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) stood for three nights in Ramadan, and he did not leave that except out of fear that they would assume, by the Messenger’s (peace and blessings be upon him) persistence in praying with them in congregation, that it was an obligation like the fasting of Ramadan. And I mentioned earlier that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) prescribed the standing by his speech, so he said in some of the authentic hadiths that he: . So the prayer of tarawih is a recommended practice by his (peace and blessings be upon him) action and by his speech.