What is the best practice in the tarawih prayer: eleven rak'ahs, thirteen rak'ahs, or twenty-three? And should the imam be followed in the twenty-three?

The questioner : This says: May Allah preserve and protect you, O honorable Shaykh. You mentioned that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not exceed eleven rak'ahs, but we see that some people perhaps pray thirteen rak'ahs. So what do you advise, may Allah preserve you, regarding doing this? And what is the best: thirteen, eleven, or twenty-three? And if the imam stands for twenty-three rak'ahs, do we stand with him, or do we limit ourselves to the Sunnah? I ask for clarification and explanation. May Allah guide you.

The Shaykh : As for the eleven rak'ahs, it is established in *Sahih al-Bukhari* and others . As for the thirteen rak'ahs, it is established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) in the hadith of Abdullah ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) when he stayed overnight at his aunt Maymunah’s house and counted the Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) prayer that night, and he prayed thirteen rak'ahs. Accordingly, both the eleven rak'ahs and the thirteen rak'ahs are from the Sunnah. As for if the imam exceeds this number, the Sunnah is to follow him, and a person should not lag behind in following him in order to obtain the reward of standing the night, as we indicated in our discussion of standing in night prayer, that if a person stands with the imam until he concludes, it is written for him as standing the night. And whoever concludes when the imam has completed ten rak'ahs and leaves, because he does not want to exceed eleven rak'ahs, has contradicted the guidance of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them). Indeed, the Companions followed Uthman ibn Affan when he increased the four-rak'ah prayer to four rak'ahs in Mina. The Sunnah in Mina is for a person to pray Dhuhr, Asr, and Isha as how many? Two rak'ahs, two rak'ahs. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) prayed that, and Abu Bakr prayed that, and Umar prayed that, and Uthman prayed that for eight years of the caliphate, then he prayed four. When that reached Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him), he said, "Indeed, to Allah we belong and to Him we return," and he considered it a calamity that Uthman departed from the guidance of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), Abu Bakr, and Umar, and from his own practice. And yet, he would pray four with Uthman, so as not to depart from the congregation. It was said to him, "O Abu Abd al-Rahman, how do you pray four with Uthman, while you are disapproving of him?" He said: , "Lagging behind in the prayer is worse." These brothers who think they are following the Sunnah are actually contradicting the Sunnah. The Sunnah is to follow the imam and not to leave until he leaves.