The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not rebuke the Companions for adding to the talbiyah, so did they add to the tarawih without him rebuking them?

The questioner : We mention the virtueThe Shaykh : of some matters?

The Shaykh: Go ahead.

The questioner : In the Hajj of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) adhered to a specific talbiyah.

The Shaykh : Yes, by Allah.

The questioner : And the Companions used to add to it.

The Shaykh : Yes, by Allah.

The questioner : So he did not rebuke them.

The Shaykh : Yes, by Allah.

The questioner : There are also some indications in some hadiths...

The Shaykh : No, stick to this one.

The questioner : So that I can link this with that.

The Shaykh : It’s fine, each one has its answer.

The questioner : And just to clarify it a bit.

The Shaykh: All right, go ahead.

The questioner : The hadith of the one who stood in night prayer with ... went to complain to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) that this neighbor of mine has nothing but . I have not actually investigated the books of the Sunnah, but in my opinion, one should investigate: did the Companions also pray more than eleven rak'ahs during the lifetime of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) without the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) rebuking them? I am withThe Shaykh : with the virtue ofThe Shaykh : that the best is the action of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him).

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you with good.

The questioner : It should not be said that the addition is the best in any way. The thing the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) persisted in is the standard. But as the Shaykh al-Islam says, sometimes the lesser of two good things is the better for some considerations. As he says, the best dhikr is the Qur'an, but sometimes when the heart remembers Allah with tasbih and tahlil, it may soften more than when reciting the Qur'an, for some considerations. So if the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) saw the Companions adding to his talbiyah and did not rebuke them, is it also in the knowledge of the virtue ofThe Shaykh : or can it be investigated in the books of the Sunnah: did the Companions add to the number of the Messenger's (peace and blessings be upon him) night prayer without him rebuking them, which would indicate permissibility and point to permissibility?

The Shaykh : Are you finished?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : It was said long ago: "By its opposite, things become clear." Personally, if you had not come across this narration, what would your position be regarding the Prophetic talbiyah? Would you permit the addition?

The questioner : This is actually the subject of the discussion, meaning.

The Shaykh : Please, do not deviate from the answer.

The questioner : I do not deviate from the answer, but I am not settled in the answer regarding... I want to benefit.

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you with good, but I feel that you are making a distinction, so I hope you will correct my feeling or confirm it. I feel that you see that if this narration had not come to you, and you had only received that the Messenger was reciting the known talbiyah and that the Companions were reciting his talbiyah, you would not have thought of such a question. That is how I feel.

The questioner : No, that is not the case.

The Shaykh : Okay, so what is the case?

The questioner : The case is, this is a statement I read from Ibn Hazm, saying that the action of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)... I do not adopt it, but in truth, I am not settled in it with knowledge, and I want us to benefit with knowledge in this matter.

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you with good and bless you.

The questioner : Regarding what is the action of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), like... The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) never ate from a table, so does that mean it is not permissible for a person to eat? He never ate while reclining.

The Shaykh : We forgot the rule we agreed upon: distinguishing between worship and custom. Now we have strayed a bit!

The questioner : This is correct.

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you with good, one like you is a source of benefit.

The questioner : I seek forgiveness from Allah.

The Shaykh : So the rule we agreed upon, easily and praise be to Allah, or perhaps I erred in saying "we agreed," because this has a concept and I fear it, and the correct thing is to say "we were in agreement," is that not so?

The questioner : Yes, indeed, there is no doubt this is one of the great rules.

The Shaykh : May Allah bless you, where did we bring this rule from? Did we not bring it from our consideration of the guidance of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and what he left the Muslims with? So it is not permissible for us to add to what came to us from the religion and so on. And this is by way of reminder, because these are facts in which students of knowledge cannot differ. If you think about this rule, it provides the answer to all these questions. And from here I started when I said I think that if you had not come across that addition, your position in answering my question would be that it is not permissible, because the Messenger recited the talbiyah and performed Hajj only once. How is it permissible for a Muslim to add to his talbiyah? This addition is either good or bad, because it is worship. And the discussion of worship, and I repeat the topic, you see: if this addition is good, would not the Messenger clarify that to us, either by his saying, his doing, or his approval? So now our answer is very clear. Therefore, I distinguished between the narration you mentioned and what I assumed, which is that this narration does not exist. I said if this narration did not exist, you would say it is not permissible to add, because this is the original ruling. The original ruling in worship is prohibition unless there is a text. But when I found that narration, I submitted to it, and I submitted to it with you, because we are followers of transmission. At that time, we would say: from where did we take the permissibility of the addition in this specific recitation? From the approval of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). And his approval is known to be part of the Sunnah, so it became a proof. And on that basis, we say regarding the story of that Companion whose heart was filled with love for the surah : also, if this narration had not come, we would say it is not permissible to repeat like this, as long as the Messenger did not do it and did not approve it. But since he approved it, we approve it, because we are with the Sunnah in saying, doing, and approving. But here I want to draw your attention: what drove those Companions who complained about this Companion to the Messenger? Was it not the position we hold that it is not permissible to contradict the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)? So when the Messenger approved this imam and said: , the group who had rebuked him retreated before the approval of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him).