Is it obligatory to lengthen the recitation in the Tarawih prayer?

The questioner : If you please, Shaykh, is the imam obligated to lengthen the recitation in the Tarawih prayer?

The Shaykh : Is the imam obligated to lengthen the recitation in the Tarawih prayer?

The questioner : Yes, yes.

The Shaykh : If by "obligated" you mean obligatory in the sense of a duty, the answer is clear that it is not obligatory. But if you mean is it prescribed for him? The answer is that it is prescribed. So which one do you mean?

The questioner : I mean if he reads two verses in the single rak'ah.

The Shaykh : I asked you and you did not answer me?

Another questioner : If you please, Shaykh, can I clarify his question?

The Shaykh : Do you allow him to clarify your question?

The questioner : Please go ahead.

The Shaykh : Okay

Another questioner : I am clarifying his question. The people here with us...

Another questioner : This is Yusuf.

The Shaykh : What Allah willed, may Allah cause him to grow up well...

Another questioner : O my master,The Shaykh : The people here get upset and annoyed with the imam who lengthens the recitation in the Tarawih prayer.

The Shaykh: Yes.

Another questioner : And some of them look forThe Shaykh : one who hurries and reads a verse or two, and finishes his prayer, in every rak'ah, okay? So now some of the sheikhs are publicizing about them, saying, "By Allah, this one lengthens it, and this one sits for nine hours, and so on." So the brother asked you the question so that you would issue a ruling for him: isThe Shaykh : the one who lengthens the prayer or the recitation, is his prayer valid, or is his prayer valid but what is the solution? He wants to please the people. The sheikhs want to please the people. So there are people who are pleased if he prays with them quickly, and there are people who are not pleased if he lengthens it. So he is in confusion?

The Shaykh : My answer was clear, my brother. Lengthening the recitation in the Tarawih prayer is a recommended practice (sunnah), but it is not an obligatory matter. In other words, if the imam reads only al-Fatihah in every rak'ah and does not add to it even one verse, his prayer is valid. But the Muslim, why does he pray the Tarawih prayer? Is it obligatory upon him? It is not obligatory upon him.

Another questioner : To draw near to Allah.

The Shaykh : And he draws near to Allah. Why do not these people you are talking about, who ask for the sheikhs who lighten the recitation, why do they not draw near to Allah by listening to the recitation of the Qur'an, even if it is, for example, five verses or six verses? Because these people attend, and I say, sorry, they attend and their hearts are not in the prayer. This is from one aspect. And from another aspect, they do not know how the prayer of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was when he was praying with the people. It came in a hadith of Abu Dharr in Sunan Abu Dawud that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) stood with them one night until they almost caught up with the success, meaning "Hayya 'ala al-salah, Hayya 'ala al-falah." And in the time of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, when they were praying the prayer of standing, meaning the Tarawih prayer, the imam would lengthen the recitation to the extent that some of the worshippers were forced to lean on sticks. And when the imam would finish the prayer of standing, the clever one among them, before he would reach his house, would hurry the servants and prepare for him the pre-dawn meal (suhur) before the dawn appeared. Where are we, my brothers, from those first ones? So you must reverse the issue. If you see an imam, without offense in the Syrian expression, who makes the prayer, meaning he hurries in it, and reads al-Fatihah quickly, and perhaps in one breath, in the manner of that Sufi, and then brings after al-Fatihah a short verse, even if it is and "Allahu Akbar," instead of saying to this imam, "My brothers, we did not understand anything from this prayer except that we bowed and prostrated and digested, but we did not hear anything from the recitation of the Qur'an," instead of saying to the imam who is hurrying the prayer of standing, "Lengthen the recitation a little and read a few long surahs, even if it is in two rak'ahs, so that we may be at ease with the words of Allah (Mighty and Majestic)," but the people, all the people, except whom Allah wills, and they are few, are in heedlessness, unaware. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) used to say: Today the people do not think that he wants to pray the standing prayer in order to attain the forgiveness of the Lord of the Worlds. No, it is as if he has a burden on his neck and he wants to put it down. It is not like this for the prayer of the one who does not want to pray the standing prayer with tranquility, bowing, humility, and recitation of the Qur'an. He prays the obligatory prayer according to the school of that Bedouin who came to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and asked him what Allah had made obligatory upon him? He said to him: The one who does not like the standing prayer to be long, and we say long means a little, or else we have not seen the long standing prayer until we have not seen it, but a little long for the other imams. The one who does not want this prayer to adopt the school of that Bedouin and pray the five prayers and rely on Allah, But do you think if we said to the congregation, "Let your school be according to the school of the Bedouin, or that desert dweller," the imam would not finish with them? Why? They do not want to pray the five prayers like that Bedouin? They are going to say, "My brother, you lengthened it in the Fajr prayer especially, you lengthened it." Okay, what is left for them to pray in the five prayers? If this one is shortened, and this one is shortened, then what is left for him is only a little, and very little. Therefore, when the Messenger said meaning the prayer that he was praying behind the Messenger, not the prayer that he is praying himself, So the Muslim must keep in mind that he wants to pray the Tarawih prayer following the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) first, and then perhaps Allah will forgive his sins. But by Allah, we catch up withThe Shaykh : the one whose recitation is lighter. This is not Islam at all. We pray the five prayers and that is it, as we said. Please.