Answered below with in light of the Quran and Sunnah.
please do not answer here based on subjective views, answer with proper objectivity.
The sheikh below is a well known write for Jammayatul Ulema of Canada.
Re: Taraweeh 8 or 20?
obviously from a suporter of 20 rakaat tarawih....
u'll get a different picture once u read an article from a supporter of 8 rakaat....
i persoanlly think that if they pray 20 tarawih in Makkah, and in Madinah, why dont others pray 20 as well....
in Bahrain, most of the mosques pray eight....
some who wish to do "khatam" (i.e. finish the whole Quran in tarawih) pray 20....
and there r mosques that pray 10 as well (and 3 witr to make it total 13)....
they all derive that from ahadith....
i think best to follow the imam u r praying behind....
and besides its not obligatory so doesnt matter how many u pray....
Re: Taraweeh 8 or 20?
also, the sheikh who wrote the article might be well known, but does he seriously challenge the popularity of syed albani????
albani is perhaps the most highly ranked scholar of the last century....
Re: Taraweeh 8 or 20?
^ To reply so quickly without reading.
Please read the whole article. Till the end.
There is not ONE place where he has not given proof.
The article is analysing his book, giving proof of his fault, and letting the reader decide in an unbiased way.
Please Please Please...read the article before posting.
Thank you, all you questions are answered there, Its LONG but INFORMATIVE, and CORRECT from every angle.
Re: Taraweeh 8 or 20?
i've read it all....
and as i told u, if u read a similar article from a supporter of 8 tarawihs, u will see that he will give u proof for every thing he says and will support if with hadith....
he will classify the reporters of 20 rakaat as weak and show how the narrations of 8 rakaats can be proven from different chains....
Re: Taraweeh 8 or 20?
Sorry for being blunt but it will be a waste of time and pretty stupid to read that mile long article for something that trival ( 8 or 20 )
Even the if the noble scholar write the article ten time longer it would still not change the reality that Traweeh prayers are NOT obligatory ! but they are highly recommended
So if something is not compulsary than why so much fuss about the numbers ? those who want to earn reward should pray more those who are busy can opt for lesser number ! Allah knows about everyone
I hate to say that Islam is so Simple and easy but these oh so holy scholars are hell bent on making it difficult.
Re: Taraweeh 8 or 20?
Code Red, Taraweeh is not just “highly recommended” its a SUNNAH MUAKADAH, it is no different than the 2 rakats before fajr etc.
So you cannot read it at your own will…we can’t introduce NEW things and ideologies into our deen, Allah has stated in the Quran, that with the coming of the Prophet pbuh, your deen has been COMPLETED for you, so why introduce these new ideologies?
Please refer to the views of many scholars below.
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“Taraweeh is a Sunnah Mu`akkadah salah, not just a nafl salah and thus there is a set number of Rakaats for it, just as the number of Rakaats are set for other Sunnah Muakadah salaat eg. 2 before fajr, 2 after Zuhr, 4 before Zuhr etc.”
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“While ibn Taymiyyah is of the view that no amount has been stipulated, there exists ijmaa of the Ummah that taraweeh is not less then 20 rakaats. From the time of Umar(RA) until the fitnah of not following a mazhab(Salafism/Wahabism etc) started (Approx.. 2 hundred years ago), there was no masjid in the world were less than 20 rakaats of Taraweeh was performed. This was the practice of the Ummah for about 1200 years.”
http://www.islam.tc/ask-imam/view.php?q=10126
http://www.islamonline.net/livefatwa/english/Browse.asp?hGuestID=8J03fV
http://www.jamiat.org.za/isinfo/hafiz3.html
http://www.ualr.edu/ammughal/taraweeh.html
http://www.intisaarul.netfirms.com/al-farouq_newsletter_ramadaan_issue.htm
Re: Taraweeh 8 or 20?
and what before Umar (ra)????
Re: Taraweeh 8 or 20?
Bhai merey ! sunnah muakadah actually means highly recommended prayers in Islam. 
You are playing on a very weak ground my brother. The deen was completed on Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh). The taraweeh offering in congression in masjid regularly during 30 days of Ramzan was infact a new ideology by Hazrat Umar (ra)
In his own words Hazrat Umar (ra) said that offering Taraweeh This way is a good Biddah (innovation)
Say what … Time for reality check ?
Re: Taraweeh 8 or 20?
To the best of my knowledge, taraweeh was also led by Prophet Muhammad (SAW). However, it wasn't done on a regular basis, as he (SAW) feared that it could be legislated as an obligatory set of prayer.
Taraweeh is a form of volunteer salah. Those who offer it will get rewarded, insha'Allah and those who ignore it will not be sinned for it, insha'Allah.
Re: Taraweeh 8 or 20?
Hey guys, I have seen people in Mecca pray 2witr seperately from 1witr. I saw Imam read 2witr and make dua during 2nd rakaat. what happened to the 3rd?
Re: Taraweeh 8 or 20?
I think they make duaa in the last rakah that they pray separately. I believe there are two valid methods of offering witr salah. Some combine all 3, while others read 2 and then 1 rakah.
Also, witr is in odd numbers. Therefore, I believe there are people who pray more than 3 rakah of witr salah.
Re: Taraweeh 8 or 20?
It is such a shame when people insist that taraweeh MUST BE PRAYED and it is SO important... dont you even realize that you're going against what the Prophet (saws) himself said, when he didn't pray taraweeh after those 2-3 days?.. and how many people will be pushed away just cuz of the insistance that it MUST be 20 raka'ah or nothing- even in an optional prayer.
Crescent, let me tell you that you're being fooled by some very extremist people.. there is no ijmah.. Imaam Shafi himself said that if someone prays 8 raka'ah, then that is beloved to me because it has lengthy standing in each raka'ah.. and if someone prays 20 raka'ah then that is beloved to me because of the # of raka'ah.. something to that effect.
Now since you insist that it is so important, kindly show me the proofs from the Quran/Sunnah which attest to its importance (its importance to the level you're stressing)...
Once you've established that, only then can we say that it must be prayed in a specified number, cuz other than that, its just a nafl salah..
Re: Taraweeh 8 or 20?
I don’t understand why you guys always have to take religion thread to this point where you must post such comments, its not a contest, please understand that, its your religion you’re playing with. WIth less comments like your last lines, inshallah we can get some more people visiting this forum.
I never said in any of my posts, if you don’t pray TARAWEEH you’re bound for hell.
So Ammarr, I don’t understand where you’re getting the idea from that I’m forcing you to pray. Trust me, If anyone is under an extremist gathering…its definitely not me.
The discussion is not on obligatory or not, (I replied to the thread of Code read) There are different levels of Sunnah Muakadah, and Highly recommended prayers wasn’t the right definition for me, Thats all. And I wanted to clearify to him that it is a sunnah muakadah.
Secondly, refer to this following hadith.
“So adhere to my practice and the practice of the Rightly Guided Successors. Hold fast to it, bite on to it with your teeth and beware of novel matters because every novel matter is an innovation and every innovation is an act of misguidance!”
The Prophet pbuh himself never attested to the number of the taraweeh salah, neither did he make it obligatory upon us, but he had said that the practice of my righty guided successors is part of my sunnah. From which we can deduct to 20, and to how its performed.
Allah knows best,
Sorry for any misunderstandings.
But please do give some reading to the article, before posting.
Re: Taraweeh 8 or 20?
Bhai log,
Aadha ramzaan guzr giya, abhi yehi decide nahi hua ke taraweeh 8 hein ke 20?
Crescent uncle, your argument (and by reference the argument of the scholars you are quoting) is pretty weak. There are different levels of sunnat-e-muakadah??? And more importantly, when did Taraweeh (especially ba-jamaat) became sunnat-e-muakadda? Kuch khuda ka khauf karo, yaar!!! Anyway, my considered opinion, after considerable research is this.
Re: Taraweeh 8 or 20?
Faisal bhaii, its an established fact everywhere that Taraweeh is sunnat-e muakadah.
Read it or not, is up to you, To my knowledge, you do not get sinned, but benefit in thawab.
Re: Taraweeh 8 or 20?
Crescent bhai you have made your point and so did others. Now I don't understand why the person who prays 20 so bent to have others pray 20 and the person who prays 8 or 4 or less is so bent to have others pray less than 20?
You made your point and spread the word thats all you were suppose to do, you are not to make sure everyone prays 20. Let them pray as many as they want to it will not change anything infect it will make more fuss so I would suggest you to just let it go.
This is what most destroys Islam by forcing people to follow. Bhai let them follow as they want its betwen them and Allah your respoinsibility is ONLY to let them know. Thats all.
Re: Taraweeh 8 or 20?
^ the thing is to accept "difference in opinion"....
from 1400 years scholars r divided in opinion over the number of rakaats, and if they differ in opinion, it means things r not clear, and hence under such conditions u follow what ur heart thinks is right and what u think is more convincing to u (just like where to hold hands during prayer issue)....
Re: Taraweeh 8 or 20?
brother you need the reality check. please refer to the follwing posts. There is no good bidah in Islaaam.
http://www.paklinks.com/gs/showthread.php?t=190964&highlight=bidah
Re: Taraweeh 8 or 20?
That seems to be yet another “difference of opinion” in Islam. Accept the difference, and lets move on.