Taraveh, Good or Bad??? Options

[aflatoon_me_?]

Ramadan is on its way.... I thought it is the best time to ask this question.

Why is that we have thousands of people in mosque for Taraveh, and only handful of them in Fajr Prayer?

Now from what I understand, Fajr prayers are Farz, while Taraveh is Sunnah. Why we prefer Sunnah over something that is Farz? Do we do it because Taravehs are part of culture, and not because they are part of Islam(meaning since everyone is doing it, lets do it)?

[Morg]

tarawee is a part of islam, sorry to say i forgot why we pray taraweeh couse last year i got a lession in why taraweeh is important as sunnah more than farz...

[evolution_0007]

Well its a sunnat so not more than farz ,MORQ BHAI

[aflatoon_me_?]

Its definately a sunnah, so it cannot be more important than Farz. Are we trying to do somekind of shortcut in Islam by doing more of Sunnah in Ramadan assuming that the sawab will eventually will be more than a Farz?

[Zuq]

taraweeh is nafl and is not mandatory, actually quran was revealed in ramzan so is good to read it once completely or atleast as much as u can so it was brought into culturte as at that time not many people were literate so in taraweeh ususally a hafiz performs leadership so in this way people listen the whole quran in 30 days in piecemeal.but since in pak our mother tongue is not arabic so its just nawafil .
it was prescribed in time of hazrat umar(ra), however hazoor(pbuh) performed sometimes in the evening but mostly in morning before dawn in 8 or 20 rakats.in 8 rakats hafiz goes for lengthy qiyam and in 20 piecemeal

[Morg]

thanx for the info
but it is prayed all thrue the ramadan and the whole of quran is finished in the month of ramadan, by reciting tarweehs.

[Zuq]

yep every day right form the evening the moon is sighted till before the sighting of shawal moon

[Morg]

i think its nice that we are given a month where we can pray behind a imam who recite the quran. and all are together to listen it.

[aflatoon_me_?]

I think, that we have taken things a little off the line. We were supposed to read quran not just for the sake of reading it, but to understand it, and take the advice from it.

Culturally we have taken this habbit of reading it assuming that we will benefit from it(not that i am arguing that we should stop reading it). But I think reading and not understanding it just useless(again, its my opinion). I cannot remember the name, but one of Prophet's(PBUH) sahabi took two and half year to read Sura-e-Baqra. In that two and half year, he did not read any other part of Quran.

Listening to Quran seems like a nie idea, but if you do not understand what Imam is saying, its just like standing there for no reason. You are better of reciting two to three ayas from Quran and pray at home, but you need to know what you are reciting.

[Zuq]

an wample from hadith: there was a religious sermon going on in a mosque and a man sat in a mosque just for rest. So at the end of the day the angels went to GOD and narrated that so and so was sitting there and we have entered there names for swab but one man was sitting just for rest so what should we do it for him so GOD said write his name in swab list too, angels said he was just resting but GOD said he was in pious company so atleast some good went to his ear so list him. The moral is just by standing and listening no matter he or she doesnt understand an iota. Also its said that in start even simple rote in prostrations lead to spirituality in due course of time.

[lust86]

how about...mayb those ppl jus prefer praying fajr at home... ...wheras taraveeh's like a whole family thing now..i mean atleast from the mosque's ive been 2 in ramadan..i always see the whole family usualy comes 2 the mosque 2 pray taravee...

[aflatoon_me_?]

Zuq-- I agree with you that keeping the good company eventually brings good to you, but prefering Sunnah on Farz is not what we want to do. You cannot argue with God that I missed what is Farz because I was busy in doing something Sunnah. You will get the reward for performing a Sunnah, but what kind of reward you think you are missing by not performing a Farz prayer.

From where I see, if you are doing taraveh just because everyone is doing it around you, and you are missing a Farz namaz, then you are at loss.

[lust86]

yeh i agree wit u entirely..but woodju consider wat i sed too...cuz mayb thaz all it is..

[LuXoR]

(...) Do we do it because Taravehs are part of culture, and not because they are part of Islam(meaning since everyone is doing it, lets do it)?

Taraveeh Prayer has its roots deriven from Islam, not Culture. Furthermore, Taraveeh prayer is not merely a Nafl Salaah, rather, it is classified as Sunnah Muakadah (in other words, it's structured with a set # of rakats; such as two prior to Fajr, etc.).

Nabbi (saws) did not make it a trait to perform Taraveeh prayer in the Masjid in order to avoid for people to adopt it as compulsory, so he performed it at his mukataf. So his total official Taraveeh recittations are counted as 3, i believe. Also, Taraveeh is no less than 20 rakats. (see Musannaf ibn Abi Shaybah)

Last but not least, i personally agree with you that it's silly to miss Fardh Salaah, in fact -perhaps- Gunnah to do so intentionally, whilst attempting to make it up through Taraveeh.

On the day of Judgement, Allah will ask the Angels to recall our Fardh Salaats. Should they fall short, Allah ta'ala will then ask the Angels to cover he missed Fardh Salaahs with Sunnah Salaahs. Should we still fall short, Nafl Salaahs will then make it up... if at all. So every single Salaah is truly a blessing...

[Ali_9mm]

Ramadan is on its way.... I thought it is the best time to ask this question.

Why is that we have thousands of people in mosque for Taraveh, and only handful of them in Fajr Prayer?

Now from what I understand, Fajr prayers are Farz, while Taraveh is Sunnah. Why we prefer Sunnah over something that is Farz? Do we do it because Taravehs are part of culture, and not because they are part of Islam(meaning since everyone is doing it, lets do it)?

they are just time passing..............fajer is much more important

[Morg]

hm here is what we do in our masjid

we pray isha and then tarawee before the 3witrs, and then after tarawee we pray three witr behind the imam and then 2 nafals at last. we dont miss out anything farz in here. couse isha is lasted loooong in the night

[Ali_9mm]

Hadhrath Umar introduce Tarawih prayers in congregation, three divorce utterances in one sitting and the formula 'Prayer is better than Sleep' in the Fajr Adhan? What right did he have to substitute Allah (swt)'s orders in favour of his own?

[Morg]

eh ^^ you mean he took a wrong decition?

[PakistaniMunda]

On the day of Judgement, Allah will ask the Angels to recall our Fardh Salaats. Should they fall short, Allah ta'ala will then ask the Angels to cover he missed Fardh Salaahs with Sunnah Salaahs. Should we still fall short, Nafl Salaahs will then make it up... if at all. So every single Salaah is truly a blessing

For the past 10 weeks I've only been praying Farz namaz

[LuXoR]

Dear Ali,

this is one of the many times i am noticing a critical statement towards Sunnism from you. Just beware, Shia-Sunni debates are disallowed here.

To address your question, Hazrat Umer (ra) merely introduced Taraveeh Prayer in the Congregation, like you said, and *not* the concept of Taraveeh prayer per say- which was a Sunnah of the Prophet! Also, he did *not* make the Taraveeh prayer compulsory, but left it at a Sunnah, right!? Furthermore, reciting Namaz in a Jamaat yields always more Thawaab, correct?

I can't comment much on the 3-setting-divorce issue because i am not learned on it, however, it sounds reasonable to me, for uttering "talaaq" three times in a row requires for someone to be *sane* while they're saying it!

And what's wrong with saying "Prayer is Better than Sleep" in the Fajr Adhaan!? Dude, Salaah is *meant* to be a primary task.

This post has been edited by LuXoR: Oct 5 2004, 10:30 AM

[LuXoR]

PakistaniMunda-

Fardh may be compulsory, but leaving out Sunnat Salaah intentionally, although you have time to recite it, is not good at all, for Sunnah is a blessing that directly lays with the Prophet (saws).

Hey, you're still breathing, you can always straighten up!

This post has been edited by LuXoR: Oct 5 2004, 12:13 PM

[aflatoon_me_?]

Guys, please hold your horses..... No need to fight about what Sahabs did, and why they did it. If you need to find those answers, you need to go to some Scholar.

We are discussing a very common practise that is being done in our society.i.e. Taraveh. Althoug its the Sunnah of Prophet(pbuh), but my opinion is that it is being done as part of culture as opposed to the real meaning of what it was meant to be.

[LuXoR]

Taraveeh is common not only among people from the Sub-Continent, but also among Arabs. As i understand it, you mean to say that Taraveeh is adopted as a standard during Ramadhan, and that makes it culture-bound, no?

I think there's no harm in reciting Taraveeh prayer at all, in fact, it is Thawaab, but i do not agree with putting Taraveeh prayer over Fardh Salaah. Fardh is compulsory, Taraveeh is not.

[PakistaniMunda]

OK this has been bothering me

Fardh

Pronounced Farz but why do we write it with a dh

Thawaab

Pronounces Sawaab but why do we write th

Hey, you're still breathing, you can always straighten up!

Maghrib starts in 1/2 hour

[LuXoR]

Put the Roman Translit aside right now, and recall how each is written in Arabic. "Farz" is the Urdu version while "Fardh" would be the actual arabic. It is originally pronounced like "the" in english... henceforth: "Fardh" (disregard the 'd') ...and same goes for "Thawaab" ... recall Arabic Alphabet: Alif, Ba', Ta', Tha' ... << it's "Tha" (a very light version of "the" from english) and not "Sa".

[Mundapaki786]

I Heard Taravah is Sunaat Mukidaah (sorry for the wrong spelling) means we shouldnt' miss it
and the question is why people go for taraveh and not for farz so i asked many of my friendz why they do it they said because it fulfills your one Quran thats why and i asked them about farz but they just ignore me like i m some crazy person

This post has been edited by Mundapaki786: Oct 5 2004, 04:39 PM

[aflatoon_me_?]

I get the same attitude from my friends... enen elders... No one seems to know the answer to this.... either they do not want to admit it that they are wrong, or they just hoping that somehow the sawab for Taraveh will be enough to make up for the lost Farz namaz.....

[proud pakistani]

well personaly i never heard from anybody in my life that sunnah has any prior to faraz .
and ther is no doubt faraz are first+sunnah muhakdha.
and i learned that all five prayers are same but fajar is some how most .
aflatoon_me? i don,t know why are you pushing more on this topic i mean
about taraveh and fajar prayer
i think this is the way of your preaching, if so i like it.

[Zuq]

farz is basic or minimum to be muslim however as there are levels in world people strive and get netter ewards so is the case sunnah/nawafil are all to achieve further nearness to GOD. eg in quran sura bani israel GOD says perform tahajud so that GOD elevate the performer to level of mahmood now thajud is not farz also eg hazoor(pbuh) once came to her daughters house and saw they getting up at fajr and asked about tahjud and they said we have'nt said so he(pbuh)said to his son-in-law and daughter that perform tahajud as well.Now this was an advice for nawafil rather than farz had it been fajr he(pbuh) would have admonished them.
Taraveeh was mostly performed by hazoor(pbuh) at home before fajr

[aflatoon_me_?]

Zuq, I think you are confusing us here a little..... Prophet(pbuh) in your example asked his daughter and son in law to do tahjud, but he did not stop them from farz namaz. It was an advice that they should also do tahajud, as the more you pray more rewards you get, but leaving Farz and stressing on Nawafil will not get you anywhere...

I agree with you that Prophet(pbuh) performed most of taraveh prayers at home. If I remember correctly, he performed it with Jamaat only three times.