Originally published on Jun 25, 2016 by www.MasjidalWahyain.com
The Difference
Between Tarāwīḥ And Qiyām Al-Layl | Shaykh Muḥammad
Ibn Ṣāliḥ
Al-ʿUthaymīn
The Questioner: May
Allāh bless you. He has another question, this listener who referred to his
name with the letters ʿayn
mīm; he says which will receive more reward, the Qiyām al-Layl prayer or the
Tarāwīḥ prayer? And will the Qiyām al-Layl
prayer not be considered valid unless an individual goes to sleep and then
wakes up? And are there different characteristics in the Qiyām al-Layl prayer
that differ from the Tarāwīḥ prayer and
should it be prayed two by two with the final unit of prayer being one; please
benefit us in this regard?
Shaykh Muḥammad
ibn Ṣāliḥ
al-ʿUthaymīn:
“This questioner believes that there is a difference between Tarāwīḥ
and Qiyām al-Layl. In reality, there is no difference between them both so
Tarāwīḥ is considered from the night prayer
(Qiyām al-Layl) and it is for this reason that we consider the Muslims to be
establishing Qiyām al-Layl from the very first night of Ramaḍān.
And the statement of the Prophet ﷺ: ‘Whoever stands up for the night prayer in Ramaḍān
out of true faith and seeking Allāh's pleasure, whatever has preceded from his
sins will be forgiven.’ This includes Tarāwīḥ
since it is considered from the night prayer (Qiyām al-Layl) without a doubt.
However,
what has become customary among the people is that the prayer in which the
recitation, bowing and prostration has been lengthened is considered the night
prayer (Qiyām al-Layl) whereas whatever involves less than that is considered
Tarāwīḥ. This is an understanding based upon
customs and this understanding is not based upon the legislation of Islām.
Rather, the understanding supported by the Islāmic legislation is that Qiyām
al-Layl and Tarāwīḥ are the same. They
are both considered to be prayer which is performed at night, however the Qiyām
al-Layl is well-known among the people to involve lengthening the bowing and
prostration because it usually occurs at the end of the night.
And the end of the night is an appropriate time for the lengthening of the prayer in order to enable the people to supplicate for whatever they wish for since the end of the night is time when supplications are answered according to the statement of the Prophet ﷺ: ‘Our Lord
descends to the heavens of this world during the last third of the night when
He says: ‘Who will call upon Me so that I might respond to him? Who will ask of
Me so that I might give to him? Who might seek My forgiveness so that I might
give it to him until the appearance of Fajr?’
And
[as for] the statement of the questioner, does the night prayer (Qiyām al-Layl)
only occur after sleeping? We say that this question is based upon what has
preceded; since the questioner thinks that there is a difference between Tarāwīḥ
and Qiyām al-Layl. So then if we had said that Qiyām al-Layl is the night
prayer and that it includes Tarāwīḥ
then we wouldn't have received this question’”
Translated By:
Abul-Layth Qāsim Mutiva
