Solah al-Tarawih Prayer: How To Attain As Qiyam All Night.

Tarawih Prayer: How To Attain As Qiyam All Night.

The issue is if he concludes praying some raka’at of Tarawih with the first imam, instead following the next imam will the reward of praying qiyam all night be recorded for him as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), “Whoever prays with the imam until he concludes, Allah will record for him as if he spent the whole night in prayer” [ At-Tirmidzi ]

In some of the mosques, there are two or three imams who take turns in leading the ‘Isha’ prayer, Tarawih and witir. If a person prays with the first of imam for’ Isya’ and some of the Tarawih, will he be regarded as having prayed with the imam until he concludes it, and will he have the reward of praying qiyam all night be recorded for him?

In the name of Allāh, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful;

All the praise and Thanks are due to Allāh, the Lord of the al-ā’lamīn. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allāh, and that Muhammad, sallallāhu alayhi wa sallam, is His Messenger.

The reward for having prayed qiyam all night will not be recorded for him unless he offered all the prayers with all of them. If he leaves after the first or second imam finishes, and he does not complete the prayer with the third imam, then nothing will be recorded for him except what he prayed only.

The words of the Prophet  (sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam), “Whoever prays with the imam until he concludes, Allah will record for him as if he spent the whole night in prayer”[Narrated by al-Tirmidzi (806) and classified as sahih by Al-Albani in Sahih al-Tirmidzi]

 What is meant is encouragement not to leave before the prayers are completed, even if there is more than one imam.

Shaikh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked: Some people in Al-Masjid Al-Haram pray qiyam and not Tarawih on the grounds that they are following the Sunnah and not doing more than eleven raka’at. What is your opinion?

Shaikh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen replied: What I think is that a person should do both Tarawih and qiyam (tahajjud).On the other hand he should pray with the first imam until he finishes, and pray with the second imam until he concluded it, because having a number of imams in one place means that it is regarded the two imams are as one imam, the second imam is regarded as representing the first imam continuing in the later prayers.

What I think in this case is that one should stay and pray with both the first and second imams so that he will be included in the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): “Whoever stands (and prays) with the imam until he finishes, Allah will record for him (a reward) as if he spent the whole night in prayer.”

[Majmu’ Fatawa Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (14/190)].

He also said: If there are two imams in one mosque, should they be regarded as separate or is one the deputy of the other?

It seems that the second option is correct, that one of them is the deputy of the other and completes (the prayer) on his behalf. Based on this, if two imams pray in the mosque, then these two imams are to be regarded as if there was one imam, so a person should stay until the second imam finishes, because we know that the second one is completing the prayer of the first one.

[Majmu’ Fatawa Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (14/207)].

And Allah knows best

[Excerpted from Islam QA]