Why 20 Rakaats Taraweeh?

WHY IT IS TWENTY RAK’AATS TARAWEEH!

1. Rasullullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam performed eight Rak’aats Taraweeh for three days. Despite this, no one performs Taraweeh for only three nights though they may profess that they “do not follow the Imaams and only follow Ahaadeeth and Qur’aan.”

2. Rasullullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam ceased performing Taraweeh after three nights as he feared it would be made compulsory upon his Ummah.

3. Rasullullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam instructed the Ummah to follow the Sahaabah Radiallahu Anhum. “Whomsoever you follow of them, you will be rightly guided.”

4. Hadhrat Umar Radhiallahu Anhu finalised the system of twenty Rak’aats. All the Sahaabah accepted his decision.

5. For over one thousand four hundred years, twenty Rak’aats Taraweeh have been performed in all three Harams of Islam.

6. Could all the Sahaabah Radiallahu Anhum, all the Fuqaha, Muhadditheen and Auliya be wrong?  Could the entire Ummah be wrong for more than fourteen hundred years?

7. By performing twenty Ra’kaats, one is following the Sunnah of a Sahaabi about whom Rasullullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam said: “If there were to be a Nabi after me, it would have been Umar

(Radiallahu Anhu).”

Honouring the Ahkaam of Allah Ta’aala  –

A Unique incident

Hadhrat Moulana Maseehullah Rahmatullahi alayh narrated the following incident: A pious person saw a Hindu in a dream who had passed away. He was strolling in Jannah. When he inquired from the Hindu how it was possible for him to be in Jannah, the Hindu replied:

“Moments before passing away, my heart was simply overcome with the Love and Truth of Islam. Upon my demise, Allah Ta’aala informed me that I was blessed with Imaan because one day during the month of Ramadhaan I saw my son eating in front of fasting Muslims. I was extremely upset at this insensitivity and lack of shame and slapped him. “Don’t you know it is the month of Ramadaan?” I reprimanded him. Allah Ta’aala informed me that since I honoured His month, He honoured me with Imaan. I could not proclaim my Imaan on my deathbed. In the eyes of the World I died as a Hindu, but in Allah’s Eyes I was a Muslim. Thus I am in Jannah!”

Do not mock at Allah’s Laws. May Allah Ta’aala grant us all the Hidayat to honour all His Ahkaam from within the deepest recesses of our hearts. (Ameen)