Ma sha Allah, we are humbled and excited to introduce to you our Question and Answer series on religious queries on this blog.

Queries are answered by Ustaz Dr Muhammad Haniff Hassan. They were originally published on his Facebook and website. The original queries and their respective answers are edited for style and clarity and then translated from Malay to English. Both English and Malay content are published together to maximise its reach.

We hope that the general Muslim public will be gain some benefit and knowledge from this series, which we hope to publish at least twice a month, God willing.

In light of Ramadhan, the first post is related to one of the sunnahs of the Holy Month: solat tarawih. Let’s get to the first Q&A!

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Republished from Ustaz Haniff’s Facebook with his kind permission. Edited by Perdaus and translated by Azma Abu Basri.

Ask Ustaz Haniff #1: Tarawih and Witr

Query:

My relative still has doubts on the number of rakaat of tarawih prayers and about performing witr prayers. He is of the opinion that it is not necessary to perform the witr after tarawih. I truly hope you could give me a very clear explanation from an Ustaz (on this matter) so that I could inform him.

Response:

On rakaats of tarawih

None of the religious scholars would dismiss the tarawih prayers even if they were two, four or six rakaats, nor would they rule the prayers invalid, nor unworthy of reward.

In fact, for the general masses, it is also acceptable to perform only two rakaats of tarawih, while the maximum number of rakaats is dependent on the abilities of each individual.

The much-heard ruling on twenty or eight rakaats serves as a general guideline for the general Muslim public to facilitate worship/ibadah, in accordance to the practices of the Prophet (PBUH) and his companions.

Both opinions are acceptable, and this guideline serves as a convenient reference to facilitate the ibadah for the masses – for those who are unable to pray twenty rakaats, they may pray eighteen, sixteen, ten or eight rakaats, or if not, they may do as many/as little rakaats as they are able to.

We should not dismiss any of the opinions in this matter.

On witr

The witr prayer is a sunnah (voluntary) prayer performed every night, and not specific only to Ramadhan.

The witr prayers are not necessarily performed immediately after the tarawih prayers. It is actually better to perform the Witr at the end of the night, before the start of the Subh/Fajr period, i.e. the period of Sahur/pre-dawn meal.

However, it is also not wrong to pray the witr right after tarawih prayers, as the period for the Witr prayers begins after Isha’, and ends at start of Subh period/azan.

 

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Tanya Ustaz Haniff #1: Tarawih dan Witir

Soalan

Saya ada berdiskusi dengan saudara saya berkenaan solat tarawih dalam bulan Ramadan yang akan datang ini.

Saudara saya berpendapat witir tidak payah dilakukan bila bertarawih. Mohon sangat-sangat minta penjelasan Ustaz supaya saya dapat berkongsi jawapan yang terang dari seorang ustaz pada saudara saya nanti.

Jawapan 

Tarawih

Tiada para ulama yang akan kata siapa solat tarawih dua, empat atau enam sahaja rakaat pun akan sia-sia, tak sah dan tiada pahala.

Yang benar, bagi orang awam, boleh sembahyang tarawih walau hanya dua rakaat dan yang maksimum terserah pada kemampuan masing-masing.

Penentuan dua puluh atau lapan hanyalah bagi memudahkan orang awam sahaja berdasarkan amalan Nabi (SAW) dan sahabat-sahabatnya.

Dua-dua boleh kerana tujuannya ialah bagi kemudahan orang awam beribadah – yang tak mampu buat dua puluh, boleh buat lapan belas, enam belas, sepuluh atau lapan sahaja, dan yang tak mampu juga, buat berapa sahaja.

Sepatutnya kita tak perlu menyalahkan mana-mana pendapat dalam hal ini.

Witir

Witir adalah sunat diamalkan setiap malam, bukan hanya pada bulan Ramadhan.

Namun, memang tak mesti solat witir dengan segera lepas solat tarawih kerana yang afdhal ialah solat witir di hujung malam sebelum subuh i.e. waktu sahur.

Tapi tak salah juga untuk solat witir selepas solat tarawih kerana waktur solat witir ialah dari selepas solat isya’ hingga sebelum masuk waktu subuh.