2 cultures – 2 different goals for Taraweeh

As salaamu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullah

I hope everyone is taking much advantage of this month of Ramadhaan as they should be. I, for one, am not doing as much as I should be during the daytime before Taraweeh.. may Allah put barakah in our time so we are able to do more good inshaAllah during the day as well.

So this post is about Taraweeh specifically and how 2 different cultures have two totally different goals it seems for Taraweeh…

It seems like any masjid that you go to, you will either find them to be on one side of the fence or the other…

On one side you have the DESI masjid.. their primary goal is to finish the Qur’aan by the 27th night for the most part… and they are used to reciting in such a hasty manner that even the Arab brothers don’t understand what is being recited, and thus they can not contemplate upon the words of the Qur’aan.

Allah tells us in the Qur’aan to recite the Qur’aan with tarteel… but most of the DESI Imaams do not seem to follow this in the month of Ramadhaan and tarteel goes out the window…

So to recap: the goal at the DESI masjid is to finish the Qur’aan by the 27th night, even if that means reciting it at super fast speeds so even the brothers who are able to follow and understand the Qur’aan are not able to do that… obviously it doesn’t help that usually, the person reciting does not even know what he is reciting.. which makes their goal easier to be achieved.

And then on the other side of the fence, we have the Arab masaajid and the masaajid that are upon the Sunnah or close to the Sunnah. At these masaajid, it seems that the goal is different. Their goal is to recite the Qur’aan properly so that it is comprehended by the listeners and so that it affects the hearts. It just feels so good to pray Taraweeh in these masaajid because the essence of Taraweeh is understood better here than the DESI masaajid.

Not to be sarcastic, but it just seems like they want another reason to hand out sweets and eat “gulab jaman” (for the non-desis, this is a type of delicious sweet.. looks like a brown small ball.. if you have never tried one, I suggest you try it on ‘Eid)   {smile}

I’m sharing below an audio clip of a Qari at one of the masaajid where the Taraweeh is performed with the correct goal in mind. Alhamdulillah, it has a strong effect on the heart when Islaam is followed properly and the instructions of the Qur’aan are followed properly mashaAllah.

We ask Allah that He gives us the tawfeeq to do more ibaadah during the remaining month of Ramadhaan and helps us to catch Laylatul Qadr. Ameen.

Audio clip from Taraweeh at Al-Minhaal Academy in South Plainfield NJ

Important Disclaimer from admin staff of TheClearSunnah Blog: We do not endorse or are making tazkiyah (praise) of any particular academies or any of its members. We do not recommend anyone unless we know what the senior scholars and the elders of Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama’ah have mentioned about them.

Share your comments below on this topic. What are your feelings on how the Qur’aan is recited in Taraweeh?

Where will you be praying Taraweeh?

Assalamu ‘alaykum,

“Where will you be praying Taraweeh then?” A common question that is often repeated throughout this blessed month. However, many are oblivious to the fact there is in fact some ‘fiqh’ behind this question as will soon be very evident….

“Muhammad bin Bahr said regarding the prohibition of searching and attending Masaajid due to the beauty of the recitation of the Imam (as quoted in Badaa’i al Fawaa’id 4/111):

‘ I saw Abu Abdullah (i.e. Imam Ahmad) in the Ramadhan and Fadl bin Ziyaad was leading him in Taraweeh. He had beautiful recitation and thus many mashaayikh and many locals gathered together until the mosque was full. Then Abu Abdullah climbed the staircase of the mosque and looked to the congregation and said:

“What is this! Why are you all leaving your [local] mosques and attend other mosques?”

Thereafter, [Fadl] lead them in prayer for a few more nights and then [Abu Abdullah] stopped him from leading the prayers due to disliking what he saw, i.e. the emptying of other mosques. Thus it is upon the neighbour of a mosque pray in his local mosque.’ [End of quote from Badaa’i]