Is it permissible to complete Taraweeh Namaaz (Prayer) in 5-10 days?

Question

In my locality (might also be elsewhere but im not sure) there are taraweeh prayer that are finished off within 5 to 10 days. The whole Qur'an is finished in those few days. The prayers are very long and tiring and are usually taken up by businessmen or students or workers who cant spend the whole month doing ibadat because of their work or studies or some other problems.
I have two questions regarding that -

• Is is necessary to pray taraweeh after those days. (i mean short taraweehs not the whole 20 rakats)?
• Are such taraweeh namaz permissible?

PS Taraweeh prayers are those that are prayed at the nights of Ramadan.

Answer 1

Technically speaking there is nothing "necessary" about taraweeh. It is a nafl(superogatory) prayer at night performed either individually or in congregation. There is a very high reward associated with night prayer in Ramadan and that is why it is done.

Again technically speaking, there is no obligation to complete the Qur'an during taraweeh - the scholars deduce a benefit in completing the Qur'an in taraweeh because of the practice of the Prophet (saws) in reviewing what was revealed of the Qur'an in Ramadan with Jibril (as).

While theoretically speaking there may be no problem with praying long taraweeh for 5 or 10 nights and finishing Qur'an, practically speaking there are a number of issues that come up:

• Typically, reciting Qur'an to finish it in 10 or 5 or 3 (or even 1) night means reciting it without the proper tajweed. This is not fulfilling the rights of the Qur'an. In fact it is being quite disrespectful. The whole point of taraweeh and reciting Qur'an is to give it its due. Since completing the Qur'an is not obligatory, how can that necessitate the butchering of its recitation (which is obligatory)? There is no sense in leaving off something more valuable for something less valuable. Shaykh b. Baz said that seeking focus, calmness, and deliberation in recitation is better than seeking to complete it (if one must be chosen).
• The attitude or motivation of someone who wishes to do this - it is as if one wishes to rid himself of the burden of going to taraweeh, or the burden of finishing Qur'an as soon as possible. Neither is obligatory, so if you're doing it you might as well do it properly.

While technically the answer to your question may be that it is permissible, the larger issue at hand that needs to be addressed is the attitude as mentioned above. The person who does this is seriously missing out on some great hasanaat. What is important is the prayer at night, long or short, finishing Qur'an or not. If one is busy, then pray for shorter times whenever possible - but there is no basis for the attitude of thinking that one is "done" with the obligation/burden of taraweeh. It just doesn't work that way.

References:

Fatwa by Shaykh b. Baz

Article by Shaykh Haitham Haddad

Answer 2

First of all, Taraweeh is not a obligatory prayer but optional. It is a stressed Sunnah i.e. there is a great reward for those who perform it and there is no blame upon one who does not. If you want to reap great benefits, continue performing it the whole month of Ramadan. If you leave it, there is no blame upon you. Be it 5 to 10 days or even greater. But, you will be missing a great benefit.

Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allah (sallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam) used to urge (the people) to perform (optional Tarawih) prayer at night during the month of Ramadan. He did not order them or make it obligatory on them. He (sallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam) said, "Whosoever performs (optional Tarawih) prayers at night during the month of Ramadan, with Faith and in the hope of receiving Allah's reward, will have his past sins forgiven.'' [Muslim].

Regarding number of Rakah, I don't understand what you mean by short. Taraweeh is very flexible with respect to number of Rakah and it is not restricted to any number. In fact the Prophet (salallahu alayhi wassalam) would not increase it more than 11.

Narrated Abu Salama bin 'Abdur Rahman:

that he asked 'Aisha "How was the prayer of Allah's Apostle in Ramadan?" She replied, "He did not pray more than eleven Rakat in Ramadan or in any other month. He used to pray four Rakat ---- let alone their beauty and length----and then he would pray four ----let alone their beauty and length ----and then he would pray three Rakat (Witr)." She added, "I asked, 'O Allah's Apostle! Do you sleep before praying the Witr?' He replied, 'O 'Aisha! My eyes sleep but my heart does not sleep." Bukhari Volume 3, Book 32, Number 230

The sunnah is to pray it in pairs of two and making tasleem at end of every two.

This is substantiated by what is related in the Two Sahih (authentic) Books of Hadith (i.e. Al-Bukhari and Muslim) from the Hadith of Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with them) that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:

(Optional) Night Salah is two Rak‘ahs followed by two Rak‘ahs (and so on), and when one of you fears the break of dawn (Fajr Prayer), let them offer a single Rak‘ah to make the Salah they have offered Witr (Prayer with an odd number of units). [Sahih Al-Bukhari, Book on Friday, no.991]

Regarding, finishing Qur'an in 5-10 days, that is permissible. This is because, there is no prescribed period of time, except that it is best that it is not completed before three days. This is because of the hadeeth of Abdullah ibn 'Amr where Prophet salallahu alayhi wassalam told him

" He who finishes the recitation of Qur'an in less than three days does not understand it." [Abu Dawud]

However, there is room of difference regarding that as well, since some scholars said this cannot be applied to Ramadaan. Imam al-Shafi'i was of the opinion that Qur'an can be finished every day or every night. What is necessary is that one should not haste but rather beautify the recitation of Qur'an and find peace in it.

Source: Taraweeh