1
The view that Imam's Abu Hanifah, Malik, Shafi'i, Ibn Hanbal and Dawud al-Zahiri all preferred 20 rak'ahs of taraweeh excluding the witr has been mentioned by Qadi Ibn Rushd in Bidayat al-Mujtahid (1/239).2 He was a famous Hanafi Hafiz of Hadith, as well as being one of the teachers of Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani. He died in the year 762 AH, rahimahullah.
3 2/154, Majlis al-Ulama, India, 4 vols. 1357 AH.
4 The full title is al-Marifatus-Sunan wa'l athar.
5 2/154, footnote 2.
6 2/496.
7 A group of medium sized chapters from the Qur'an.
8 His full name was Muhammad Shauq al-Nimawi; (d. 1322 AH - rahimahullah).
9 2/54.
10 He died in the year 975 AH, rahimahullah.
11 4/284, no. 5787 (8 vols. 1st edn; Hyderabad, India, 1312-14 AH), reported by him on the authority of the Muhaddith, Ibn Man'i.
12 This report is very similar to Bayhaqi's narration (see Muwatta, 6.2, no. 5, p. 48, English edn.) .
13 2/496-7.
14 4/260-3, no's. 7730-1 & 7733.
15 2/392-4. Printed in Hyderabad, India, 1387/1967.
16 PP. 91-2, India, 1320 AH.
17 4/32-3, printed with Imam al-Rafi'i's (d. 623 AH) Fath al-Aziz and Hafiz Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani's Talkhis ul-habir in the footnotes; Idara al-Tibat al-Muniriyyah, Egypt.
18 7/178, Idara al-Tibat al-Muniriyyah, Egypt.
19 1/104.
20 Quoted in Fatawa Rahimiyya (1/241) of Mufti Abdur Rahim; on the authority of Ibn al-Humam's Fath al-Qadir (1/407).
21 He was a celebrated Indian Muhaddith who has also been recognised by the "Salafiyya" for his services to Islam. He passed away in 1304 AH. Rahimahullah.
22 P. 192, quoted in Is Taraweeh 20 raka'ats? p. 22, Madrasah Arabia Islamia, Azadville, South Africa.
23 According to the aforementioned booklet (Is Taraweeh 20 raka'ats?), p. 5; Imam Nawawi has authenticated Bayhaqi's narration (from his Sunan) in al-Khulasah, al-Iraqi has authenticated it in Sharh Taqreeb, and Suyuti has authenticated it in his book on Taraweeh: Masabeeh.
24 See his Sharh Minhaj.
25 See Shaykh al-A'zami's Raka'at Taraweeh, p. 63, Ma'arif press, Azamgarh, India.
26 2/54.
27 P. 388.
28 7/47, chapter on Taraweeh.
29 1/235-300.
30 PP. 105-114 .
31 1/651-664.
32 He passed away in the year 279 AH. Rahimahullah.
33 The practice of 41 rak'ahs was that of the people of Madinah in the time of the Caliph Umar ibn Abdul Aziz and Imam Malik ibn Anas (may Allah be pleased with them). It is in reality 20 rak'ahs, for the people of Madinah used to perform an extra 4 rak'ahs without congregation,(after the performance of the standard 4 rak'ahs); hence this amounts to an extra 16 rak'ahs on top of the standard 20 rak'ahs. After this they would perform 3 rak'ahs of witr, and sometimes another 2 rak'ahs of nafl on top, making a total of 41 rak'ahs (20 rak'ahs taraweeh + 16 nafl + 3 witr + 2 nafl = 41). The reason why the people of Medinah introduced an additional 16 rak'ahs was due to the fact that the people of Makkah would make tawaf around the Ka'bah after every 4 rak'ahs of taraweeh, hence the Madinans wanted to compensate for this. Allah knows best. See Shaykh Anwar Shah Kashmiri's: Tirmidhi al-ma'ruf ba arfash shazzi (1/329) for details.
34 3/170, Ahmad Shakir edition, edited by Fu'ad Abdal Baqi, Maktaba Faisalia, Makkah.
35 This narration has been collected by Bayhaqi in al-Sunan al-Kubra (2/496), Ibn Abi Shaiba in al-Musannaf (2/394), Ibn Adi in al-Kamil (1/2), Tabarani in al-Kabeer (3/148), Ibn Manda in al-Muntakhab min al-fawaid (2/268), Baghawi in Majmu as-Sahaba, Musnad Abd ibn Humaid and others.
36 See Ibn Hajar's Talkhis ul-habir fi takhreej ahadith al-Rafi'i al-kabir (1/119) and Al-Matalib al-'Aliyya (1/146, no. 534) or Zaylai's Nasb ur-Rayah (2/153).
37 He passed away in the year 235 AH. His Musannaf has been printed in some 15 volumes.
38 1/39, no. 241.
39 2/496.
40 See his "al-Da'eefah", (2/35, no. 560), 3rd edn; Maktaba al-Islamia, Amman, 1406 AH.
41 He was a leading Egyptian Hanafi scholar who has written a number of well known and regularly used commentaries to classical Hanafi fiqh texts. He passed away in the year 1231/1816 CE. Rahimahullah.
42 1/466.
43 d. 1052 AH in India.
44 Mufti Abdur Rahim Lajpuri, 1/280, Maktaba Rahimiyyah, Rander, India.
45 P. 223.
46 He died in 1235/1820 CE, rahimahullah. Shaykh Abdur Rahim has quoted this statement from his book Rasa'il ul-Arkan, p. 138.
47 P. 131, Hasan, Suhaib, Al-Qur'an society, 2nd edn; 1407/1986.
48 This report is also found in Imam al-Shurunbulali's Maraqi ul-Falah, p. 81, and Imam Ibn Nujaim al-Misri's Bahr ur-Ra'iq, 2/66.
49 Ijma us-Sahabah is the third source of Islamic law after the Qur'an and Sunnah.
50 1/104.
51 P. 197.
52 1/182.
53 1/803.
54 P. 138.
55 He was the son of the famous Indian scholar: Shah Waliullah.
56 1/126.
57 1/433.
58 1/470; quoted in Fatawa Rahimiyya (1/245).
59 This book contains the direct questions asked by Imam Malik's two famous disciples: Ibn al-Qasim and Ibn Wahb to their teacher. It was compiled by Ibn al-Qasim's student: Qadi Sahnoon (see 1/193-4).
60 The reason for praying 39 rak'ahs has been explained previously. The fact that Imam Malik preferred this number has been verified by the Maliki Qadi: Ibn Rushd (d. 595 AH) in Bidayat al-Mujtahid (1/239). He has also quoted a narration from Ibn Abi Shaibah proving 39 rak'ahs was in vogue during the caliphate of Umar ibn Abdul Aziz.
61 1/249.
62 Quoted from his Fathul-Mulhim Sharh Sahih al-Muslim, (2/320).
63 4/307, quoted in Fatawa Rahimiyya, (1/245).
64 1/131.
65 Qur'an 4:59.
66 Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali (may Allah be pleased with them).
67 A Sahih Hadith recorded in
68 A narration authenticated and reported by al-Hakim (1/116), and al-Dhahabi agreed with him. A very similar report has been recorded by al-Tirmidhi (4/2167). Imam al-Munawi said in commentary to Tirmidhi's Hadith: (Allah's hand is over the Jama'ah) meaning his protection and preservation of them, signifying that the collectivity of the people of Islam are in Allah's fold, so be also in Allah's shelter, in the midst of them, and do not separate yourselves from them. (And whoever descents from them departs to hell) meaning that whoever diverges from the overwhelming majority concerning what is lawful or unlawful and on which the Community does not differ has slipped off the path of guidance and this will lead him to hell. (see Imam al-Azizi's: al-Siraj al-Munir Sharh al-Jami us-Saghir, 3/449, cf. Reliance of the Traveller, p. 25).
69 Printed by Maktaba Dar al-Turath, Madinah al-Munawwarah, 1st edn. 1407/1987.
70 Printed by Maktaba Rashidia, Pakistan.