Is It Better To Pray Tarawīḥ In The Beginning of or Last Third of The Night Now That The Mosques are Closed For The Corona Virus Lockdown by Shaykh Dr. ʿAbdullah ibn Ṣulfīq aẓ-Ẓafīrī

Pivotal Quote

“The general principle for Ṣalāh al-ʿIshāʾ and likewise for the Night Prayer is that it is delayed—this is the general aṣl (origin). From the Sunnah, if a person prays by himself and he intends to pray and he knows that he is not going to be overcome by sleep, then the Sunnah is that he delays it.

Question:

Our Shaykh, may Allāh bless you, now that the masājid are closed due to the situation with the Coronavirus, is it better to pray Tarāwīḥ in the beginning of the night or is it better to delay it?

Answer:

The general principle for Ṣalāh al-ʿIshāʾ and likewise for the Night Prayer is that it is delayed—this is the general aṣl (origin). From the Sunnah, if a person prays by himself and he intends to pray and he knows that he is not going to be overcome by sleep, then the Sunnah is that he delays it. However, if the person is praying with his family, like the situation of today where in most localities the masājid are closed, he must take into account the people of his household. For example, the children, the womenfolk in his household, he must take them into consideration.

If delaying the prayer and the Tarāwīḥ is difficult for them, then it is better to pray earlier and not delay it. So the individual must assess the condition of the people of his household and if there is no issue, then the aṣl of Ṣalāh al-ʿIshāʾ and what is thereafter is that it is delayed.

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