So we all know that as Ramadan starts so do the extended night prayers called, tarawih. When Ramadan started in the summer, I was quite motivated to attend those prayers in our local masjid. It was actually a really great experience and definitely memorable; especially since I had some of best friends praying with me, and my younger sister, Rafia. It was a pleasant, peaceful time (expect for the occasional disaster caused by a noisy kid).

I attended the majority of those prayers and noticed something quite peculiar.

Do we go pray tarawih for Allah, or just because it’s some type of fad?

I noticed that when the time of Isha Salah beings, the sisters' prayer room would be quiet empty; the salah would end, people would pray their sunnah and then once the Iman exclaims “AllahuAkbar” to commence tarawih, that’s when the room starts to get populated.

If you’re not praying your farz salah, which is the most important, then what’s the point of tarawih, which isn’t even farz for you?

I don’t want to be one to judge, as there could be people who may have gotten in to some business or gotten late. But every day, that is what I observed.

Anyhow, in the first few days of Ramadan, the sisters' room was so completely packed that, at one point, I was left praying out in the hall. As the days went by, fewer and fewer people came; only a few regulars. And then came the night of twenty seventh Ramadan: the day our masjid ended the recitation of the Quran during tarawih.

I was in complete shock when I saw the amount of people who turned up; ladies from God knows where with God knows how many kids (that’s another post on its own; those kids need a leash)! The place was so packed that there wasn’t even enough room to do a proper sajda.

Can you guess what the turnout was the following day?

Yup, not even close to a quarter of the day before. So is it a fad? Or are people just capitalizing on the right day to get the sawaab? Well, I guess it’s better than not praying at all.
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Comments

Aisha
10/10/2009 8:15pm

A lot of women pray their Fardh namaaz at home to avoid walking through billions of men. And as for the 27th women go to the masjid not only for the thawaab but their is a special bayaan that night regarding the 27th!

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