Some have commented on how some Masaajid pray taraaweeh longer than others, and have also even criticised others for making it short and ‘manageable’. The idea is that, the longer you pray, the better, and if you’re praying shorter, then it’s almost like ‘simply ticking a box’ ✅ that you’ve done it.
No, not necessarily. The prophet said to mu’aath when he was leading Salah and making it long “do you want to cause fitna for the people oh mu’aath?” And he ordered him to make the salaah short.
We often think that “with more difficulty comes more reward” but that’s actually not Islamic teachings. Islam teaches to have patience when difficulty occurs, but not to make life more complicated and difficult. When it comes to Islamic affairs with the public, where we have people at various levels of physical and mental ability, what’s required is to go for what is best for most people; not what’s best for some people.
So a taraaweeh that 80% of ppl can handle is better than one where 40% can handle. I mean, that’s literally why the prophet stopped praying Qiyaam Al Layl on the third day, because he wanted to make it easy for the ppl and feared it would become mandatory. That says a lot. So if he stopped a good thing in order to make it easy for the ppl, that means making things easy is more important than what he was doing, which was praying.
We have many examples from the lives of the sahaabah and the prophet where he would constantly tell people to not go overboard. One sahaabiyah used to tie rope to the ceiling so that she could use it when she got tired to help her stand longer. The prophet saw that and told her not to do that, but to simply stop praying if she gets tired. Salman faarisee told Abu Dardaa to stop praying, stop fasting because he was going overboard. Ie more wasn’t more.
Lastly, not all the scholars say long standing is better. Some of them say “many short rak’ah is better then fewer long owns”
I personally don’t think there’s anything to criticise about the way taraaweeh is performed in Muslim countries. If anything, the opposite.
The prophet said
يسِّروا ولا تعسروا
“Make the religion easy and don’t make it hard”
That’s a verbal command, which takes precedence over anything he personally did in action.
