INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND INNOVATION CONGRESS -II
THE PERCEPTION OF SUNNAH OF THE RASHID CALIPHS IN THE TARAWEEH PRAYER
There were different tendencies among the Companions in understanding and interpreting the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah. Among these, the attitudes of the Rashid Caliphs have an important position. As they were both close companions of the Messenger of Allah and the first Muslim rulers, some of their actions regarding the Sunnah played a role in the formation and shaping of the views of the following centuries. The practices of the caliphs who transmitted the Sunnah to the next period were also considered important because of a hadith attributed to the Prophet. This hadith, “Follow my Sunnah and the Sunnah of my successor caliphs,” gave importance to the practices of the first caliphs. Another important aspect of their relationship with the concept of sunnah is that some of their practices finalized the relevant sunnah. Taraweeh prayer is one of these examples. The Taraweeh prayer, which is a nafl prayer specific to the month of Ramadan, was performed by the Prophet in different rak'ahs, in congregation or individually. There are statements in the hadiths that the Prophet performed it in different ways out of concern that it would be obligatory on Muslims.During the reign of Hazrat Umar, the Taraweeh prayer took its final form. Some aspects of this prayer, such as its ruling, performance, congregation, number of rak'ahs, qiraat and timing, were applied differently during the reign of the Rashid Caliphs. This process about the Taraweeh prayer has been the subject of various studies. It has been analyzed in many aspects such as its attribution to the Prophet, the degree of authenticity of the related hadiths, and the impact of the practice of Hazrat 'Umar on the subsequent rulings. In this paper, the tarawih prayer will be discussed in the context of the Rashid Caliphs' interpretation of a Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah. The authenticity of the hadiths will be evaluated and the reasons for the practice during the caliphate period will be examined.
