Pay Attention to Sunnah Prayers

Bismi Llāhi r-Raḥmāni r-Raḥīm

Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam is saying, “You must love what I love, and you mustn’t love what I don’t love.” This is what Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam is saying. And he ﷺ said that the most beloved thing for him ﷺ is praying, Ṣalāt. This is what he ﷺ was doing.

So, we have, of course, Bismi Llāhi r-Raḥmāni r-Raḥīm: “إِنَّ الصَّلَاةَ كَانَتْ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ كِتَابًا مَّوْقُوتًا”, “Inna s-Salāata Kānat Ala l-Mu’uminīna Kitābāan Mawqūtā”, “Indeed, prayer has been decreed upon the believers a decree of specified times.” (Qur’ān 04:103). Ṣalāt, praying is obligatory for mu’minīn with a specific time. There is a time for the farḍ prayer. For nāfilah, you can do it any time, except some exceptions like sunrise or sunset. But in other times, you can pray.

Our Madhhab and Tarīqah, they say as a custom, they do nafl or sunnah before Fajr, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib and Isha. They are doing all of this without any objection. But still, with this also, people try to run away from sunnah, to run away from nafl, from night prayer or other prayers. They never give any attention or any value for this. For this, for the sake of our Prophet ﷺ, Allāh Azza wa Jalla gave it to his ﷺ ummah, to get more blessings, to get more benefit, but they are not giving attention.

But now, slowly, slowly they are only praying farḍ with no sunnah and go. No. After this, maybe they will leave the farḍ also, the obligatory. Because when not giving value for the small thing, you don’t give value for the big thing also.

Now, al-ḥamdu liLlāh, next week will be Ramaḍān; after five or six days. There is a very important sunnah which Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam had also done: Salātu t-Tarawīḥ. Which is 20 rak’ah after Salātu l-Ishā’, before Salātu l-Witr. Of course, Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam prayed Tarawīḥ once or twice with jamā’ah. But he ﷺ prayed by himself ﷺ in his ﷺ blessed house. Because he ﷺ didn’t want to make a burden for the ummah, to not say it is obligatory, farḍ. But after him ﷺ, they were doing this. They were even sometimes doing more than 30 rak’ah, sometimes 28 rak’ah. But in the end, they made it twenty raka’āt.

Since centuries, they have been praying like this. Until the last century, they were doing this. But they began from the last century to make it less. Of course, the imām makes 20 rak’at. In Arab countries, when I was in Syria or Lebanon, the imām prays 20 rak’ah. People, after the 8th rak’ah, leave. They pray after it Witr and leave. And whoever wants to continue with the imām, continues. But after this, I heard that they are making it with the imām 8 rak’at, not praying 20 rak’at.

Of course, there is no problem. You can pray, and never pray also, no problem. But the problem is to make people think it is only eight rak’at sunnah of tarawīḥ. After that, there won’t be any value. But it is very valuable in Ramaḍān. When you do anything, you get a hundred times, seven hundred times more blessings. So, they make people lose this barakah, this reward, and they are happy with this.

This is making people – people are already lazy and they make them (more) lazy, more away from Allāh ﷻ. Because with nafl, “يَتَقَرَّبُ العَبْد إلَيَّ بالنَّوافِلِ” “Yataqarrabu l-Abdu ‘ilayya bi n-nawāfil.” [Hadith Qudsi]. Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla is saying, My servant becomes more nearer to Me with nafl or with sunnah. As much as you do this, you become (more) near to Allāh ﷻ, (more) close to Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla. So, shayṭān makes these people do less ‘ibādah, and more time for enjoying themselves.

May Allāh ﷻ give hidāyah. In shā’a Llāh, for this, ṭarīqah is very important. It is very important for people, only for the benefit of Muslimīn, of people, of human beings even. Ṭarīqah is very important to show them the right way, to encourage them to make more ‘ibādah, more worshipping, to be (more) close to Allāh Azza wa Jalla, to be more away from shayṭān. May Allāh ﷻ help us. May Allāh ﷻ give hidāyah for these people to come back to the way of Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam. To do as much as they can do, in shā’a Llāh.

Because with gathering, it’s (more) easy. Maybe when one is praying by himself in his house, it will be difficult for him. But there is this nice atmosphere in Ramaḍān and they are making after each two raka’āt takbīr and ṣalawāt after four raka’āt or ikhlāṣ. All of this, all together, they will be happy. Even children are very happy to shout with ṣalawāt, takbīr. It’s a very good atmosphere. They want to finish this atmosphere. May Allāh ﷻ keep us safe from their sharr (badness), in shā’a Llāh. Wa min Allah at-Tawfiq.

Al-Fatiha.

• Mawlana Sheikh Muhammad Adil ar-Rabbani 

23 February 2025/ 24 Sha’ban 1446

Fajr Prayer – Sheikh Nazim Dergah; London, UK