❞ كتاب The Night Prayer In Ramadaan ❝ ⏤ محمد ناصر الدين الألباني

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About the Book: All praise be to Allaah, before you is a complete translation of the
booklet “Qiyaamu Ramadaan” (The Night Prayer in Ramadaan) of Imaam
Muhammad Naasir-ud-Deen Al-Albaanee, may Allaah have mercy on him. The source
used for this translation was the seventh edition of this book published by Dar Ibn
Hazm in 1997. This shows the tremendous benefit of this book and the great effect it
had on the Muslim ummah, such that it underwent several printings and was spread
throughout the Muslim lands.
The treatise was revised and updated after its initial printing. Thus the second edition
contains more updated information and reference, and all subsequent editions
maintained the same format as the second edition.

The book’s introduction consists of a counter-refutation of those who replied to Al-
Albaanee’s book Salaat at-Taraaweeh, namely Shaikh ‘Abdullaah Al-Ansaaree. But

the main core of the book contains a point-by-point discussion on the Night Prayer
during Ramadaan, as well as the benefits and rulings of ‘Itikaaf. This books serves as
an abridgement to Imam Al-Albaanee’s larger treatise Salaat at-Taraaweeh.
A Publication of
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INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION

All praise be to Allaah, and may the peace and blessings be on the Messenger of
Allaah, his family, his Companions and whoever follows his Sunnah. To Proceed:
This is the second printing of my treatise “The Night Prayer in Ramadaan”, which I
am presenting to the noble reader on this occasion of the nearness of the blessed
month of Ramadaan of 1406H. After all the copies of the first printing ran out, and the
requests for the book became many, I took another look at the treatise and revised
and improved it, adding several hadeeth verifications and new points of benefit to it,
which I hope will please the readers, Allaah willing. The reader will find the most
important of these changes in the section on ‘Itikaaf.
I ask Allaah, the Mighty and Majestic, to connect me to what is right and to forgive me
for what my understanding missed from correctness and from what truth escaped my

pen. I ask Allaah that He make this book sincerely for His Face, indeed He is the All-
Pardoning, Most Generous.

Verily, all praise is due to Allaah. We praise Him, we seek His assistance and we ask
Him for His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allaah from the evils of our selves and the
evils of our actions. Whoever Allaah guides, no one that can lead him astray, and
whoever is led astray, no one can guide him. I bear witness that there is no deity
worthy of worship in truth except Allaah – He stands alone and with no partners. And I
bear witness that Muhammad (sallAllaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) is His slave and
Messenger.
To Proceed:
It is authentically reported on Ibn Mas’ood (radyAllaahu ‘anhu) in mawqoof form,1
but it

takes the ruling of being marfoo’ (raised)2

to the Prophet, that he said:

“How will you be when a calamity (i.e. innovation) engulfs you (in which) the
adult will grow old (with it) and the youth will be raised upon it, and the people
will take it as a Sunnah. When any part of it is abandoned, it will be said: ‘Have
you abandoned the Sunnah?’
They said: “When will that be?”
He said: “(It will be) When your scholars have passed away, your reciters have
increased, your Fuqahaa have become few, your leaders become many, your
trusted ones decrease, the worldly life is sought after by (doing) the works of the
Hereafter, and knowledge is sought for other than the Religion.” 3
I say: This hadeeth is one of the signs of his (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam)
Prophethood and the verity of his Messengership, for indeed every one of its portions
has become actualized in this present time. From them, is the various innovations that
have spread and the people being tested by them, such that they have taken them as
a Sunnah and (part of the) Religion to be followed. So when the real Ahlus-Sunnah
turn away from them towards the Sunnah, which is authentically established on the

1 Translator’s Note: A Mawqoof Hadeeth is a narration “suspended” or stopped to just being a saying
or action of a Companion, and not that of the Prophet (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam).
2 Translator’s Note: A Marfoo’ Hadeeth is a hadeeth reported by a Companion but “raised” as being a
saying or action of the Prophet (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam).
3
Reported by Ad-Daarimee (1/64) with two chains of narration, the first of which is authentic while the
second is hasan. It is also reported by Al-Haakim (4/514) and others.

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Prophet (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam), it will be said: “Has the Sunnah been
abandoned?”
This is what has befallen us – Ahlus-Sunnah – in Shaam, when we revived the
Sunnah of performing the Taraaweeh Prayer with eleven rak’aat, while persevering in
them upon tranquility and submissiveness and using the various authentic words of
remembrance (adhkaar), according to one’s ability. This is something, which a majority
of those who regularly perform the Taraaweeh Prayer with twenty rak’aat have left off.
And on top of this, their fury and rage became kindled and unleashed when we
produced our treatise “Salaat-ut-Taraaweeh”,4

which is the second of several treatises

found in our book “Tasdeed-ul-Isaabah ilaa man za’ama Nusrat-al-Khulafaa ir-
Raashideen was-Sahaabah.” This was due to what they saw in it from the assertion

that:
1. The Prophet (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) did not perform the Taraaweeh Prayer
with more than eleven rak’aat.
2. ‘Umar (radyAllaahu ‘anhu) ordered Ubay (bin Ka’ab) and Tameem ad-Daaree to
lead the people in Taraaweeh Prayer performing eleven rak’aat according to the
authentic Sunnah.
3. The report: “The people would perform the Night Prayer during the time of
‘Umar in Ramadaan making twenty rak’aat” is a shaadh 5

and da’eef report, which
contradicts the report of reliable narrators, who state that it was eleven rak’aat and that
‘Umar commanded this.
4. Even if this shaadh report was authentic, it is more deserving to accept and act
upon the authentic report due to it being in accordance with the Sunnah in number.
Also, there is no mention in it that ‘Umar ordered that twenty rak’aat be performed, but
4
Our brother Zuhair Shawaish printed a second edition to this book in the year 1405H retyping the
original text, but he did not give me the draft copy so that I can take charge of making corrections for
myself due to the difficulty of communication between Beirut and ‘Ammaan. So there occurred a few
printing errors, some of which were in accordance with the first edition, such as in page 32 of the
second edition and page 37 of the first edition: “Such as the one for example who prays five rak’aat
for Dhuhr and four rak’aat for the sunnah of Fajr.” The correct version should read: ““Such as the
one for example who prays five rak’aat for the sunnah of Dhuhr.” The proof for this is the following
phrase: “and four rak’aat for the sunnah of Fajr” indicating that what was meant was the recommended
prayers. Some innovators used this printing error for their own evil ends and built towers and castles
upon it in their treatises, however they are “on the edge of a dangerous cliff.”
5 Translator’s Note: A Shaadh Hadeeth is a hadeeth reported by a reliable narrator but which is
contradicted by another hadeeth that is more reliable than it.

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rather it is only the people who did that. This is contrary to the authentic report, which
states in it that ‘Umar ordered eleven rak’aat.
5. Also, if it were authentic this does not mean that one is obligated to act upon it
whilst abandoning acting upon the authentic report, which is in agreement with the
Sunnah, such that the one who acts upon the Sunnah is considered as leaving the
Jama’aah! On the contrary, the most we can derive and extract from this hadeeth is
that it is permissible to pray twenty rak’aat (for Taraaweeh) yet it is definitive that what
the Prophet (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) did and practiced regularly (of 11 rak’aat) is
better.
6. We also explained in it that performing twenty rak’aat is not authentically
established upon any of the noble Companions.
7. And we clarified the falseness of the claim of those who allege that the Companions
unanimously agreed on (performing) twenty rak’aat.
8. We also clarified the proof, which necessitates that one act upon the number that is
authentically reported in the Sunnah (i.e. eleven rak’aat), and those scholars who
rejected increasing upon this number. This goes as well for the other points of benefit
we mentioned that can rarely be found gathered in one book.
All of these points were supported by clear proofs from the authentic Sunnah and the
established narrations. This caused the ruthless ones amongst a group of elder blind
followers to lash out at us – some of them in their sermons and lessons and others in
treatises, which they wrote to refute6

our afore-mentioned treatise. However, all of
these treatises were void of beneficial knowledge and of proofs to support their view.
Instead they were filled with abuses and insults, as is the custom of the people of
falsehood when they direct their words to the truth and its people. So due to this, we
don’t see any benefit in that we should waste our time replying to them and exposing
the errors of their words, since life is too short to be spending time doing that
considering their numerous amounts, may Allaah guide them all.
However, there is no harm in mentioning one of them, as an example, whom I
consider to be the most noble and knowledgeable amongst them.7

But if knowledge is
not accompanied by sincerity and upright manners, the harm it brings for the one who
6
The last of them according to what I am aware of is Muhammad ‘Alee As-Saaboonee in his treatise,
which he named “The Prophet’s Authentic Guidance regarding the Taraaweeh Prayer.” Look for a reply
to it in the introduction to the fourth volume of my book Silsilat-ul-Ahaadeeth as-Saheehah. 7
He is Shaikh Isma’eel Al-Ansaaree, an employee at the Bureau of Religious Verdicts in the city of
Riyadh.

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possesses it will be greater than its benefit, as the Prophet (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa
sallam) indicated in his saying:
“The example of the one who teaches the people good but forgets it himself is
like the example of a lamp that gives light for the people yet burns itself out.” 8
This person I have indicated wrote a treatise with the title “Authenticating the
Hadeeth of the Taraaweeh Prayer being Twenty Rak’aat and a Refutation against
Al-Albaanee in his Declaring it Weak!” In this book, the author has fallen out from
the path of the people of knowledge with regard to rebutting arguments with
arguments and proofs with proofs. And he has fallen short of being truthful in speech
and of being far removed from misleading the people towards the opposite of the truth.
So now we will give an example of this, while trying to be brief in our introduction, so
we say:
1. Everyone that reads the title of the treatise mentioned above will think that he is
referring to the marfoo’ hadeeth about the twenty rak’aat, which is weak according to
the unanimous agreement (of the scholars). But if he reads its opening pages it will
become clear to him that the author means by it the narration (athar) reported from the
path of Yazeed bin Khaseefah from Saa’ib bin Yazeed, that he said:
“They would perform the Night Prayer during ‘Umar’s time in the month of
Ramadaan with twenty rak’aat!!”
So by this, the reader will come to know that the subject of the book refers to one thing
while the title of the book refers to something entirely different! This is a direct form of
deception, we ask Allaah to grant us safety and protection.
2. Another example of this is that he fills three pages of his treatise (pg. 14-16)
defending the afore-mentioned Yazeed bin Khaseefah, trying to establish that he is
thiqqah (reliable). The reason for this is so that he can cause the readers – who will
find that a number of the Imaams have declared him reliable – to think that I have
contradicted all of them by my declaring him weak! But this is not the case, because I
have indeed followed them in their declaration of his reliability, as will be mentioned
later.
3. In fact, this author over-passed the limit of deceit and deception with the above
towards clear and open lying and opposing the truth, as he said (pg. 15):
8
Reported by At-Tabaraanee and Ad-Diyaa Al-Maqdisee in Al-Mukhtaarah from Jundub with a good
chain of narration. Also see Saheeh At-Targheeb (1/56/127)

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“Indeed Al-Albaanee claims that he has been declared weak.”
And this is a clear lie, for in reality I asserted in my treatise (pg. 57) that he was
thiqqah (reliable)! The most I said of him was:
“He is alone in reporting (this narration), which the (other) reliable narrators have not
reported. So in this case, his hadeeth are to be rejected if he is opposed by one who
is more reliable/trustworthy than him. The narration thus becomes shaadh as has
been established in the Science of Mustalah (Hadeeth Terminology). And this
narration falls under this category...”
This kind of talk, even if it may be considered belittling one who is reliable according to
the scholars, it does not mean that he is da’eef (weak) and to be rejected absolutely.
Rather, on the contrary of that, it only means that: His hadeeth are to be accepted
unrestrictedly unless there is another (more authentic) report that contradicts it. This
is what conclusion I came to in the last portion of my words mentioned above, where I
said:

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 Book author : Sheikh Muhammad Naasiruddeen AlAlbanee