[Disclaimer: This method works. It’s beautiful. And it can bring a lazy but spiritually uplifting sigh of relief to the long, hard Ramadan fasts (especially if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere, like the UK or Canada).However, please note that if your current daily practice is to go to your local mosque and spend 90 minutes doing the Ramadan “tarawih” night-prayers, please continue. And may Allah bless you for your devotion and give you all the possible benefits of the practice.]
Now, for the rest of us who aren’t quite cutting the late-night 90 minute special Ramadan prayer (Tarawih) sessions that go on past midnight… you’re gonna love this…
This slacker’s approach is better used by those who would otherwise miss out on the life-upgrade of Ramadan night-time prayers altogether, because the fasting days are long and hard, and there’s barely enough time at night to take care of bodily needs like food and water…
Are you ready?
Before I share my spiritual-super-slacker approach to Tarawih, here’s the thinking behind it.
The challenge with ‘tarawih’ prayers in most mosques is this: they try to ‘complete’ the Quran by doing 20 “cycles” (rakahs) of tarawih, and in each cycle they recite one full page (or more), with the intention that by the end of Ramadan the whole Quran was recited.
This is a beautiful tradition.
And, it either takes about 90 minutes… OR… the Imam recites so fast, you can’t make out most of the words or what they might mean (even if you have a degree in Arabic!).
However, there is another way if that hasn’t been working for you.
I learnt this from an excellent sheikh, who implements this method in his Islamic centre. He is a very disciplined man who is extremely strict with his own spiritual practices. However, in true prophetic-style he is also very loving, caring and merciful to his congregation and want to make things easy for them.
Knowing that in the UK the fasts are already very long and physically hard, he fulfils the tarawih sunnah in a beautiful way.
His reasoning, from my limited understanding, is this:
-> Islam and its spiritual practices was made to upgrade your life and make it better
-> Tarawih is a beautiful sunnah and the idea is for it to be joyful and easy
-> The sunnah is to pray either 8 or 20 cycles. Completing the Quran during these cycles is a bonus, but not, strictly speaking, required to fulfil the ‘sunnah’ of the prayer.
-> There is no point ‘rushing’ through the Quran and risking mis-pronouncing it or ‘hurrying it’. Instead, we can enjoy it and benefit from it, by reciting less each night. (This is why many mosques don’t attempt to ‘complete’ the Quran in tarawih, when Ramadan falls in the Summer in the North).
-> The spiritual upliftment of the practice comes completing the Sunnah, not from completing the whole Quran.
Okay, enough build-up. If you’re not familiar with the Muslim prayer, this might sound a bit technical, but for most Muslims, this will make sense.
Here’s the quick, easy, beautiful to do tarawih on your own, or, ideally with your family (and if you’re really lucky, your local mosque might even do it this way)…
- Pray the 4 ‘fard’ (necessary/ essential) cycles of Isha, as normal.
- Pray the 2 ‘sunnah’ (additional devotional) cycles of Isha, as normal. (Surah 109 Al-Kafirun & Surah 112 al-ikhlas are 2 of the Prophetic favourites for a regular sunnah prayer like this).
- Pray the 8 cycles of tarawih, reciting the last 8 chapters of the Quran (starting with Surah 103 al-Asr). These are the short, sweet surahs (chapters), each one only 3-5 lines. In the 8th cycle, you’ll actually recite 2 surahs (Surah 110 An-Nasr and Surah 111 Al-Masad).
- Wrap it up with witr as you normally do. If this is 3 cycles, it works perfectly for the last 3 Surahs of the Quran.
By following this formula, you revise the last few Surahs (if you don’t know them… now’s the best time to learn! In the meanwhile, just recite any Surah you know). You can recite slowly and melodiously, enjoying each verse. And, the best part: you fulfil the whole Sunnah is about 15 minutes, without rushing.
You’re welcome!
If you would love to be able to understand 100% of everything you recite in the Quran, so you can benefit more from all your Ramadan devotions, and connect with the Quran on a much deeper level so it becomes a source of inner-transformation in your life, then I recommend you use all that extra time you just saved and get your hands on the “Quran For Busy People” program.
It guides you through how to create a personalised, comprehensive and very do-able Quran plan so that this time next year you understand 100% of the Quran directly in Arabic. The only way to get your hands on it is by joining The Ocean:
