Mufti Rejects Call to End Taraweeh in Grand Mosque
P.K. Abdul Ghafour, Arab News
JEDDAH, 1 August 2006 — Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti, Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh, yesterday rejected the call by a Kuwaiti newspaper for stopping taraweeh prayers in groups at the Grand Mosque in Makkah in order to give more room for pilgrims. The mufti said the special Ramadan prayer had been performed in the mosque since the time of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
Al-Asheikh, who is the Kingdom’s most senior religious authority, denied the allegation by the writer of an article carried in Kuwait’s Assiyassa Arabic daily that the qiyamullail prayer was first introduced at the Grand Mosque in Makkah and the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah by Saudi rulers and said the false allegation went against established historical facts.
The mufti made the comment while replying to questions raised by the article, which was published on May 26. He showed, by quoting a number of Hadith, that taraweeh prayers were performed at the Grand Mosque in Makkah in groups during the time of the Prophet.
The Assiyassa writer alleged that the massive gathering at the Grand Mosque for taraweeh and qiyamullail prayers was causing overcrowding in and around the mosque as well as discomfort to pilgrims who come from far-off places. He urged the Council of Senior Islamic Scholars in Saudi Arabia to make a decision to stop these prayers inside the mosque.
The writer also suggested that the imams of the Grand Mosque lead taraweeh and qiyamullail prayers at other mosques in Makkah in order to help pilgrims circumambulate the Holy Kaaba and perform other Umrah rituals in ease and comfort. He also criticized the practice of some people reserving places inside the Grand Mosque by leaving there their prayer mats.
“The performance of taraweeh prayer in groups has been proved by the Sunnah of the Prophet. However, the Prophet did not perform this prayer regularly fearing that it would be imposed on the Ummah as a compulsory prayer,” the Saudi Press Agency quoted the mufti as saying.
Ibn Taimiya, a well-known Islamic scholar in the 13th century points out that the Prophet used to perform qiyamullail prayer in groups on some days of Ramadan.
Although the mufti welcomed the proposal made by the author that senior Islamic scholars take up the matter, he criticized publication of the article in a newspaper saying it would create confusion among the Muslim public.
He also stated that preventing people from coming to the Grand Mosque for prayers would go against the teachings of the Qur’an.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=75593&d=1&m=8&y=2006
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