In the mosque in the neighbourhood where I live, twenty rak‘ahs of Taraweeh are offered, as well as two rak‘ahs of al-shaf‘ and Witr. Now, as ‘Isha’ prayer will be held very late, we were thinking of praying Witr for those who want to leave the prayer early, and on that basis this group will pray the two rak‘ahs of al-shaf‘ and Witr with the qaari’, then they will leave, and the qaari’ will stay and complete the remaining rak‘ahs. Is it permissible to do that? Will those who are going to pray tenrak‘ahs with the (one) rak‘ah of Witr and then leave take the same reward as those who praybehind the other imam and pray twenty-three rak‘ahs in all? I hope you can advise us about this issue because we are thinking of implementing it starting next Ramadan, in sha Allah. May Allah reward you with good forthis advice.
Praise be to Allaah.
Firstly:
It is proven from the Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) that he encouraged praying Taraweeh in congregation and he said:“Whoever stays with the imam until he leaves, (thereward of) qiyaam al-layl will be written for him.”
Narrated and classed as saheeh by al-Tirmidhi (806); also narrated by Abu Dawood (1375), al-Nasaa’i (1605), and Ibn Maajah (1327). Also classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Tirmidhi.
This reward will not be attained by anyone but the one who prays with the imam until he has finished all the prayers. The one who only prays some of the prayer and then leaves is not entitledto the reward promised inthis hadeeth, which is thatof spending a night in prayer (qiyaam laylah).
Shaykh Ibn Baaz (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked:
If a person prays in Ramadan with someone who prays twenty-three rak‘ahs, but he only prays eleven and does not complete the prayer with the imam, is this action of his in accordance with theSunnah?
He replied: The Sunnah is to complete the prayer with the imam, even if he prays twenty-three rak ‘ahs, because the Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever stands (in prayer) with the imam until he finishes, Allah will record for him (the reward of) spending a night in prayer.” According to another report: “… The rest of that night.”
It is better for one who is praying behind an imam to stay with him until he finishes, whether he prayseleven rak‘ahs or thirteen or twenty three or whatever. That is preferable, to follow the imam until he finishes. End quote from Majmoo‘ Fataawa Ibn Baaz, 11/325
Shaykh Ibn Jibreen (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
Praying qiyaam in Ramadan is attained by praying part of the night, such as half of it or one third of it, whether that is by praying eleven rak‘ahs or twenty-three. Qiyaam is attained by praying behind the neighbourhood imam until he finishes, even if he finishes within one hour.
Imam Ahmad used to pray with the imam and not leave until he finished, acting in accordance with the hadeeth. And whoever wants to attain this reward has to pray with the imam until he finishesWitr, whether he prays a little or a lot, and whetherthe time taken is long or short. End quote.
Fataawa al-Shaykh Ibn Jibreen. 24/9
If two imams pray in the mosque, then Taraweeh prayer is the prayer of both the imams, so the one who wants to attain the reward of spending the night in prayer shouldnot leave until the secondimam has completed his prayer and leaves.
Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy onhim) was asked: What about one who prays Taraweeh with the first imam, then leaves and says: I will have (the reward for) praying qiyaam al-layl according to the text of the hadeethbecause I started with theimam and finished with him?
He replied: As for his saying, “Whoever stands (in prayer) with the imam until he finishes, Allah willrecord for him (the reward of) spending a night in prayer”, that is correct.
But if there are two imams in one mosque, is each one of them regarded as independent of the other or is each of them the deputy of the other?
What would seem to be correct is the second understanding – that eachof them is the deputy of the other and is complementary to him. Based on this, if two imams pray in the mosque, then these two imams are to be regardedas if they are one imam. So the worshipper should stay until the second imam finishes, because we know that prayer behind the second imam is complementary to prayer behind the first one.
Based on this, what we advise our brothers to do is to follow the imams there in the Haram until they are completely finished.
/ - - - :-> Transtors: 1.http://free-translation.imtranslator.net/lowres.asp 2.http://translate.google.com/m?twu=1&hl=en&vi=m&sl=auto&tl=en