Tarawih

Tarawih is an optional (nafli) prayer offered after Isha in the month of Ramzan.  This prayer cab be offered individually or in congregation. Hazrat Muhammad never offered tarawih regularly in Ramzan because he was afraid it would become obligatory by Allah. During Hazrat Umar caliphate Tarawih was made a regular in the mosque after the Isha prayer. He fixed the ra’kah as twenty for tarawih. Some of the companions did not join in the congregational tarawih, preferring to do them at home individually during the last third part of the night. During the time of Imam Malik however 36 Rak`ah was offered in the Madinan Mosque. It is said about the eight Rak`ah tarawih of the modern times as “mukhtasar al-mukhtasar” i.e. abridgment of the abridged.