One day a person from Ahl Hadith was arguing as to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) never offered 20 rakats of tarawih. Is it so and if he had offered 20 rakats of tarawih? Is it proved from any of the hadith? He was telling that he only offered 8 rakats of tarawih always and also asked his companions to offer tarawih at home after initially offering three days of tarawih in the mosques. Kindly elaborate so that the confusion over this matter may be resolved.
Answer
(Fatwa: 873/875/N=1433)
The words of Ghair Muqallid mentioned in the question are wrong. It is proved by various hadith that the holy Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) offered twenty rakah tarawih. And Hafiz Hajar al-Asqalani says that the scholars of Hadith agree about the hadith of 20 rakah tarawih that it is sahih (authentic).
متفق على صحته :
(التلخيص الحبير في تخريج أحاديث الرافعى الكبير 1:119)
While no authentic hadith exists in the collection of Hadith regarding tarawih being eight rakah. (For detail: See Fatawa Rahimiya Jadid Saeedi 3:246-262)
Allah (Subhana Wa Ta’ala) knows Best
Darul Ifta,
Darul Uloom Deoband