Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Is it permissible in the Hanafi madhab to pray 8 rakats of Tarawih if one has limited time? I am a college student and cannot get down to the masjid to pray, nor do I have the himma to pray 20 rakats by myself.
Walaikum assalam,
The confirmed sunna in the Hanafi school, in fact in all the 4 schools, is all 20 rakats.
Don’t think of them as 20. Think of it simply as 5 sets of 4. It doesn’t take more than a quarter of an hour. Motivate yourself at various levels:
1. Make this your “show of love for Allah.” Lovers give their loved ones presents. What could Allah, our Beloved, ever need from us? Thankfulness. Its expression: the worship He has demanded from us. What can one do with the Beloved’s demands but obey them?
2. Think of the great reward in this: The Prophet (Allah bless him & give him peace) said, “Whoever stands in prayer in Ramadan, out of faith and seeking its reward, shall have all their past sins forgiven.” [Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmidhi, and others]
3. Give yourself little ‘rewards’ as reinforcements, to get your nafs to go along, such as snacks you like, etc… Or that if you pray all 20 for three days in a row, you get yourself xyz…
If one has make up prayers, does one have to make up sunna mu’akkadas?
No. Only obligatory (fard) and necessary (wajib) prays need to be made up. [Ibn Abidin]
When performing one’s make up prayers, does one pray missed witr as part of the sequence of each day missed. Example, if one missed two months of prayer, may one pray every day’s fajr, dhuhr, asr, maghrib, Isha, then witr before the next day’s fard make ups?
It is necessary to makeup missed witr prayers.
It is not necessary to makeup the prayers in order, if more than six.
Walaikum assalam,
Faraz Rabbani.