Answered by Shaykh Amjad Rasheed
Translated by Ustadha Shazia Ahmad
Is it better to pray the night prayer (tahajjud) during Ramadan (and other times) with a group in the mosque or alone in the house?
Praying the tahajjud prayer as a wholly supererogatory prayer [The night prayer (tahajjud) refers to any prayer that is performed after rising up from sleep and after praying `isha. It can thus be performed through wholly supererogatory prayers [meaning those unconnected with a particular time or reason] or through a prayer that is already recommended, such as the sunnas after the `isha prayer or the tarawih prayer] is better prayed in the home than in the masjid as our imams have said, whether it is in Ramadan or not. As for supererogatory prayers that are recommended to be prayed in groups such as tarawih, they are better prayed in the masjid.
Shaykh al-Islam, Zakariyya al-Ansari said in his commentary on the Rawd, “‘Performing supererogatory prayers at night and at home is better than performing it during the day (because the of hadith in Muslim mentioned below) and at the mosque,’ because of what has been mentioned in the description of the prayer. And also because of the report that, “The merit of praying supererogatory prayers in the house over praying them in masjid is like the merit of praying the obligatory prayer in the masjid over praying it at home.” This was narrated by Al-Tabarani and this is because it is less likely that one will show off.
If one needs to choose between a merit connected with the act of worship itself and between a merit connected with the place or time of its performance, then it is better to select the merit connected to the act of worship itself.
And what Shaykh al-Islam Zakariyya intends by the supererogatory prayer in the former [i.e., the prayer that is superior to be performed during the night] is a wholly supererogatory prayer and in the latter [i.e., the prayer that is superior to be performed at home], he intends the supererogatory prayer that is not recommended to be prayed in a group.”
البيت ؟
فعلُها في جماعةٍ كالتراويح ففعلُها في المسجد أفضل. قال شيخُ الإسلام زكريا في”شرح الروض” :” ( وتطوعُ الليل ) أي : والتطوع فيه ( وفي البيت أفضلُ منه في النهار ) لخبر مسلم الآتي ( و ) في ( المسجد ) لما مرَّ في صفة الصلاة، ولخبر:” فضلُ صلاة النفل في البيت على مثلها في المسجد كفضلِ صلاة الفريضة في المسجد
على فضلِها في البيت “. رواه الطبراني ولبُعده عن الرياء . وهذا من قاعدة أنه إذا دار الأمرُ بين فضيلةٍ تتعلق بنفس العبادة وفضيلةٍ تتعلق بمكانها أو زمانها
، فالمتعلق بنفسها أولى . ومراده بالتطوع في الأولى النفلُ المطلق، وفي الثانية النفلُ الذي لا تسن له الجماعة “. اهـ