Answered by Shaykh Amjad Rasheed
The imam of our masjid has become accustomed to praying a supererogatory prayer with a group on Thursday nights, to get the reward of qiyam al-layl (prayer of the night). They only chose this particular night because those attending can’t come on any other night. So some people blamed this action and said it was a bid`a (reprehensible innovation) because the Prophet, Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, didn’t gather the Sahaba together to perform this type of prayer, other than the well-known prayers such as the two Eids. What do the scholars say about this?
What the imam of the masjid is doing is a good action that deserves great reward. The one who points out good is the same as the one who does it, and the one who begins a praiseworthy sunna, has the reward for it and the reward for whoever performs it after him, as has been stated in the rigorously authenticated hadith.
Those who blame him are mistaken and this indicates that they don’t know the sunna. This is because it has come in the two Sahihs [s. Bukhari and Muslim] and others, many hadiths that the Prophet, Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, prayed a supererogatory prayer in a group with the Sahaba, other than the well-known prayers that are prayed together. Imam al-Nawawi mentioned this in the Majmu`, and from that, “what has been related by the two Shaykhs from Ataban ibn Malik, may Allah be well pleased with him, that the Prophet, Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, came to his house, after the day had grown hot, with Abu Bakr, may Allah be well pleased with him, and the Prophet, Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, said, Where would you like me to pray in your home?’ So I pointed to the place where would like him to pray, so he stood and we made a row behind him, and he [s. finished off and] gave his final salams and we gave our final salams when he did.'”
Imam al-Nawawi said, “And this established that the group prayed a supererogatory prayer with the Prophet, Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him. This is from the narration of Ibn `Abbas and Anas and Ibn Malik and Ibn Mas`ud and Hudhayfa, may Allah be well-pleased with them all. And all of their hadiths are in the two Sahihs, except the hadith of Hudhayfa which is only in Muslim. And Allah knows best.”
Amjad Rasheed
[Translated by Sr. Shazia Ahmad]