Praying Tahajjud in congregation according to the Hanafi School

23-11-2006 | IslamWeb

Question:

Can you please inform me whether one is permitted to perform Tahajjud prayer in congregation (Jamaat) according to Hanafi Mazhab.

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.

 

First of all, it should be mentioned that there is evidence in the Sunnah that it is permissible to perform congregational prayers other than obligatory prayers, like the optional night prayers and the like, as explained in Fatwa 85638 and 81929.

As regards the Hanafi School, it appears that they dislike congregational prayers when performing the  Tahajjud prayer [the optional night prayer] for a person who has already performed the Taraweeh prayer.

Al-Kasaani from the Hanafi School of jurisprudence, said: "If the congregation had performed the Taraweeh prayer and then they wanted to perform another prayer, they should perform it individually and not in congregation because this last one is an unrestricted voluntary prayer, and performing unrestricted voluntary prayers in congregation is disliked."

Allaah Knows best.