TheRamadanOfShaykhAl-hadithMuhammadZakariyyaKandhelviAndOurEldersByShaykhDrMuhammadIsmailMemonMadani

the ramadan of shaikh muĤ ammud zakariyyĀled the congregation in tarāwīĥ. He was strict upon the Sunnas,therefore I wished to narrate every aspect of Ĥađrat’s tarāwīĥ forthe readers to benefit from and practice upon. In the month ofRamadan, the adhān of ‘Ishā was given one hour and forty minutesafter sunset and the congregation stood 45 minutes later. Therecitation was not long in the obligatory śalāt. It was mostly suraslike Sūrat al-Ţīn and Sūrat al-Fīl. In tarāwīĥ, he recited fluidly andslightly faster than in the obligatory śalāt, though every word waspronounced and clear and he was careful to follow the rules ofpronunciation [ikhfā and iżhār etc.] In the beginning, he recited 1½part, and then one part after that until the Qur’an was completedon the 27th. Altogether, the obligatory śalāt, tarāwīĥ, and witrtook one and a half hours and sometimes even less time. He readthe śalāt and salām twenty-five times in every interval [tarwīĥa]between four rak‘as in a slightly raised voice. When I asked Ĥađratabout it he replied, “The Shari‘a doesn’t prescribe anything so Iread what I like and I recite it twenty-five times so that people gettime to drink water or attend to there needs.”A short du‘ā is made after tarāwīĥ then witr. If an aya ofprostration is recited in tarāwīĥ, sometimes Ĥađrat would prostrateand sometimes he bowed.Ĥađrat recited bism Allāh loudly before Sūrat al-‘Alaq and recitedSūrat al-Ikhlās only once. When someone asked him about this,he replied, “The custom of reciting Sūrat al-Ikhlās three times isundesirable in the opinion of some scholars and permissible in theopinion of others. Therefore, to consider it desirable is a grave mistake.And the repetition of Sūrat al-Ikhlās in tarāwīĥ is mere custom.” 7575 ‘Ĥađrat recited bi Ism Allāh loudly before Sūrat al-‘Alaq’ indicates ShaikhThānwī’s personal preference of reciting the bi Ism Allāh before Sūrat al-‘Alaq.In the Ĥanafī madhhab, bi Ism Allāh is an aya of the Qura’n therefore it will berecited once loudly in order to complete the Qura’n.‘The custom of reciting Sūrat al-Ikhlās’ refers to a custom of that time. HađratShaikh Thānwī explains that if an act is made desirable after being permissibleonly, it becomes an innovation. Therefore, Hadrat Thānwī recited it only onceto eliminate the belief of it being desirable.138