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Today we resume our Q&As that we do on Tuesday, and today insha'Allah I will answer a number of questions put together, which will be beneficial insha'Allah given that Ramadan is around the corner, and all of these questions deal with the reality of Salat al-Tarawih, what is the meaning of tarawih, what is the origin of tarawih?

What is the difference between tarawih and Qiyamul Layl versus Tahadjud versus Witter, so all of these different questions that have come and I'm just going to lump them together generically and give an insha'Allah an answer to the generic questions about the reality of Salat al-Tarawih.

So we begin by pointing out the Quranic terms. The Quranic terms for praying at night or two, both of them are found in the Quran.

The first is Qiyamul Layl and the second is Tahadjud. These are the Quranic terms for praying the nightly prayer.

The term tarawih is neither found in the Quran nor is it found in the Sunnah. It was coined as we will mention in a while by some early scholars perhaps in the second century of the Hijrah, and it did not become popular for at least another two, three hundred years.

We will find with great difficulty references to the term tarawih in the first three hundred years of Islam even though you will find a few, but the common term tarawih it became in the fifth century onwards.

The Quranic term, as we said, is Qiyamul Layl and Tahadjud. I just recited Surat al-Muzammil, and in the beginning of it, Muzammil is of course the second or the third revelation.

And Allah says in the second or third revelation, Ya'ahul Muzammil, Qiyamul Layl, Qiyamul Layl, Qiyamul Layl, stand the night. This is where we get Qiyamul Layl from.

Qiyamul Layl, Qiyamul Layl, is of course the night. The night of course is from the Maghrib Salah until the Fajr Salah. So you do the math. Maghrib is around 750 and Fajr is around 640.

So half of that is going to be around 5 hours. So Allah is saying, the second revelation that comes, Qumil Layla illa qalila nisfahu, Awil Qusmihu qalila, or a little bit less than this, ozid alay, or more than one half.

And in the last verse of Surat al-Muzammil, Allah, as I was just saying, that we know that you pray,

Qiyamul Layl, two thirds of the night, one is fahu, and sometimes half of it, wa thulu thahu, and sometimes one third of it,

wa al ta'ifatum min al-Adina ma'ak, and a group that is believing with you. So Allah mentions in the earliest revelation that command to pray.

And shortly afterwards, Allah, as I was just praying, the Prophet, as I'm enda sahaba, for praying two thirds or half or one third of the night.

This is Qiyamul Layl. As for the term ta'idud, Surat al-Isra, verse 97, wa min al-Layli fa ta'idjad bihi nafilat al-Laka.

And during the night, ta'idjad bihi, do the ta'idjud in it. And in the night, do the ta'idjud in it.

Perhaps by you doing so, Allah will raise you to the makam al-Mahmud. And of course, Allah praises Qiyamul Layl and Salat al-Tahidjud in half a dozen verses in the Qur'an.

And Allah describes the righteous as those who pray in the night.

They would sleep very little at night. These are the people of Jannah.

And in the last verses of Surat al-Furqan, Wa'ibadu Rahman, Allah describes Wa'ibadu Rahman.

And of those characteristics is Yaby Tuna. They spend the night sujjatan wa Qiyama, doing sujud and Qiyama.

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