THE RAMADAN TARAWIH-NAFILA PROGRAMME OF MEDINA BAYE

By: Mustafa Briggs

 In preparation for the month of Ramadan, I asked Shaykh Tijani Rabbani, who sometimes leads tarawih currently in Medina Baye alongside his elder brother Cheikh Ould Rabbani, the son of Abdallah Rabbani, who was  the Mauritian scholar and master of Quran and student of Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse who was in charge of teaching his children and grandchildren the Qur’an and who was put in charge of leading Tarawih in Medina by Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse himself in the 50’s, for the method his family use to complete the Quran during Nafila Tarawih in Ramadan, following the method of Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse.

He told me, that in Medina Baye Tarawih in Ramadan is 10 Rakaat with Shaf’ and Witr (13 in total), in accordance with the Hadith narrated in the Muwatta of Imam Malik:

Yahya related to me from Malik from Hisham ibn Urwa from his father that A'isha, umm al-muminin said, "The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to pray thirteen rakas in the night and then would pray two rakas when he heard the adhan for the subh prayer."

‎وَحَدَّثَنِي عَنْ مَالِكٍ، عَنْ هِشَامِ بْنِ عُرْوَةَ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، عَنْ عَائِشَةَ أُمِّ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ، قَالَتْ كَانَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم يُصَلِّي بِاللَّيْلِ ثَلاَثَ عَشْرَةَ رَكْعَةً ثُمَّ يُصَلِّي إِذَا سَمِعَ النِّدَاءَ بِالصُّبْحِ رَكْعَتَيْنِ خَفِيفَتَيْنِ ‏.‏

As we know, the Quran is divided into 30 sections, or Juz, and each Juz is divided into two Hizb, and each hizb is divided into 4 rub’ or 8 thumun’ 

In each of the first 8 Rakat, a rub’ (Quater of a Hizb) is recited, until a Juz is reached and then in the last 2 Rakaat a Thumun, making it a Juz and a Rub’ in total for the first 10 Rakaat, then Shaf’ and Witr can be done with any surahs. 

This is done for the first 24 Nights of Ramadan, which if completed makes 54 Hizbs (or 27 Juz)

Then on the 25th, 26th and 27th night, a Juz is recited in each night over the 10 Rakaat; 

- a Rub’ in each of the first 6 Rakaat and 

- a Thumun in each of the next 4 Rakaat,

Allowing you to complete the whole Quran by the 27th Night which we know is celebrated in Medina Baye as Laylatul Khatm or the night of completion, or Laylatul Qadr. 

I wanted to share this information so that maybe if anyone of us wants to follow this programme at home they could do so, 

May Allah make it easy for us all this Ramadan and bless us in it, Ameen!