Taraweeh Prayers In Ramadan

When the month of Ramadan begins, Muslims enter
into a period of discipline and worship:  fasting during
the day, and praying throughout the day and night.
During Ramadan, special evening prayers are
conducted during which long portions of the Qur'an
are recited.  These special prayers are known as
taraweeh.
The word taraweeh comes from an Arabic word
which means to rest and relax.  The prayer can be
very long (well over an hour), during which one
stands upright to read from the Qur'an and
performs many cycles of movement (standing,
bowing, prostrating, sitting).  After each four cycles,
one sits for a brief period of rest before continuing --
this is where the name taraweeh ("rest prayer")
comes from.
During the standing portions of the
prayer, long sections of the Qur'an are read.  The
Qur'an is divided into equal parts (called juz ) for the
purpose of reading sections of equal length during
each of the Ramadan nights.  Thus, 1/30 of the
Qur'an is read on successive evenings, so that by the
end of the month the entire Qur'an has been
completed.
It is recommended that Muslims attend the taraweeh
prayers in the mosque (after 'isha , the last evening
prayer), to pray in congregation. This is true for both
men and women. However, one may also perform
the prayers individually at home. These prayers are
voluntary, but are strongly recommended and widely
practiced.
There has been some dispute about how long the
taraweeh prayer is supposed to be: 8 or 20 raka'at
(cycles of prayer). It is without dispute, however, that
when praying the taraweeh prayer in congregation,
one should start and end with the imam, according to
the number that he performs. Night prayers in
Ramadan are a blessing, and one should not argue
about this fine point. For more details about the
evidence in support of each opinion, please see the
articles linked below.
Saudi Arabia television broadcasts the taraweeh
prayers live from Mecca, Saudi Arabia, now with
simultaneous subtitling of the English translation. See
the links below to watch.