During the blessed month of Ramadhan, the fast is performed with vigor by over one billion Muslims worldwide along with special nightly Tarawih prayers that hold great merit. According to Hazrat Ali Ibn Abi Talib (peace be on him), when he was asked about the virtue and reward of Tarawih, he said, “He who does it on the eve of the first night, becomes as spotlessly clean as when his mother bore him. No trace of sin remains. Except only where the rights of man or beast are concerned. What is due to them must absolutely be discharged. If you do the prayer on the second night, Allah will forgive your parents if they died in faith. If a person does it on the third night, an angel proclaims from beneath the Throne: “Your deed was pure” That is to say, he gives the good news that it has been accepted by Allah, and that your past sins have been pardoned. He who does it in the fourth night obtains a reward like that for having read the Holy Qur’an, the Gospel, the Torah, and all the enlightening books. Performance on the fifth night is given the reward for one who prays at the Sanctuary of the Ka’ba, the Holy Last Messenger’s Masjid, and the Al Aqsa Masjid. For one who does the tarawih on the sixth night, the reward is that of having circumambulated the Prosperous House, and rocks and trees seek forgiveness on his behalf, and on the seventh night, you are rewarded as if you had aided Hazrat Moses (peace be upon him), in his dispute with Pharaoh and Haman. The reward given for the eighth night is of that given to Hazrat Ibrahim (Abraham) peace be on him, the special friend of Allah, that is, being crowned with the crown of Intimate Friendship. He who performs it on the ninth night, becomes the beloved of Allah. Allah loves that servant, and on the tenth night is endowed with the goodly provisions of this world and the Hereafter. One who performs it on the eleventh night will reach his Lord on the day he returns as spotlessly clean as when his mother bore him. He who performs it on the twelfth night will come to the Place of Resurrection a happy and fortunate person as radiant as the moon seen on the fourteenth night of any month. The thirteenth night of performance he will stand secure from fear on the Plain of Arafat. All the angels witness the prayer of one who does the tarawih on the fourteenth night; that person escapes the reckoning on the Day of Resurrection.
