ld be rendered void. "When ye go forth
to war in the land, it shall be no crime in you to cut short your prayers,
if ye fear lest the infidels come upon you. Verily, the infidels are your
undoubted enemies! And when thou, O Apostle! shalt be among them, and shalt
pray with them, then let a party of them rise up with thee, but let them
take their arms; and when they shall have made their prostrations, let them
retire to your rear: then let another party that hath not prayed come
forward, and let them pray with you." (Sura iv. 102, 103).

(iv). Salat-ut-Tarawih.--This is a special set of twenty rak'ats recited
every night during the month of Ramazan. They must be said after the farz
and sunnat, and before the witr rak'ats at the time of the Salat-ul-'Isha.
The Salat-ut-Tarawih is considered of sunnat obligation. The practice dates
from the time of the Khalif Omar. Abd-ur-Rahman, a Traditionist, states
that one night in Ramazan he went with Omar to the Mosque. They saw some
persons saying the Namaz alone and some reciting it in groups. Omar said:
"If I gather them all together, so that they may recite it after one Imam
it will be good." He did so, and the next night the people of their own
accord came in great numbers and united together. Then said Omar: "this
{206} bid'at is good." This is good authority for the institution, for the
Prophet said: "Follow my Sunnat and that of the Khulafa-i-Rashidin." There
is also a Hadis-i-Sahih to the effect that "God has made the fast of
Ramazan farz, and its qiam[210] sunnat." (Kutiba 'alaikum siamu Ramazana wa
sunna qiamuhu). The Prophet was anxious lest the Tirawih Namaz should
become farz and, therefore, after going to the Mosque on two successive
nights in Ramazan, he stayed away on the third, giving as his reason for so
doing that he feared that, if he went every night, it might be considered a
farz and not a sunnat duty.[211] The number of rak'ats is fixed at twenty,
as that was the number recited by Muhammad and by the Khalif Omar. The
Shia'hs do not say these prayers or even enter the Mosque on such
occasions, as after every four rak'ats an eulogium is repeated on the four
Khalifs--the first three of whom they hate.

(v). Salat-ul-Kusuf and Salat-ul-Khusuf--Prayer said when an eclipse of the
sun, or of the moon takes place. In the former case, the Imam recites with
the congregation in the Mosque two rak'ats. The Azan and the Iqamat are
both omitted. No Khutba is said. In each r