Reading from the Qur'an While Leading Taraweeh Prayer I am in a small town of US, and there are only 8 to 10 Muslims who pray together. This small community is divided on performance of Taraweeh Salah . Being a small community it is hard to find a Hafiz to lead Taraweeh prayers so A brother is leading prayers with small Qur'an in hand and reciting from there but our other brothers have strong objections as such prayers are wrong as you cannot read from anywhere when you are leading or following any prayers. So, because of this we are only 4 or 5 Muslims praying Taraweeh together. It was decided to get a fatwah [religious opinion] so I need your immediate attention to this matter. Reply It is generally believed that it is essential to complete the Qur'an from the beginning to end in the Taraweeh prayer. This is not correct. Taraweeh is actually a substitute of the Tahajjud prayer, allowed for those people who have difficulty in waking up in the middle of the night - the prescribed time for the Tahajjud prayer. The Prophet (pbuh) offered his Tahajjud prayer with a longer qiyaam [standing position] than was the case in other prayers. This obviously meant that in Tahajjud prayer the Prophet recited a larger portion of the Qur'an as compared to that in other prayers. It seems that this factor later prompted the Muslims to make a tradition of reciting the whole of the Qur'an in Taraweeh prayer during the month of Ramadhan . It should be clear in view of the above explanation that: Taraweeh prayer is not an obligatory prayer; It is not essential to offer the Taraweeh or Tahajjud prayer in congregation; If no one in the community is a Hafiz or remembers a large portion of the Qur'an, yet people want to offer this prayer in congregation, the person leading the prayer may read out aloud from the Qur'an - as there is nothing that prohibits such an act in extra-obligatory prayers; The best and the most desirable way of offering this prayer is to offer it alone at the time prescribed for the Tahajjud prayers. I hope this helps. In case any aspect of my answer remains unclear, please feel free in writing back to me at your own convenience. May the Almighty guide us all to the path of His liking. Regards The Learner