Is Taraweeh a Biddah/ Innovation?

Bidah is something that is invented in religion that is not part of it with the intention of worshipping Allah and getting closer to him. So, some say taraweeh is a bidah and this is not true. The Prophet Peace be upon him, himself initiated the sunnah and the Hadeeth is authentic.  The Prophet prayed taraweeh prayer leading the Companions for three or four nights and then he refrained, he stopped. So the companions started calling him out  Oh prophet of Allah come and pray like you prayed the previous night's we like it. So the Prophet came out to them and he said I have seen what you had done the previous nights, had I not feared  that Allah would obligate this prayer upon you I would have continued. So listen to the prophets Peace be upon him it's a good thing I love it I know you love it but because I was afraid that Allah would make it obligatory upon the Ummah, which would lead probably to hardship I stopped it I was so merciful to my Ummah I didn't want to burden them with more obligations. So the one who started it was the Prophet Peace be upon him after he died what he had feared does not exist anymore  and that is no one can't obligate night prayer because he's dead how can it be obligated  that is why when umar ibn al khattab may Allah be pleased with him in Ramadan went out to the Masjid he saw the Muslims praying in groups three people here ten people there five people here but they were not in congregation all of them. so he ordered ubay ibn ka'ab to lead them in Taraweeh so they all prayed congregation taraweeh behind one imam rather than being segregated and spread all over the masjid behind many Imams and when he saw this he approved it and said that this is something that is good and he used the word bidah but bidah here is not religious because in religion the origin is there which is the prophets Peace be upon him doing.Bidah here is the linguistic terminology which is something new  and because they were praying in groups, different groups what he had done is something new which is nice, described as bidah but it is not a religious bidah that is bad in Islam. Again, because the one who did it was prophet Peace be upon him so he revived his Sunnah sallallahu alehiwassallaam

Via: Sheikh Assim Al Hakeem