This is a translation for a question posted at this link:
http://www.ahl-alquran.com/arabic/show_fatwa.php?main_id=339
Taraweeh Prayers:
Question Text
You have said that “ Suhoor” is not a part of Ramadan rituals. Does the same apply to Traweeh prsayers, having read that it was started during Omer Bin Al-Khattab’s reign
Ahmed Subhi Mansour’s reply:
God bless you. In the Glorious Quran, there is an exhortation for “night vigil”, through prayers, Quranic recitation, contemplating God’s creation etc…all of which fall under the Quranic expression “An-Nafeleh”, which roughly means “The Extras”. Where keeping “night vigil”, was of the extras performed by those, the God fearing, the devoted, the pious. “51: 17 They used to sleep but little of the night” .
Naturally, keeping vigil, through prayers and reading the Quran falls within those Extras.
To legislate that under a new term and to assign it in particular to Ramadan is an innovation in God's religion that should be avoided.
It is possible to offer the prayer, more of it, or less of it, wherever and whenever you can in Ramadan and in other months, seeking the face of God in your prayers, following the Quran and its verses, which encourage and call for the night vigil