What is your comment on the action of Omar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, in gathering people behind one reciter for the Tarawih prayer, and his saying, “What a blessed innovation this is, and that which you sleep about is better than that which you perform”? And do we conclude from this that praying Tarawih individually at home is better than performing it in congregation in the mosque?

What 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, did by gathering people for the Tarawih prayer behind a single Imam is a Sunnah (definition) derived from the action of the Prophet, may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him. 'Umar sometimes prayed Tarawih in his home, due to his personal reasoning (ijtihad (definition)) that this was preferable. This has also been authentically reported from a group of the Salaf, such as Ibn Hurmuz, Rabi'ah, and Malik. The majority opinion is that praying Tarawih in congregation in the mosque is superior, and this is the preferred view for Abu Hanifa, Ahmad, and one of the two opinions of Al-Shafi'i. Malik and Al-Shafi'i, in another opinion, held that praying it at home is better for those capable of doing so. Some madhhabs considered congregational Tarawih prayer in the mosque to be a communal obligation (fard kifayah), and deemed neglecting it to be an offense if it led to the abandonment of the mosque.