And during a part of the night, keep awake by the prayer. It is beyond what is incumbent on you; maybe your Lord will raise you to a position of great glory.(Quran 17:79)
Surely getting up at night is the best means of subduing the self and is more suitable for uprightness in speech. (73:6)
(73:7) You are indeed much occupied during the day with the affairs of the world.(73:8) So remember the name of your Lord and devote yourself to Him with exclusive devotion
(73:20) (O Prophet), your Lord knows that you sometimes stand up in Prayer nearly two-thirds of the night, and sometimes half or one-third of it, and so does a party of those with you; Allah measures the night and the day. He knows that you cannot keep an accurate count of it, so He has shown mercy to you. So now recite as much of the Qur'an as you can. He knows that there are among you those who are sick and others who are journeying in the land in quest of Allah's bounty, and still others who are fighting in the cause of Allah. So recite as much of the Qur'an as you easily can, and establish Prayer, and pay Zakah, and give Allah a goodly loan. Whatever good you send forth for yourselves, you shall find it with Allah. That is better and its reward is greater.26 And ask for Allah's forgiveness; surely He is Most Forgiving, Most Compassionate.
The Tahajjud prayer is a Nafl prayer, implying that it is optional and missing it isn’t counted as a sin. The Tahajjud prayer is usually performed after Isha (which is the compulsory nightly prayer) and before performing Fajr (the mandatory morning prayer). Tahajjud means to give up sleep, which is why this prayer is preferably performed during the last third of the night. It is believed with firm faith by the believers that Allah comes down to the lowest heaven during this part of the night to see who is dedicatedly worshipping and leaving their sleep in the middle of the night.
Once a believer gets into the habit of rising from his sleep at night and starts to offer Salat ut Tahajjud, the whole complexion of his life changes. In fact once a believer develops the habit of offering this night prayer, he can never be at rest in his sleep. Rather he automatically gets up and offers salat ut Tahajjud in a manner that that while ends up with his prayer and offering Dua/supplications, the time of pre dawn prayer (Fajr) would have almost reached. Such believers are sure to earn many blessings of Allah, and brings them closer to Allah and are always on the Straight Path forever.
“And they who pass the night prostrating themselves before their Lord and standing.” (Quran, 25:64)
Prophet of Allah has been quoted as saying: “The Lord descends every night to the lowest heaven when one-third of the night remains and says: ‘Who will call upon Me, that I may answer Him? Who will ask of Me, that I may give him? Who will seek My forgiveness that I may forgive him?’” (Bukhari, Muslim)
The closest that a servant comes to his Lord is during the middle of the latter portion of the night. If you can be among those who remember Allah the Exalted One at that time, then do so. — At-Tirmidhi
It has been narrated by Narrated Ibn `Abbas that When the Prophet (ﷺ) got up at night to offer the Tahajjud prayer, he used to say:
Allahumma lakal-hamd. Anta qaiyyimus-samawati wal-ard wa man fihinna. Walakal-hamd, Laka mulkus-samawati wal-ard wa man fihinna. Walakal-hamd, anta nurus-samawati wal-ard. Wa lakal-hamd, anta-l-haq wa wa'duka-lhaq, wa liqa'uka Haq, wa qauluka Haq, wal-jannatu Han wan-naru Haq wannabiyuna Haq. Wa Muhammadun, sallal-lahu'alaihi wasallam, Haq, was-sa'atu Haq. Allahumma aslamtu Laka wabika amantu, wa 'Alaika tawakkaltu, wa ilaika anabtu wa bika khasamtu, wa ilaika hakamtu faghfir li ma qaddamtu wama akh-khartu wama as-rartu wama'a lantu, anta-l-muqaddim wa anta-l-mu akh-khir, la ilaha illa anta (or la ilaha ghairuka).
(O Allah! All the praises are for you, You are the Holder of the Heavens and the Earth, And whatever is in them. All the praises are for You; You have the possession of the Heavens and the Earth And whatever is in them. All the praises are for You; You are the Light of the Heavens and the Earth And all the praises are for You; You are the King of the Heavens and the Earth; And all the praises are for You; You are the Truth and Your Promise is the truth, And to meet You is true, Your Word is the truth And Paradise is true And Hell is true And all the Prophets (Peace be upon them) are true; And Muhammad is true, And the Day of Resurrection is true. O Allah ! I surrender (my will) to You; I believe in You and depend on You. And repent to You, And with Your help I argue (with my opponents, the non-believers) And I take You as a judge (to judge between us). Please forgive me my previous And future sins; And whatever I concealed or revealed And You are the One who make (some people) forward And (some) backward. There is none to be worshipped but you.
Sufyan said that `Abdul Karim Abu Umaiya added to the above, 'Wala haula Wala quwata illa billah' (There is neither might nor power except with Allah). [Sahi Bukhari - (1)Chapter: The Tahajjud Prayer at night][4]
Many a Muslim complain that they do not get up at the time of night prayer and feel sad for missing it altogether. The reason is that we are generally in the habit of sleeping late, whiling away our time by going out with friends and family or get our selves busy in many forms of entertainment for which we get time only at night. Surfing our mobile phones aimlessly and spending time in chatting with friends makes us so tired that we hardly get any time to sleep to get up in time for the pre dawn prayer.
It is up to us to set right our priorities as the Prophet of Allah had been asked to offer this night prayer as he used to be busy during day time. We should offer our Isha prayer (the last of the five obligatory prayers) and should try to sleep as early as possible so that have a rest of at least two to three hours before time for Salat-ut-Tahajjud commences.
We will explain the modalities of offering Salt ut Tahajjud in one of our next posts. You may also consult the posts given at the reference below.
Note: The explanation of above quoted verses has been avoided. However those desirous of their explanation/tafsir/exegesis, may please read our exclusive post on Surah: Surah Al-Muzzammil (The Enfolded One): Exegesis/Tafsir of 73rd Chapter of Qur'an.
You may refer to our reference page: As Salat / Prayers for any Q&A you may have with regard to prayers.
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