Today I would like to talk about the salah of Tahajjud. Many people have asked me about the importance of this salah and so I thought that it was best to go through it.
We should all be striving to be pray the salah of Tahajjud at least once a week. We are all in the winter months where the nights are long and the days are short, which means that Tahajjud can be prayed until quite late in the night. For example in the UK one can pray Tahajjud right up to 6:10am maybe even later, now what a blessing that it from Allah ﷻ , yet we are still in our beds snoring away. When Allah ﷻ is asking us to ask him for forgiveness, for alleviation of debts, for blessings in earnings we are too busy in dreamland to answer, what a shame that it.
If we truly want to be friends of Allah ﷻ then my brothers and sisters we need to get out of our beds and answer Allah ﷻ . We can make many excuses, we are tired, we feel ill, we have got to go to work, I want to but I cant etc….the simple reason why we are not is because we don’t make sincere intention. If we went to sleep tonight with firm resolve that we will definitely get up for Tahajjud, then by Allah we would. We can get up to go to the clothes store when the sale is at 6 o’clock in the morning so that we can get a bargain but we can’t do it when palaces in Jannah are on offer from Allah. ﷻ !!!
There are many ways to get up for Tahajjud, the one I use is that I do not pray my witr with my Isha Salah. The shaitaan is our open enemy and he will try and push you away when you want to do a good deed. So because Tahajjud is Nafl salah, i.e. there is no sin if you do not pray them, then when you put the alarm on it is very easy to say, “I want to go back to bed its only nafl”. But Witr are Waajib so when you put the alarm on and the shaitaan begins to tempt you to go to sleep then your nafs will say to you that if you don’t get up then you will miss your witr and thus will become sinful. This prompts me to get up and if you use the same technique InshAllah it will prompt you as well. Just to clarify the best time to read the Witr is the last portion of the night after you have prayed Tahajjud. Witr should be the last thing you pray. But it is also correct to pray your Witr immediately after Isha salah and then still get up for Tahajjud in the last portion of the night.
Tahajjud is between 2 rakats and 12 rakats, Nabi صلى الله عليه و سلم used to pray 8 rakahs. I will provide more detail next week InshAllah.
May Allah ﷻ make it easy for us to get for Tahajjud and earn the immense reward that is on offer اَمِن
Tahajjud Part 1
Allah Most High said, “Establish worship at the going down of the sun until the dark of the night, and (the recital of) the Qur’an at dawn. Lo! (the recital of) the Qur’an at dawn is ever witnessed. And some part of the night awake for its recital, as voluntary worship for you. It may be that your Lord will raise you to a praised estate.” [Qur’an, 17: 78-79]
Abu Hurayra (Allah be pleased with him) reports that the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace be upon him, his family, and companions) said, “The best prayer after the obligatory prayers is the night prayer.” [Muslim]
Abu Hurayra (Allah be pleased with him) reports that the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace be upon him, his family, and companions) was asked, “What prayer is most virtuous, after the obligatory prayers?” He said, “Prayer in the depths of the night.” [Muslim, Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, Nasa’i, Ibn Majah]
Abd Allah ibn Salam (Allah be pleased with him) reports that the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace be upon him, his family, and companions) said, “O people! Spread the salams, feed others, maintain family ties, and pray at night when others sleep and you will enter Heaven safely.” [Tirmidhi, Hakim]
Abu Umama al-Bahili (Allah be pleased with him) reports that the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace be upon him, his family, and companions) said, “Hold fast to night prayer, for it was the way of the righteous before you, a way of drawing closer to your Lord, an expiation for wrong deeds, and a shield from sin.” [Tirmidhi, and others] In some narrations, there is an addition, “And it repels sickness from the body.”
وعليكم السلام ورحمة الله وبركات
بارك الله فيكم فى الدّارين
في امان الله
