The Tahajjud prayer (i.e the night prayer) is the best prayer after the obligatory prayers.

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: The best prayer after the obligatory prayer is prayer at night.(Narrated by Muslim)

How to pray the Tahajjud prayer

1 Time for the Tahajjud prayer 
 
The Time of Tahajjud prayer starts after Isha prayer. It is preferred to pray Tahajjud after the middle of the night and the best time to pray the Tahajjud prayer is in the last third of the night.

 ‘Aa’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) used to pray eleven rakahs at night, and say the tasleem after each two rakahs, and he would pray Witr with one rakah. Saheeh, ( agreed upon)

How to calculate the middle of the Night

The way to calculate the middle of the night is by taking the time difference  between the start of maghrib prayer and the start of the Fajr prayer and dividing by two then adding that result to the start of the Maghrib prayer.

For instance if Maghrib prayer started at 7 pm and Fajr prayer started at 4 am. Then the Maghrib and Fajr are 9 hours apart from each other.

So we divide 9 by 2= 4 hours and 30 minutes .
Next we add this to the start of Maghrib (i.e. 7pm)

Thus Middle of the night will be 7 + 4 hours and 30 minutes = 11.30 pm

How to calculate the last third of the night

 To find the time for the last third of the might we know that the difference between start of Maghrib and Fajr is 9 hrs.

Therefore to find the last third of the night we divide 9 by 3=3hrs.

Since start of Fajr is 4 am. the last third of the night is 3 hrs before fajr thus 4am -3hrs=1am

So the best time to pray Tahajjud would be between 1am -4am.

2. The Performance of Tahajjud prayer

The Tahajjud prayer is performed by praying a 2 rakkahs then another two rakkahs and then another two rakkahs and then another 2 rakkahs
and finally another two rakkahs (a total of 8 rakkahs) after this the Witr prayer is performed.

Some Muslims pray 4 by 4 rakkahs but  scholars say that it should be 2 by 2 by 2 by 2 because there is a hadith of Ibn ‘Umar according to which a man asked the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) about prayer at night. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Prayers at night are to be offered two by two (two rakahs at a time). If any of you fears that the time of dawn is approaching then let him pray one rak’ah as Witr.” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 846; Muslim, 749)

Also the hadith of Aisha quoted about also mentions the Prophet peace be upon him performing 2 rakkahs and saying Taslim.

The Hadith of Aisha specifies how many rakahs were prayed in total.

So you should pray 2 rakahs, then another 2 rakahs, then another 2 rakahs and then another 2 rakahs. After this you should  pray the  witr prayer.

For those who may be new to Islam each set of  two rakkahs are prayed similar to the two rakkahs of the Fajr prayer.

Importance and bennefits of praying the Tahajjud prayer

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: The best prayer after the obligatory prayer is prayer at night.(Narrated by Muslim)

Ali said: The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: In Paradise there are apartments the outside of which can be seen from the inside and the inside of which can be seen from the outside. A Bedouin stood up and said: Who are they for, O Messenger of Allaah?  He said: They are for those who speak good words, feed others, fast regularly and pray to Allaah at night when people are sleeping.  (Classed as hasan by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Tirmidhi.)

Al-Haakim narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: Jibreel came to me and said: O Muhammad, live as long as you want, for you will die. Love whomever you want, for you will leave him. Do whatever you want for you will be requited for it. Remember that the believer’s honour is his praying at night, and his pride is his being independent of people.(Classed as hasan by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaamia) .

The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: Whoever prays qiyaam reciting ten verses will not be recorded as one of the negligent. Whoever prays qiyaam reciting one hundred verses will be recorded as one of the devout. Whoever prays qiyaam reciting one thousand verses will be recorded as one of the muqantireen.
Narrated by Abu Dawood, 1398; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh Abi Dawood

Muqantireen are those people who will be given a qintaar of reward. Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: A qintaar is better than this world and everything in it. Classed as hasan by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Targheeb, 638.

And the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: You should pray qiyaam al-layl, for it is the custom of the righteous who came before you and it brings you closer to your Lord, and expiates sins and prevents misdeeds.
(Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, 3549; classed as hasan by al-Albaani in Irwaa al-Ghaleel, 452.)

Allah says :

“Verily, the Muttaqun (pious ) will be in the midst of Gardens and Springs (in the Paradise),

Taking joy in the things which their Lord has given them. Verily, they were before this Muhsinun (good-doers).

They used to sleep but little by night [invoking their Lord (Allah) and praying, with fear and hope].”

[al-Dhaariyaat 15-17]

Allah says:

“And in some parts of the night (also) offer the Salat (prayer) with it , as an additional prayer (Tahajjud optional prayer Nawafil) for you (O Muhammad ). It may be that your Lord will raise you to Maqaman Mahmuda (a station of praise and glory, i.e. the highest degree in Paradise!).
[al-Israa 79]

Allah says:

 “O you wrapped in garments (i.e. Prophet Muhammad )!

Stand (to pray) all night, except a little.

Half of it, or a little less than that,

Or a little more; and recite the Qur’an (aloud) in a slow, (pleasant tone and) style .

Verily, We shall send down to you a weighty Word (i.e. obligations, legal laws, etc.).

Verily, the rising by night (for Tahajjud prayer) is very hard and most potent and good for governing (the soul), and most suitable for (understanding) the Word (of Allah).”
[al-Muzzamil 1-6]

Allah says :

“Only those believe in Our Ayaat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.), who, when they are reminded of them, fall down prostrate, and glorify the Praises of their Lord, and they are not proud.
Their sides forsake their beds, to invoke their Lord in fear and hope, and they spend (in charity in Allah’ss Cause) out of what We have bestowed on them.
No person knows what is kept hidden for them of joy as a reward for what they used to doa”
[al-Sajdah 15-17]

Allah describes them elsewhere in the following terms :

“And He it is Who has put the night and the day in succession, for such who desires to remember or desires to show his gratitude.”And those who spend the night before their Lord, prostrate and standing.

And those who say: “Our Lord! Avert from us the torment of Hell. Verily! Its torment is ever an inseparable, permanent punishment.”

Evil indeed it (Hell) is as an abode and as a place to dwell.

And those, who, when they spend, are neither extravagant nor niggardly, but hold a medium (way) between those (extremes).

And those who invoke not any other ilah (god) along with Allah, nor kill such life as Allah has forbidden, except for just cause, nor commit illegal sexual intercourse and whoever does this shall receive the punishment.

The torment will be doubled to him on the Day of Resurrection, and he will abide therein in disgrace;

Except those who repent and believe (in Islamic Monotheism), and do righteous deeds, for those, Allah will change their sins into good deeds, and Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

And whosoever repents and does righteous good deeds, then verily, he repents towards Allah with true repentance.

And those who do not witness falsehood, and if they pass by some evil play or evil talk, they pass by it with dignity.

And those who, when they are reminded of the Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) of their Lord, fall not deaf and blind thereat.

And those who say: “Our Lord! Bestow on us from our wives and our offspring who will be the comfort of our eyes, and make us leaders for the Muttaqun” (pious – ).”

Those will be rewarded with the highest place (in Paradise) because of their patience. Therein they shall be met with greetings and the word of peace and respect.

Abiding therein; excellent it is as an abode, and as a place to dwell.[al-Furqaan 64-76]

 Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was on a journey, on top of his mount, whichever direction it was facing, gesturing the motions of the night prayer, except the obligatory prayer, and he prayed Witr atop his mount. ( Bukhari and Muslim)

It was the habit of the sahabah to pray the Tahajjud prayer. This is why the spies of the Romans described the Muslims as MONKS BY NIGHT AND WARRIORS BY DAY to Caesar who upon hearing this realised that fighting them was impossible and advised his people to avoid a fight but his generals disagreed with him because they knew the Muslim were poor, low in number and had very inferior weapons and thus on paper it seemed like an easy fight.  The Roman generals thought they would give this Muslim Army a humiliating trashing and make them feel inferior.

In one battle 250 000 Western Christian Army (Romans) made of  well trained, and well fed disciplined soldiers in their dazzling uniforms with the latest weapons of that time met just 40 0000 Mujahideen.

Sahabah (companions) of the Prophet peace be upon him had worn out cloths which were torn and had been stitched or remained torn. They had not had a decent meal maybe for months. Their equipment was very poor. So they didn’t look like a match for the Strong professional Roman army.

On seeing their humble state the Roman general Mahan told the Muslim general Khalid bin Waleed :

“It looks as if poverty, nakedness and starvation has compelled you to come here. If you wish I am willing to give you 10 dinars, expensive cloths and good food. You can take these things and leave.

Next year I can send you these things; you do not have to take the trouble to come here.”

Khalid bin Walid replied
“Mahan listen to me very carefully! You are mistaken about the reason why we are here. We are people who drink the blood of our opponents. We have herd Roman blood is very delicious and we have come to enjoy it.”

Saying this he spurred his horse on, waving the flag of Islam, he shouted Allah-hu Akbar and ordered his troops to attack the enemy.
Brimming with the turbulent emotions of jihad and the will and a desire to achieve martyrdom, he addressed the Mujahideen “Companions! Advance! The cool breeze of Paradise waits to welcome us, and triumph and glory is waiting for us”

On hearing these words from their leader, the Mujahideen fell on the huge Christian army in a massive attack and started to tear it into pieces. On the first day alone they had killed 120 000 Christians soldiers. The Christian Romans were so afraid of a humiliating defeat they started to flee and began to retreat fast.

One should note that Khalid bin Waleed was given the title the sword of Allah by the Prophet peace be upon him and obviously it is haram for Muslims to even drink the blood of animals that’s why we cut the jugular vein of the animals and let the blood drain out and then cook and eat the meat. However, Khalid was a military genius and thus he knew what to say to his opponents.

The rest of the Sahabah nor the Prophet peace be upon him nor Allah criticized him for saying what he said. However if a Mujahid of today used such sentences against the enemies of Islam the he vast majority of Muslims of today would attack him, say he doesn’t represent Islam and even say he isn’t a Muslim.

Allah says about Sahabah:

“And the first to embrace Islam of the Muhajiroon (the Emigrants from Makkah) and the Ansar (the citizens of Al-Madeenah who helped the Muhajiroon) and also those who followed them exactly (in Faith). Allah is well-pleased with them as they are well pleased with Him. He has prepared for them Gardens under which rivers flow, to dwell therein forever. That is the supreme success.” [9:100]

Allah says (to the sahabah):

“You  are the best of peoples ever raised up for mankind; you enjoin Al-Maruf(i.e. Islamic Monotheism and all that Islam has ordained) and forbid Al-Munkar(polytheism, disbelief and all that Islam has forbidden), and you believe in Allah...” (Quran 3: 110).

Umar bin Khattab (raa) as he consulted his companions regarding sending troops to ‘Iraq (for participating in the battle of Nahawand). ‘Ali bin Abi Talib (raa) said to him (‘Umar): “O Chief of the believers! This matter cannot be “victory or defeat” because of a great number, or a small number but it is His (Allah’s) Religion which He has made superior and His troops which he has honoured and supported (them) with the angels till it reached (far) what it has reached. We have been promised (victory) by Allah, and Allah fulfils His Promise and supports His troops.”

Tahajjud prayer raises a Muslims emaan, you will be praying at a time when people are asleep and nobody can see you except Allah. Whenever I had prayed Tahajjud I get that extra sense of peace and tranquillity, I would imagine most others do the same.

If a person doesn’t feel that then maybe they are not praying sincerely or not focused in their prayer.

Sometimes shaytaan keeps whispering things to us whilst we are praying in order to distract us from the prayer. So  we get distracted and are not focussed.

We must remember that all acts of worship must firstly be in accordance with Islam and secondly they have to be for Allah and not for the people, nor for family, nor for fame, nor for money etc.

Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: Give glad tidings to this ummah of splendour, religion, high rank, victory and prevalence on earth. Whoever does the deeds of the Hereafter to gain some worldly benefit, will have no share of the Hereafter. (Reported by Ahmad. Saheeh al-Jaamia, 2825).

May Allah gives us all the tawfeeq to perform the Tahajjud prayer and perform all that which please Allah and keep us away from all that displeases Allah Ameen.

Muslimconverts.com Admin