It Actually Starts with Tahajjud

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Dr. Omar Suleiman - "It Actually Starts with Tahajjud"

Opening

We begin by praising Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and bearing witness that none has the right to be worshipped or unconditionally obeyed except for him. And we bear witness that Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم is his final messenger. We ask Allah to send his peace and blessings upon him, the prophets and messengers that came before him, his family and companions that served alongside him and those that follow in his blessed path until the day of judgment and we ask Allah to make us amongst them.

The Role of Qiyam al-Layl

Dear brothers and sisters, typically when we talk about the effect that we are having on the rest of the ummah, there is this sense of introspection that's lacking. What role am I playing at the spiritual level when it comes to everyone else? And so you can talk about the role of sins and bringing about burden or you could talk about the role of dua and bringing about relief.

But subhanAllah, there's a very specific act of worship that distinguishes us from everyone else and many people would think that this act of worship is for this small group of people. It's for the awliya. It's for this small group of friends of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that not many people can do and some would even say that it's unwise to even talk about this act of worship when people are struggling with the bare minimum.

So someone might say, why would you talk about qiyam al-layl? Why would you talk about the night prayer when most Muslims are struggling to even pray five times a day? And I'm going to tell you exactly why and why it's so important in this moment.

Two Key Points

If a person is not praying five times a day, then it could be that they are a source of sin upon this ummah. But if a person wants to be a source of strength for this ummah, then that's where qiyam comes in. That's number one.

Number two, it could be that in that night prayer that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala provokes in you a sweetness in your talking to him, in your relationship with him, in those moments of being alone that actually transforms the quality of your five salawats. If you learn to enjoy your qiyam, if you learn to enjoy two rak'ahs at night, that can actually transform all five of your prayers during the day.

Because you actually would have had some meaning in it, and you're not thinking about everything that has to come and everything that you have to do.

The Quranic Foundation

Allah Azawajal tells the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم that verily the night and in the night it is a time where you can develop greater strength, and you're less distracted because

There's so much that you have to do during the day. And so the quality that you gain from two rak'ahs at night can transform five prayers of the day. But there's something else that I really want us to get to.

And I say this, by the way, subhanAllah, that this is something that we should all aspire to, starting with myself. This is a deed that we should struggle with, and this is a deed that I am struggling with, and this is a deed that I hope all of us will struggle with, bi'idhnillahi ta'ala.

That in this moment in particular, there is nothing that can build us for the moment like qiyam as individuals and as societies. There is nothing that can give us victory over those who oppress us, like this particular act of worship.

The Prophet's Inaugural Speech in Medina

And I want to take you back to the moment that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم comes to Medina, and he gives his inauguration speech. And you've all heard this many times, but I want you to pay attention to the only thing that differentiates this speech, or the main thing that differentiates this speech from anything that anyone had ever heard before.

he gathers all the people, the Muslims, the Jews of Medina, the polytheists of Medina, the people that, maybe the few Christians in Medina, people of all different backgrounds and faiths, right? They're coming around to hear what this man is going to say, صلى الله عليه وسلم in Medina, when he finally has a platform, he can finally speak. Because in Mecca, they didn't allow him to speak in public, صلى الله عليه وسلم they persecuted him, صلى الله عليه وسلم in his own home.

"O people, spread peace."

Now, if you're not Muslim, you can appreciate, spread peace, أَفْتُوا السَّلام and of course we have the specific greeting السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ but it's more than that. Because so many Muslims say السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ but they intend everything else, except for salam, when they give it to you. They say السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ peace be on to you, but everything under the words of salam is not salam.

Right, so السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ is an intention towards your brother as well السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ peace be on to you, an intention from sister to sister as well السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ peace be on to you,أفشوا السَّلام spread peace, not just with your words, but with everything else.

Alright, if I'm someone who's hearing the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم for the first time, I've heard something like that before.

feed the poor beautiful.

Salam is what Jesus, peace be upon him, used to say in the Bible, right, even now, peace be on to you. This is the greeting of the Prophets

Feed the poor, we can find this noble trait in multiple ways of life. Of course we want to excel with it, and we have a different push towards it, but feed the people, and especially the poor.

And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم says

and connect your families, establish the ties of kinship. This is a beautiful trait, a beautiful quality, that has a universal manifestation.

The Distinguishing Element

Then he says

"Pray at night while other people are sleeping."

Stand up and pray at night when everybody else goes to sleep.

"You'll enter paradise in peace." This is different.

SubhanAllah, in the narration of Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-Aas

"worship الرَّحْمَن." Who is الرَّحْمَنِ? Never heard of الرَّحْمَن before. The most merciful.

and so on and so forth. Spread peace and feed the people."

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is saying that the way this society is going to be established and distinguish itself, the secret ingredient beyond what we already know, of the good things that Allah has put in us to naturally incline towards, the secret ingredient is going to be that those same people that are spreading peace, those same people that are feeding the poor, those same people that are working, are not making an excuse for themselves to not fight with their bodies and stand up to replenish their souls at night.

This is what's going to be your secret ingredient to building this society, O Ansar, in a way that no one has ever built a society before. This is where it's going to come down to, the characters that build the culture of Medina.

- A very specific group of people stand up and pray at night when other people go to sleep.

The Connection Between Mecca and Medina

SubhanAllah, there's a connection here. The first address in Medina that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم gives to the people is, stand up and pray at night.

And the first address that Allah gives to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم in Mecca in his most devastating times, when he's alone in society is

Of the first words, O you who is wrapped up, stand up at night and pray, except for a little bit.

Push yourself, O Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم. Because in Medina you need to build a society. But in Mecca you need to build a character, you need to build a certain type of spiritual resilience that's going to allow you to deal with oppression. In Mecca you have to resist the society that wants you to be something you're not. In Medina you have to build a society that no one has ever seen before.

And the secret ingredient of both of those is gonna be your willingness to stand up and pray at night. Because you're gonna nurture something in those moments that no one else can nurture. You're going to kindle a fire in your heart in those moments, that no one else knows what it's like to kindle.

But you have to be willing to put in that sacrifice.

The History of Night Prayer

Before Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala made the five prayers obligatory, He made qiyam al-layl obligatory on the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. He made the night prayer obligatory on the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and the believers by extension.

Then once Allah revealed the five obligatory prayers, then the second part of al-muzzammil was revealed as Aisha رضي الله عنها said, which turned it into a voluntary prayer. So you will not be punished on the day of judgment for not praying qiyam al-layl. It's not obligatory.

And I wanna make that very clear. But in this moment, subhanAllah, you wanna build yourself as an individual? You wanna build a society? It's the secret ingredient. It's the secret ingredient of victory.

The Secret of Victory

When Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala talks about the battle of Badr, when the Muslims were outnumbered by those who had no good intentions towards them and wanted to do all sorts of things towards them.

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does not attribute the victory that came to them through the archers, or the way that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was able to develop a scheme where he could deal with, you know, this genocidal group of people that outnumbered him.

The victory came last night when you were in the tents and you were making dua to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

You were supplicating your Lord - That's when Allah answered you. When you were in the tent the night before. It wasn't what you put together the day of. It was the night before.

The Example of Salahuddin

And we know the famous story of Salahuddin Al-Ayubi rahimahullah. When he was dealing with the crusaders, trying to retake Jerusalem from the crusaders. What does he do in Hattin? He goes through the tents. Not yet, not yet, not yet.

But when he sees the lights on in the tents, now we're ready. When he sees that these people who are dealing with the brutal conditions of war against the crusaders of all people, who have seen horrors that none of us can even imagine, even in this time. And he goes around and he sees them by themselves.

Waking up and praying at night. Now it's there. Now that ingredient is there.

The Power of Dua at Night

In our personal lives. Dua is an arrow. Dua is a connection between you and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala over those who commit dhulm against you.

And on a community level, dua is an arrow that we have against those who oppress our ummah. It is a connection from us to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. It is the secret ingredient. It is the distinguishing factor.

Addressing Common Concerns

Now again, someone is like, I can barely pray five times a day. I'm struggling with fajr. I'm struggling with isha. I'm struggling with asr in the middle of my work day. Why are you giving a khutbah about qiyam?

Dear brothers and sisters, we've all adjusted ourselves in these last few months in some way. I guarantee you that your social media usage has probably gone up, right? As you're consumed by what's happening. I guarantee you that your thoughts have shifted. I guarantee you that your emotions have shifted.

Your priorities have shifted. Your perspectives have shifted. What better time than for all of us to say, you know what? I'm gonna take on this habit.

Once a week. Twice a week. And if I taste the sweetness of it, it might inject the sweetness that I needed in my Salah. And it might give us the victory that we need over ourselves. And then over those that oppress us. Because if you win that battleground, then you can win any battle.

And if you gain that peace, then the Jannah is in your heart before you attain any likeness of Jannah in this world or Jannah in the hereafter. But it takes a sacrifice. And I know all of us right now are thinking about the ways that we can help.

And there's nothing like du'a that can help. And there's nothing like du'a in the last third of the night that can help. And that comes from you as an individual.

Call to Action

Build the individual in Mecca. Build the society in Medina. Think about Badr. Think about Hattin. Go back to yourself and say, you know what? Even if I'm struggling with my five daily prayers, I'm gonna struggle with one night a week. Two nights a week.

And then you're not just only, not a source of sin to the ummah. You're actually a source of strength to the ummah as well.

Closing Dua

May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give us all the ability to stand up and pray at night. And may He inject sweetness into all of our prayers. And may He put success in the prayers that we make. And may He allow our prayers to be a source of comfort and security and victory and goodness to us and to the world around us, to our ummah in Gaza, to our ummah in Palestine, to our ummah all over the world.

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