Night Prayer - They Used to Sleep but Little of the Night

Night Prayer - They Used to Sleep but Little of the Night

Opening

(السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ - assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh)

(بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ - bismillahir-rahmanir-rahim)

(الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى رَسُولِ اللهِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَمَنْ تَبِعَهُ - alhamdulillahi wa salatu wa assalamu ala rasulillahi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man tabi'ah)

In the name of Allah, and praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and companions, and those who follow him.

Introduction: The Spirituality of Night

If you want to be a cool sheikh, an inside out cool sheikh, then you have to go talk to Sheikh Mohammed Faqir. Anyway, the sheikh said that we're going to have questions today.

Is this too loud? Is this really loud? I feel like it's really loud. Also, this is one of the only communities in which I feel like I'm in a sci-fi movie because of the headset. So the topic is, actually the topic, the broader topic is the night, and how the night relates to a believer.

One of the amazing things about the night time is that the night time is very special whether you're a believer or not. One of the things that psychologists often discuss is that nights are usually considered a spiritual time. So they talk about how usually people are more willing to share, and they're usually more in touch with their feelings and their emotions at night.

And this is why you see when people go out on dates and stuff like that, when do they usually go out? During the day or at night? So usually people go out on dates at night time and even like Valentine's Day. During the day everyone's busy trying to buy gifts and everything like that, but all the dates are at night. So people are more likely to be in touch with their spiritual side and their feelings and their emotions.

And what Islam does is that it takes advantage of this time. So while other people are busy doing other things, a believer takes that spiritual time and they take that emotional time and they devote it to their Lord. And one of the things that the scholars often talk about is that the night is a testimony of a person's love.

So whatever a person loves, you'll see that they'll usually devote their night to that. So if a person's only concern in life is to have fun and party and maximize pleasure, they'll spend their night trying to do that. If a person's concern is their afterlife and their love for Allah, then they'll spend their night in concern about their akhira.

And they'll spend their night devoted to Allah Azza wa Jal. As Allah Azza wa Jal said:

"But those who believe are stronger in love for Allah."

The Question: Why Can't We Pray Qiyam al-Layl?

Imam Hassan al-Basri, and I often quote Imam Hassan al-Basri because he's in the second generation, one of the tabi'een. And he was in touch very much with our spiritual side. And I think if his words are applied to our times, there's a lot for us to learn. So this Imam Hassan al-Basri, he's one of the great imams, he was asked by some people, they said, why is it that we can't bring ourselves to pray qiyam al-layl?

So they said to him that we try so hard to get up in the night and pray to Allah, but it's really difficult for us to pray. And the imam said that it is your sins or your desires that have kept you or that have restrained you from getting up in the night.

Beyond the Bare Minimum

Now, oftentimes people talk about the bare minimum. And they talk about, you know, us as Muslims in the West, a lot of times we are told that the very least that we can do is just do the bare minimum.

Meaning we have to just survive in the West. Meaning as long as we are at least praying our five daily prayers, we're doing okay. And I, tonight, want to present to you a different theory.

That our salvation doesn't lie, meaning if you want to become better Muslims, if you want to be better parts of society, we shouldn't just do the bare minimum. Rather, it's when we go above and beyond that we're going to find our salvation. And this is what you see in the early generations, the companions, for example.

That when they were presented with the extra actions, the actions that went above the bare minimum, this is what made them special. And to say that the companions didn't make a huge journey in their spirituality and their connection with Allah is not true. I mean if you look at the Jahili Arabs and the state that they were in, they were in a far worse state than a lot of us.

So I present to you tonight that if we're really looking to become better Muslims, we're looking to improve our relationship with Allah Azza wa Jal, it will lie in things like Qiyam al-Layl, the extra acts. So if we strive to do the extra acts, it is in those acts that we're going to find that our spirituality will increase, and we'll become better Muslims, and we'll find that connection with Allah Azza wa Jal.

The Prophet's Example

And we go back to the Sunnah of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and we see how he treated Qiyam al-Layl.

And the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم), first of all, he told us that after the five mandatory prayers, meaning after our five daily prayers, the best prayer for us is the night prayer. So if we're looking to improve

our spiritual nature and we're looking to become better Muslims, after the five daily prayers, where do we turn? The night.

And this is why the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم), if you look at his Sunnah, Aisha (رضي الله عنها), she tells us about one of her nights with the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم).

She says that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) was sleeping next to her, and he got up in the middle of the night, and Aisha (رضي الله عنها), she says to the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم), she says, where are you going? And he says, I'm going to worship my Lord.

And Aisha (رضي الله عنها), she says, Wallahi ya Rasulallah, I would love that you sleep next to me, but I will not keep you from going to worship your Lord. And then she says the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) got up, he made wudu, and he started praying.

And when going into sujood or prostration, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم), he would tap the feet of Aisha (رضي الله عنها), and she would pull her feet in. Do you know why he would tap her feet, and why she would have to pull them in? Because the apartment of Aisha, the quarters of Aisha (رضي الله عنها), were that small. Some scholars even say it was four feet by six feet.

That was the apartment of Aisha (رضي الله عنها). But this was the spiritual nature of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم). And we know that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم), he would pray so much qiyam, he would spend so much time in prayer at the night, that his feet would swell.

And this was the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم), and when he was asked, that why is it that you do this, why do you put yourself through such hardship, and cause yourself so much pain, when your sins have been forgiven. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم), his sins were forgiven by Allah Azza wa Jal. And he says, so shouldn't I be a grateful servant to Allah Azza wa Jal.

Training the Companions in Qiyam al-Layl

And this is the same teaching that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) conveyed to the companions. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) would walk the streets of Medina at night, and it is said that he would go to the house of Abu Bakr (رضي الله عنه), and he would hear Abu Bakr praying qiyam al-layl. But Abu Bakr (رضي الله عنه), he would recite in a very low voice.

And then he would go to the house of Umar, and he would hear Umar reciting, praying qiyam al-layl. So he would then say to Abu Bakr, he would say, Ya Abu Bakr, raise your voice. And then he would go to Umar (رضي الله عنه), and he would say, Ya Umar, lower your voice.

So what we get from this story is, number one, the companions, what they did during their nights. They spent their nights in worship. The second thing that we understand from this, is that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) taught the companions how to be good Muslims.

Meaning it wasn't just about the mandatory acts. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) trained them in becoming good Muslims. And part of that training, part of that school that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) established, was teaching them the importance of qiyam al-layl.

And Uthman (رضي الله عنه), we know that it is said about him that he would spend the whole night in qiyam. And this is something that I know a lot of us, we find strange. We find strange that how could somebody spend the night in qiyam al-layl.

And the reason is that Uthman (رضي الله عنه) found sweetness and enjoyment in the qiyam more than any other thing in life. So while we find enjoyment or we enjoy sleeping or rest, Uthman (رضي الله عنه) at times would pray the whole night because it is in that which Uthman (رضي الله عنه) found enjoyment.

The State of the Ummah Today

It's no secret, it's no surprise that our ummah today, our nation today is not doing too well. And I hate to be negative, I hate to be negative about issues, but this is just a reality. And the point isn't for us to become depressed and say we're a goner and there's nothing we can do. The point is how do we bring ourselves out of this situation and how do we become like the companions (رضي الله عنهم).

And this is why one of the things that is often said by the classical scholars and even scholars of our time is that if we want to rectify this ummah, if we really, really care about this ummah, we really want to change this ummah, then we will not be able to do it except that which changed the beginning of this ummah.

Meaning if we really care, we really want the ummah to progress. Now we're Muslims living in the west and we care about Muslims in America. And we really want Muslims to be in a better state. Then we have to look at the sunnah of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and how the companions did it. And it is in that that we're going to find our ummah come to life.

And the thing about the companions like I mentioned is that what they had and what is missing from our time is that attribute of going above and beyond the bare minimum. Ibn Abbas (رضي الله عنهم), he says about the companions, he said, I did not see a single companion. He said, I did not see a single companion except that they would take something from the night.

Meaning they would pray some type of Qiyam al-Layl.

The Story of Rabi'a: Companionship in Paradise

Rabi'a (رضي الله عنه), he was one day with the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and he brought the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) some water for wudu. And the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) saw that this companion, he had something on his mind.

So he says to him, he says, Ya Rabi'a, ask. He says, ask, ask what you want. He says:

يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ، أَسْأَلُكَ مُرَافَقَتَكَ فِي الْجَنَّةِ

"O Messenger of Allah, I ask for your companionship in paradise."

And the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) says, He says, is there anything else that you want? He said, huwa thak. He said, that's it, that's all I want.

The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said to him:

فَأَعِنِّي عَلَى نَفْسِكَ بِكَثْرَةِ السُّجُودِ

"So help me help you by increasing in your sajda."

Meaning if that's what you desire, you really desire from your life to be in paradise with the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) that increase in this ibadah.

Now the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) could have given some long drawn out answer. And say, you have to do this, and you have to do this, and you have to go here and do this, and we need to fix the community, and we need to establish this, and do all these kind of things. But the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) told him one simple thing.

He said, increase in your sajda. Meaning, get in touch with this prayer that Allah azzawajal has given us. Our silah, our connection with Allah azzawajal.

If we cut that off, then how do we ever expect to become better Muslims? It's like a person who's in the hospital, and they have an IV in them, and they pull it out, and they expect to get better, they expect to get fed. And that's just not going to happen. So if we cut that connection with Allah, meaning we stop praying, we stop seeking the help of Allah, then there's no way to ever improve.

There's no way to ever, ever get better. And one of the questions, one of the most off questions I get from young people, is, you know what, my iman is just not doing too well. Like, I have a dip in my iman, and I just don't feel it anymore.

Or a lot of times people who start practicing Islam, they'll have this iman high, and they're doing really, really well, and then a time will come where they'll be like, you know, it just doesn't feel the same anymore. Or a lot of times reverts and converts will say, when I first became Muslim, it was the most amazing experience of my life. And I want that back.

I want that experience back. And one of the first questions I ask these people, is, how is your connection with Allah? How is your qiyam al-layl? When was the last time you got up, in the middle of the night, or in the last day of the night, to pray to your Lord? And if the answer usually is, no, I don't really do that. I mean, I just try to do my five daily prayers.

I'm just happy if I can get that in. And I tell them, I say, listen, if you're cutting off your connection with Allah, how are you gonna get better? You can't expect your iman to just get fixed all of a sudden on its own. It's not gonna happen.

Ibn Umar's Night Worship

It is said about Ibn Mas'ud, radiyallahu ta'ala anhu, that his worship of the night was like this. He would pray, sorry, this is Ibn Umar, radiyallahu ta'ala anhu. He would pray isha in the masjid, and then he would pray his sunnah.

And then in the masjid, they would put out a bed for him. And he would sleep. He would sleep for a little while, and he would pray two rak'ahs of prayer.

And then he would get tired, and he would go back to sleep. And a little while later, he would get up and start praying again. And then he would get tired, and he would go back to sleep.

And it would continue like this until the last third of the night. And when the last third of the night would come, he would get up, and he would start praying. And he would pray two rak'ahs, and then two rak'ahs, and then two rak'ahs, and then he would say, has fajr come in? Has the morning come in? And they would say, laa ba'ad, like you still have time.

And he would keep praying until fajr would come in. And until fajr was about to come in, then he would pray one rak'ah of witar and end his night prayer. And you see it is because of these type of things that the companions were at the level that they were at.

And you compare that to the other side of the coin, this life, and using your night to serve your dunya instead of using your night to serve your akhira, there's no success in that. So a lot of times, one of the common things you see in our culture, in our society, is people work 9 to 5 jobs, and they get the weekend off.

So the weekend is meant to maximize fun, because they spent their week working, and they're tired, or they're going to school, or whatever it is, they worked, and now it's time to play. So they'll maximize their fun on the weekend. And they'll say, listen, I only have a couple hours. That's why you see a lot of people, they'll stay up in the night.

And people who go clubbing and stuff like that, they'll spend the whole night clubbing, because they're using their night to benefit their dunya. When a believer uses their night to benefit their akhira.

Practical Advice: Start Small

When it comes to qiyam al-layl, one of the advices I often give, and I give this advice because this was the advice given to me by my teachers, is if you want to pray qiyam al-layl, all you have to do is just try it.

And I'm not talking about spending a third of the night praying, or half of the night praying. I'm saying, get up 10 minutes before fajr. Just 10 minutes before fajr.

And we know the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) told us that it is the last third of the night where Allah azza wa jal comes down to the lowest parts of the heaven, and he asks, he says, which one of my servants is seeking my forgiveness that I may forgive them? And which one of my servants is seeking my mercy that I may be merciful for them? Which one of my servants is asking of me that I may give to them?

And that third of the night is still there in the last 10 minutes before fajr. So all I'm saying is wake up 10 minutes before fajr. Not an hour, not two hours before fajr, 10 minutes before fajr.

And try and pray qiyam al-layl. And experience this amazing spiritual nature that Allah azza wa jal has given us. This blessing that Allah azza wa jal has given us.

And when you get up in the night, number one, you'll see your heart transform. You'll feel your heart unlike you've ever felt it before. And I know a lot of us, and this is a problem which is very, very common, where we look at Islam and all we see is a bunch of things we have to do.

And we're missing that spiritual side of Islam. We're missing that connection with Allah and our Creator. And I tell you that if you're seeking that connection, then get up and pray qiyam al-layl.

You will see your heart transform. You'll see this tranquility and peace that Islam is supposed to be. You know, people talk about Islam. Islam means peace and all that kind of stuff. If you really want to experience that, get up in that last third of the night. Get up for 10 minutes and you will see that peace and tranquility descend upon you.

The Gift of Nur from Allah

Imam Hassan al-Basri was asked, they came to him and they said, why is it that the people who pray qiyam al-layl, they just seem different? Meaning compared to everyone else in the community, the ahl al-qiyam al-layl, the people of qiyam al-layl, are just different people. Why is it? Why is that the case?

And Imam Hassan al-Basri, he said to them, he said, it's because these people, they secluded themselves with their Lord. Meaning they went in that time and they secluded themselves with their Lord.

"And Allah azza wa jal clothed these people with His nur."

This is the gift from Allah azza wa jal for these people who spent their nights in qiyam al-layl. Or spent a portion of their nights in qiyam al-layl.

The Journey of Thabit al-Bunani

Thabit al-Bunani, rahimallah ta'ala, one of the tabi'een, he talks about himself and his journey with qiyam al-layl. He says, I spent 20 years of my life trying to pray qiyam al-layl. And it was very difficult upon me.

He said, I struggled every night with qiyam al-layl. I tried and tried and tried and it was difficult for me. He says, after those 20 years of qiyam al-layl, I spent another 20 years reaping the rewards of the first 20 years.

Meaning it became easy for me to pray qiyam al-layl. And not only was it easy, he began to enjoy qiyam al-layl. Meaning qiyam al-layl was now pleasurable to him.

And this is why qiyam al-layl is a thing that once you make it a habit, there will come a time where you will be sad if you miss qiyam al-layl. And that's the reward. That's what lies in qiyam al-layl.

And I know it's difficult for us to imagine that right now. Meaning imagine a time where we get up in the morning and we have tears in our eyes because we were not able to get up for qiyam al-layl. I know that's hard to imagine.

But I tell you this was a lifestyle of the Companions and the early generations. If they would miss a single night of qiyam al-layl, they would get up and they would be in tears because they missed that amazing spiritual experience that lied before them.

Allah's Description of the Believers

Allah azza wa jal says about the early morning and about the Companions:

"They used to sleep but little of the night." (Quran 51:17)

Very little.

"And in the hours before dawn they would ask forgiveness." (Quran 51:18)

This is the methodology. This is the way of the believers. That we sleep you know a portion of the night but the rest we devote to Allah azza wa jal.

And in the time before fajr, they seek forgiveness. And I, subhan Allah, I ask you and I ask myself, when was the last time we got up before fajr and we said:

When was the last time we did that?

A Personal Lesson from Medina

And I remember, subhan Allah, till this day, I was in the University of Medina as the sheikh mentioned. And when I was in Medina, one of the things the students would do is we would carpool to go pray fajr in the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم)'s masjid. So I used to live off campus and sometimes I would drive to campus, pick up some friends and we would drive to the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم)'s masjid.

Now, while leaving the masjid, while leaving the university, sometimes there were students standing outside because they knew somebody's going to the masjid, somebody's going to the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم)'s masjid and they'll get a ride. And we saw somebody standing outside so I pulled over and I said, get in. It was one of the students.

And we started driving to the masjid. Now the masjid is about a 15 minute drive from the university. And I remember till this day, the brother who got in, throughout the whole ride, first he said assalamu alaykum when he got in.

And through the whole ride, he said astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah. For 15-20 minutes, that whole ride. And this is obviously before fajr because you have to get to the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم)'s masjid early before fajr to be able to pray in a good spot.

And then when we get to the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم)'s masjid, we park. And before getting out, he says to us, he says, ya ikhwan, ma bikum. He says, my brothers, what is wrong with you? He says, how come you do not seek, how come you do not make istighfar?

He says:

"Why is it that you don't seek the forgiveness of Allah azzawajal?"

He says, haven't you heard Allah azzawajal say:

That it is in that time, in the morning time, that they seek the forgiveness of Allah azzawajal.

And it is at that moment that it hit me that I don't do that. I mean, I know for a fact there's people amongst us that we have been awake before fajr at times. And I know it's going to happen because Ramadan's coming up and, you know, fajr is really early now.

And I know people are going to be up during the night. But I realized at that moment that I've spent a lot of nights being up and being up before fajr. But never did I seek the forgiveness of Allah azzawajal.

And that brother, jizallah khair, he taught me a lesson. And later on I actually found out that this brother, even before coming to the university, he was a scholar. And that brother on that day taught me a lesson. And may Allah azzawajal reward him.

The Beautiful Lives of the Companions

So the companions, going back to the companions, you look at the lives of the companions and you see that the lives of the companions were not easy by any means. You know, and we tend to think that our lives are difficult, we're living in difficult times and we're dealing with tests and trials and stuff like that.

I assure you, no matter how hard we think our lives are, the lives of the companions were much harder. But the companions' lives were beautiful. They had something beautiful in their lives.

And you have to think, there were companions that were tortured. There were companions that were killed in battle. There's companions that would lose a spouse because they died in battle or something like that.

They went through immense tests and trials, but if you look at their lives, their lives were absolutely beautiful.

And the question is how? How were their lives so beautiful? What did they have that we don't? And you see it's the spiritual nature that they had that we're just missing. We just don't have that.

And so we look at these tests and these trials and these hardships in life and we crumble and we're crushed and we can't move forward because we're missing that connection with Allah. We've never prayed Qiyam al-Layl.

We never tried that.

We never had that experience.

Understanding True Ease in Islam

And you know, one of the things that people often say, and you've probably heard this before, they say Islam is a religion of ease. Has anyone heard this before? Islam is a religion of ease? This comes from a hadith of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.

The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said:

"The religion is ease."

Now a lot of people will look at this hadith and they'll say, well, Islam is ease. So if I find something in Islam which is difficult, I don't really have to do it, right? Because Islam is ease. So if it's hard for me to pray the five daily prayers, the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said الدين يسر. I don't have to do it.

Now this is one understanding. The correct understanding is that Islam is by no means physically easy. Anyone who studied a little bit of Islam will tell you Islam is not by any means physically easy.

How many of us, and I'm not going to ask you to raise your hands because I will raise my hands, anyone will raise their hands, how many of us find it difficult to get up for Fajr on time every day? Me, right? Everyone does. So you're telling me now that this is easy? Of course not. Islam, we're going to go through tests and trials.

And Islam will be difficult

And Islam will be difficult. So where is this ease? Where is this ease that the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam is talking about? Ibn al-Qayyim rahimallahu ta'ala when talking about this ayah, you know what he says? He says the ease of a mu'min is unlike any other ease. Because on the day when the sun is on top of our heads and one day is 50,000 years long and people are struggling, on that day a believer will have ease.

On that day a believer will have ease. And I ask you, is there any ease more important than ease on that day? The ease that we have in this life, this short life we have, 20, 30, 40, 50 years, whatever it is, compared to 50,000 years and an eternity in akhira. That is ease.

That is true ease. Not ease in this life. And if you really want to speak about this life and you want to speak about ease in this life, I will tell you how Islam is ease in this life.

Islam gives us something that is beyond physical ease. And that is the ease of our heart. The ease of peace and contentment in our heart.

And this is why Islam doesn't promise you to be physically like at ease. Islam doesn't promise you you're not going to feel pain and hardship. But what Islam does promise you is that if you follow the commandments of Allah, if you submit yourself to Allah, if you submit yourself to the sunnah of the Prophet, then you will find ease in your heart.

You will be content like the companions were content. You will go through tests and trials and you'll be pushed and shoved but your heart will be at ease. This is the ease that Islam promises us.

And this is the ease that we will find in qiyam ul-layl. That we may be physically in pain. Physically it may be difficult for us to get up and worship Allah azzawajal.

But once you try it you will see that that peace and contentment is yusr. Addeenu yusr. Wallahi the Prophet spoke the truth when he said addeenu yusr.

Indeed certainly the deen is yusr.

The Month of Ramadan: A Golden Opportunity

And it really amazes me subhanAllah sometimes that there are people who have never experienced qiyam ul-layl. Apart from Ramadan, apart from that one month where everyone's praying qiyam ul-layl, they don't know what qiyam ul-layl is.

It's like it's not even part of the religion. It's something ajeeb, something strange for them. Like what qiyam ul-layl are we talking about? And I say to them subhanAllah how can a person live their whole life and they've never experienced qiyam ul-layl.

They've never experienced that beautiful moment that Allah has given us. That's very sad wallahi. And I feel sad for myself if I don't pray qiyam ul-layl. Because I'm missing out on that amazing opportunity. And then you

think there's people who've never experienced that. There's Muslims, there's communities full of people who have never experienced this gift from Allah azza wa jal.

This beautiful time that Allah has given us. We haven't experienced that. So I say to you Ramadan is coming up. A month where we know the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam told us the angels, the shayateen are chained up. What does that mean the shayateen are chained up? What does that do for us if the shayateen are chained up? Does anyone know? How does that benefit us? In which way? How does that help us if the shayateen are chained up? Right, exactly. They don't tempt us.

Okay, that's one thing. The other thing that we find is that it is easy to worship Allah in Ramadan. This is why you'll see that in the month of Ramadan, you'll find people in the masjid who have never been to the masjid.

People who have never been to the masjid ever before, they'll be in masjid Ramadan. And you'll see someone who cannot get up for fajr, cannot pray their five daily prayers, you'll see them come to the masjid and stand for 20 rak'ahs of prayer. They'll stand for hours worshiping Allah azza wa jal.

Because this is the gift that Allah gave us in the month of Ramadan. He said, here, take this month, have the spiritual journey, and come out a better Muslim. So I say to you, the month of Ramadan is coming, use this month.

Use this month to make qiyam al-layl a habit. Where we adapt, where we adopt the sunnah of the Prophet shallallahu alaihi wa sallam. And change your life, change your spiritual nature, change your connection with Allah azza wa jal.

The Seclusion and Sincerity of Qiyam al-Layl

One of the amazing things about qiyam al-layl is the aspect of seclusion. And in our society, everything is very public. Especially now with Facebook and Twitter and my Twitter page, and YouTube, everything is public now.

And we almost don't have a private life. And that's kind of sad in a way. Because we're missing out on so much good.

And we're missing out on this personal time. And qiyam al-layl gives that back to us. When everyone else is sleeping, passed out, snoring, the lights are off and everything, we get up.

And we pray to Allah when nobody else is watching. And I tell you, there is almost nothing else that will give you that charge of iman back. That ikhlas, that sincerity in your worship, if you're seeking it, get up for qiyam al-layl.

And when you get up, you'll realize, there's no one watching me right now. There's no one here to impress, there's nothing. Hatta, this isn't even wajib upon me, it's not fardh upon me, it's not mandatory upon me to get up and pray.

But I'm doing it. Why? Tell me any other reason why you would do that. Why would somebody get up for qiyam al-layl? To get closer to Allah.

That is the only reason. That is the only reason somebody would get up for qiyam al-layl. That's it.

So if you find yourself getting up for qiyam al-layl, you know you're working on your sincerity. You know you're building your connection with Allah azza wa jal. Allah azza wa jal says:

"They abandon their beds, calling upon their Lord in fear and hope, and they spend out of what We have provided them." (Quran 32:16)

That those who, they abandon their beds, they forsake their beds, and they hope. Meaning this is the feelings going through us at night. We're fearful of the punishment of Allah, and we're hopeful for the reward.

وَمِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ يُنفِقُونَ

"And from what Allah has given them, they spend."

And then the next ayah says:

"And no soul knows what has been hidden for them of comfort for eyes as reward for what they used to do." (Quran 32:17)

That nobody knows what has been hidden from them, from the joys. You know what the scholars say about these ayahs? They say this is an example of الجزاء من جنس العمل. That the reward is given according to the act.

So because these people, they forsake their beds, they got up and they abandoned their beds, in a time when nobody is looking. They're hidden from everyone. What is their reward? What did that next ayah say? They're given a reward which nobody has seen.

And this reward is special for them. Nobody can imagine this reward. It is because they forsake their beds and they left everything and they got up in seclusion to Allah.

There's nothing else there. There's no one else there. And Allah gives them this reward. This reward that nobody can imagine.

جَزَاءً بِمَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ

"As a reward for what they did."

And the Prophet said that the example of the night prayer to the day prayer is like the example of a person giving charity in public and a person hiding their charity.

The seclusion, the satisfaction you feel in your heart when you know you're not doing it for anyone but Allah. That is the night prayer. That is the training that the night prayer gives us.

The Answer to All Problems

And inshallah I'm going to end with one last thought and that is this. If you're having any type of problem in your life, any type of problem, the answer lies in qiyam ul-layl. The answer lies in qiyam ul-layl.

If a person, a believer is trying to repent to Allah, they're trying to turn a new leaf, then their answer lies in qiyam ul-layl. Their sanctuary is qiyam ul-layl, the night prayer. If a believer is fearful about their soul, and this is a lot of us where we fear for our souls that we're about to fall into some type of sin, we're about to be tempted or tested or tried, pray qiyam ul-layl.

The answer is in qiyam ul-layl. If you want to build for your akhirah, if you want to you know build and establish your akhirah so that when you show up on the day of judgment you're successful, look for the provisions in qiyam ul-layl. And that's what the qiyam ul-layl has to offer you.

This is what the night prayer has to offer you.

Seven Tips for Praying Qiyam al-Layl

Now before ending and I know I just I hope we're all like encouraged and charged up to pray qiyam ul-layl. I wanted to give you seven tips that will help you pray qiyam ul-layl inshallah.

Tip One: Don't Go All Out

Number one is to not go all out when praying qiyam ul-layl. And I know that may sound counterproductive but hear me out a little bit. I'm hoping now inshallah that all of us today will go home and pray qiyam ul-layl inshallah right? Yes? Inshallah.

Now we will be tempted to get up and pray like an hour of qiyam ul-layl or two hours of qiyam ul-layl because we're charged up and really excited about praying qiyam ul-layl and you want to experience that spiritual time that I talked about. But I tell you to take it easy. That get up for five or ten minutes.

But get up for a time that you can be consistent with. The prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that the most beloved actions to Allah are those actions done consistently even if they're less. Meaning it is better for us to pray five minutes of qiyam ul-layl for the rest of our lives than to get up and pray two hours tonight, tomorrow we pray an hour and then nothing after that.

If we're consistent with this that will help us pray qiyam ul-layl. So keep it small. If you if you can get up and pray two hours for the rest of your life and you know that, alhamdulillah. Allah akbar.

Tip Two: Make the Intention Before Sleep

Tip number two. Make the intention to pray qiyam ul-layl before you go to bed.

Now this is one of the amazing things that the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam it's like a it's like a one of the the tips that the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam actually gave. It's not my tip. This is the tip of the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.

The prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that a person goes to bed with the intention to pray qiyam ul-layl. Meaning before going to bed they said inshallah tonight I'm going to pray qiyam ul-layl. And they set their alarm and all that stuff.

And they wake up in the morning and they realize fajr is already in and they missed qiyam ul-layl. The prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said this person will not only get the reward for qiyam ul-layl but they will also this sleep will be a sadaqa for them. Will be a charity from Allah.

Meaning they will have a blessed sleep. They'll have barakah in their sleep. So if you made the intention and you got up in the morning it's like a win-win situation.

Alhamdulillah if you made the intention and you woke up you got to pray qiyam ul-layl. That's awesome. If you if you made the intention and you didn't wake up you get the reward for qiyam ul-layl.

So that's tip number two.

Tip Three: Wake Someone Else

Tip number three is tell someone that you're going to wake them up for fajr for qiyam ul-layl. So call up one of your friends or a family member.

I'll tell them listen I got you tonight. Don't worry about it. I'll wake you up.

You tell them I will wake you up for qiyam ul-layl inshallah. And you know what this is going to do? This is going to force you to get up because now you're responsible for somebody else. You're responsible to wake someone else up.

And here's the thing right. It's not just you're responsible. If you manage to get up inshallah you are maximizing your reward because not only are you waking yourself up for qiyam ul-layl, you're waking somebody else up.

And you will be rewarded for the act for their action. As the prophet said:

مَنْ سَنَّ فِي الْإِسْلَامِ سُنَّةً حَسَنَةً فَلَهُ أَجْرُهَا وَأَجْرُ مَنْ عَمِلَ بِهَا إِلَى يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ

"The person who starts a good sunnah or encourages someone else in a good deed they will have the reward of their own action and the reward of the others who followed in that action until the day of judgment."

Can you imagine you got up tonight and you called somebody and you said listen get up for qiyam ul-layl. And this person now because of that one phone call they started praying qiyam ul-layl for the rest of their life. And you maybe khalas this is the only night you prayed qiyam ul-layl. You never prayed qiyam ul-layl again.

This is the only night khalas you're like okay I can't do this forget this. But they managed to pray qiyam ul-layl for the rest of their lives. Now you're getting reward for all of their qiyam ul-layl.