In the blissful quiet of the night, when the world sleeps, lies a golden opportunity for believers – the Tahajjud prayer. This voluntary night prayer, though not obligatory, holds an extremely special place in Islamic tradition. Its importance is highlighted in both the Holy Quran and the sayings of the Holy Prophetsa. We have been taught that the time of Tahajjud is when Allah the Almighty descends to the nearest Heaven, urging his servants to ask anything of him so that he may grant them:
“Our Lord, the Blessed, the Superior, comes every night down on the nearest Heaven to us when the last third of the night remains, saying: ‘Is there anyone to invoke Me, so that I may respond to [their] invocation? Is there anyone to ask Me, so that I may grant him their request? Is there anyone seeking My forgiveness, so that I may forgive them?’” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Kitab at-Tahajjud, Hadith 1145)
In the Holy Quran, Allah the Almighty mentions that Tahajjud is a means of attaining an exalted rank, maqam-e-mahmud, in both this world and the hereafter:
وَمِنَ الَّيۡلِ فَتَہَجَّدۡ بِہٖ نَافِلَةً لَّکَ ٭ۖ عَسٰۤي اَنۡ يَّبۡعَثَکَ رَبُّکَ مَقَامًا مَّحۡمُوۡدًا
“And wake up for it (the Quran) in [the latter part of] the night as a supererogatory service for thee. It may be that thy Lord will raise thee to an exalted station.” (Surah Bani Isra’il, Ch.17: V. 80)
We find a plethora of narrations in which the Holy Prophet Muhammadsa expounds on the importance of the Tahajjud prayer, and how it is a huge blessing and not to be taken lightly. He once said:
“Hold fast to the night prayer, for it was the practice of the righteous before you, and a means of drawing closer to your Lord, and an eraser of sin, and a means of their prevention.” (Sunan at-Tirmidhi, Kitab ad-da’wat ‘an rasulillahsa, Hadith 3549)
It was always the desire of the Holy Prophetsa that everyone should partake from this blessing, and he would often encourage others. Hazrat Alira, the cousin and son-in-law of the Holy Prophet, reported that one night, the Prophetsa visited him and his wife Fatima and said, “Why do you not observe the prayer (at night)?” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Kitab al-i’tisam bil-Kitab wal-Sunnah, Hadith 7347)
In a similar way, Hazrat Salim bin Abdullahra stated that the Holy Prophetsa said regarding his father, “What an excellent man Abdullah is! If only he would perform Tahajjud.” Hazrat Salimra said that after this, (his father) Abdullahra used to sleep very little at night. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Kitab at-Tahajjud, Hadith 1121)
Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmadas, the Promised Messiah and Imam Mahdi, stated: “If our entire lives are spent in worldly engagements, what will we have accumulated for the hereafter? Make a special effort to wake up for Tahajjud and offer it with fervour and joy.” (Malfuzat [English], Vol.1, p.5)
Tahajjud is the best way to attain nearness to Allah and become a sultan-e-naseer of Khilafat
On one occasion during a virtual mulaqat with missionaries of Germany, Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Vaa was asked as to how one could become a sultan-e-naseer [helper] for Khilafat. Huzooraa replied:
“If you wish to become a sultan-e-naseer of the Khalifa of the time, then this cannot be achieved without the help of supplications. And the best way of supplicating and of attaining nearness to Allah the Almighty is through nafl [voluntary] prayers.
“Undoubtedly you offer the compulsory prayers anyway, and if you do not, then you fall short of even being considered in the basic category of ordinary Muslims. However, after the fara‘iz, it is the nawafil that will enable you to gain nearness to Allah the Almighty and further opportunities to serve [the faith] and will bless your endeavours. They will also provide you with the opportunity to become a sultan-e-naseer of the Khalifa of the time.
“Thus, it is the duty of every missionary to offer the Tahajjud prayer for at least one hour a day – one hour a day is not difficult given the current circumstances. You could even offer Tahajjud for two hours these days. However, all of you should offer Tahajjud – even in normal circumstances – for at least one hour a day unless there is a reasonable cause that stops you such as an illness or old age. That is an exceptional case. Otherwise, this is vital, without which we cannot progress.
“You must pay special attention to this. Pay special attention towards the remembrance of Allah too, instead of daydreaming about visiting a certain shop because they have a certain product on sale, or about doing a certain worldly task, or about going and participating in a certain gathering. Instead of wasting your time, you should pay attention to improving your spirituality.
“You can only bring about a revolution by increasing your spirituality. Revolutions are never brought about through mere singing of taranahs [choral poems] and raising slogans, nor will you gain the blessings of Allah by [merely relying on] these things.
“Therefore, the first thing you must do is improve your spiritual conditions. […] Only when you will adopt these virtues will you attain success. If you manage to morally train people in the right way, then you will find such workers in the Jamaat who will be your helpers in your tasks, and this will make your endeavours easier.” (“Answers to Everyday Issues – Part 20” at alhakam.org [27 August 2021])
Considering how great the virtue of Tahajjud prayers is, and how heavy it weighs on the scale of good deeds, it is inevitable that Satan would make his utmost effort to deprive us from praying Tahajjud attaining its blessings.
The Holy Prophetsa said in an authentic narration:
“Satan puts three knots at the back of the head of any of you if he is asleep. On every knot he reads and exhales the following words, ‘The night is long, so stay asleep.’ When one wakes up and remembers Allah, one knot is undone; and when one performs ablution, the second knot is undone, and when one prays, the third knot is undone and one gets up, energetic with a good heart in the morning; otherwise one gets up lazy and with a mischievous heart.” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Kitab at-Tahajjud, Hadith 1142)
How to wake up for Tahajjud
This is our jihad. We must fight our nafs and wake up in the night for this blessed prayer. As we enter the winter months, the nights are longer, making it a perfect time for us to build a habit of waking up for Tahajjud. In the same virtual mulaqat mentioned above, Huzooraa was also asked as to how one can easily wake up for the Tahajjud prayers on a regular basis. He gave the following answer:
“This depends on how deep your relationship is with Allah the Almighty and how much love you have for Him. You do manage to take time for other things. Do you not? If the Isha prayers are offered at 10 pm or 10:30 pm in Germany, and the morning prayers are offered at 2:30 am, or 2:45 am or 3 am […] in fact, sehri is a lot earlier here in the UK whilst it is an hour later in Germany. There is a difference of approximately 30-45 minutes.
“So, sleep for two hours, or one and a half hours, then wake up to offer prayers and then go to sleep again for an hour or two after offering the Fajr prayer. One has to make their own routine.
“If one has a yearning or passion to do something within their heart, then one manages to find ways to do those things. During your exam period in Jamia, you had to study and you stayed awake during the nights to prepare for the exams; you offer Tahajjud whenever you are concerned about something, right? This is all about mindset. If you can train your mindset to achieve this goal, then Allah the Almighty will help you.
“There are people who sleep for an hour and a half at night, and then wake up to offer the Tahajjud prayer and then sleep after the Fajr prayer for whatever time they have.
“You will have to manage time for this. After all, you have the whole day available to you besides this. You can sleep for an hour in the afternoon in order to catch up on sleep. This is not a difficult matter. One can actively perform worship in their youth. You people are young. This is your time [to do this]. This is the time to reap as much benefit as you can from this. Do your best to fulfil the rights of worship to your maximum capacity.
در جوانى توبہ كردن شيوه پيغمبرى
وقت پيرى گرگ ظالم ميشود پرہيزگار
“‘To be pious in one’s youth is the way of the prophets. In old age, even a ferocious wolf becomes virtuous.’” (“Answers to Everyday Issues – Part 20” at alhakam.org [27 August 2021])