Luqman
the wise said to his son, “o, my son, do not let the rooster be smarter than
you; he is awake at the time before dawn and you are asleep.”
Having
known the benefits of the voluntary night prayers and asking for Allah’s
forgiveness before dawn, we shall now see how to gain the virtue of sleeping
early and quitting staying up late.
Tahajjud
(late voluntary night prayer) must be preceded by sleep so that it is called
so. In a hadith previously mentioned, “If a man awakens his wife at
night, and then both pray or offer two rak’ahs together, the (name of the) man
and (that of the) woman will be recorded among the men and the women who
remember Allah much with their hearts and tongues.”
From
the Sunnah of the Prophet (PBUH), he hates sleeping before Isya’
(night) prayer and chatting thereafter. He told us that the best form of praying
at night is based on Prophet Dawud. He used to sleep half of the night,
pray for one third of it, and sleep again for one sixth of it.
In
addition, the Sunnah teaches us the importance of organizing our time
according to the period of night, so as not to miss the blessings. In summer,
when night is short, one should have a nap during the day, in order to be able
to perform late night prayer; whereas in winter, when night is long, sleeping
early gives one the chance to rest one’s body at night, so that there is still
some time left to perform late night prayer. In the regard, Umar Ibn Al-Khattab
(may Allah be pleased with him) said: “Winter is the spring (the most
favorable time) of the believers; the night is long so that they can pray, and
the day is short so that they may fast.”
The
honored Companion of the Prophet Abdullah Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with
them both) has said: “Staying up late became a detestable thing when this
ayah was revealed in which Allah, Exalted be He, says: “in pride (they –
Quraish pagans and polytheists of Makkah used to feel proud that they are the
dwellers of Makkah sanctuary – Haram), talking evil about it (the Quran) by
night.” [Al-Mu’minun 23:67]. This means that Allah condemns people who chat
at night about things not related to Allah’s obedience, but related to talk
foolishly or hurting others.
Whereas,
if one stays up late after Isya’, he will definitely miss these golden times;
he is neither going to pray at night, nor remember Allah, Exalted be He, before
dawn. Those who prefer to stay up late will most probably miss the Morning
Prayer. Even they perform it on time, they are going to hurry to bed afterwards
in order to resume their sleep. Thus, they are the real losers and they are
deprived of many benefits. Allah, Exalted be He, says in His Noble Quran that
real loss is when one loses himself and his family: “Say (O Muhammad (PBUH):
the losers are those who lose themselves and their families on the Day of
Resurrection. Verily, that will be a manifest loss!” [Az-Zumar 39:15].
Besides
that, getting up early can give more benefits to students. They can study before
dawn which is a good time for them to remember and easily understand the
lesson. Furthermore, they also can increase their knowledge by attending
unformal class which is usually held after dawn prayer. This is exactly the
true way for a student to gain knowledge.
The
real losers is the one who is deprived from all this goodness. He who said the
following line of poetry spoke sincerely,
There
is no good in one’s life
If he
does not end up with Allah in Paradise.
Academic Bureau
Hal Ehwal Wanita Islam
Keluarga Penuntut-penuntut Terengganu Mesir
Session 2012/2013
