Tahajjud, also known as the "night prayer", is a voluntary
prayer
Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified ...
performed by followers of
Islam. It is not one of the
five obligatory prayers required of all
Muslims, although the
Islamic prophet,
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mo ...
was recorded as performing the tahajjud prayer regularly himself and encouraging his companions too.
Evidence in the Qur'an
In Fiqh As-Sunnah, Sheikh Sayyid Sabiq elaborates on the subject of Tahajjud as follows:
Evidence in hadith
Next to these
Qur'an
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...
ic verses, there also exist a number of
hadith
Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approva ...
s (narrated and confirmed traditions from Muhammad) that reinforce the importance of Tahajjud Prayer. In various hadiths, it has been mentioned as ''Qiyamul Sabah'' (standing of morning), ''Salatul Sabah'' (prayer of morning) and ''Tahajjud''.
Recommended time
To perform tahajjud signifies the act of rising from sleep during the night and then praying.
Tahajjud may be performed before or after Emsak (when the fasting starts) but before the obligatory
Fajr prayer.
Commenting on this subject,
Ibn Hajar says:
"The best time for tahajjud is the last third portion of the night." (
Abu Hurairah:
Fiqh
''Fiqh'' (; ar, فقه ) is Islamic jurisprudence. Muhammad-> Companions-> Followers-> Fiqh.
The commands and prohibitions chosen by God were revealed through the agency of the Prophet in both the Quran and the Sunnah (words, deeds, and ...
)
claimed that he heard Muhammad as saying:
Masruq ibn al-Ajda'
Masruq ibn al-Ajda' (Arabic , died 682) was a well-known and respected ''tabi'i'' (from '' taba'een''), jurist and ''muĥaddith'' (transmitter of Prophetic traditions or ''hadith''). Chiefly a resident of Kufa (Iraq) he was among the many studen ...
narrated:
Number of rakats
Tahajjud Prayer does not entail a specific number of rak`ahs that must be performed, nor is there any maximum limit that may be performed. It would be fulfilled even if one prayed just one rak`ah of
Witr
Witr ( ar, وتر) is an Islamic prayer (''salat'') that is performed at night after ''Isha'' (night-time prayer) or before '' fajr'' (dawn prayer). Witr has an odd number of ''raka'at'' prayed in pairs, with the final raka'ah prayed separately ...
after `
Isha Isha may refer to:
* Isha (Fantasy), the fictional deity from ''Warhammer Fantasy''
* Isha Foundation, a non-profit organization founded by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev
* Isha prayer, the night-time daily prayer obligatory in Islam
* Isha Upanishad, t ...
a'; however, it is traditionally prayed with at least two
rak'at which is known as shif'a followed by witr as this is what Muhammad did before fajr.
''
Abdullah ibn Umar narrated that Muhammad said:''
Bukhari Bukhari or Bokhari () means "from Bukhara (Uzbekistan)" in Persian, Arabic, Urdu and Hebrew, and may refer to:
People
* al-Bukhari (810–870), Islamic hadith scholar and author of the
* Bukhari Daud (1959–2021), Indonesian academician and re ...
, Hadith 990
Weblinks
Tahajjud Prayer Time Calculator
References
{{Authority control
Salah
Salah terminology