The Late-Night Prayer and the Number of Its Rak'ahs
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
I see some of my colleagues in the residence praying the late-night prayer of tahajjud, and I would like to join them, but laziness or sleep prevents them. So, what is the ruling on praying at night?
Answer:
It is all a recommended practice (sunnah); the late-night prayer (tahajjud) is a recommended practice. It is as if the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would perform tahajjud at night. Allah, Mighty and Majestic, said to the servants of the Most Merciful:[Adh-Dhariyat 51:17-18] He said, and the one who spends the night [Al-Furqan 25:64] And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, and between [Al-Isra 17:79]. So the recommended practice is to perform tahajjud at night with three rak'ahs, five rak'ahs, seven, seven, seven, eleven—whatever is easy. The minimum is one. He prays and recites the Qur'an, and he prolongs the bowing, prostration, and recitation according to what is easy. Then he prays one rak'ah, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Sahih Muslim 749c Fearing the break of dawn, he prayed one rak'ah, which completes for him what he had prayed. So he prays whatever is easy, two by two, and says the closing salam. Then, if he fears the dawn or wishes to finish, he prays one rak'ah. Then he sleeps if there is still night remaining. If it is Fajr, he praises Allah, prays the rak'ah, then rests and turns onto his right side. When the call to prayer is made, he heads to the mosque. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would turn onto his right side (peace and blessings be upon him) after the rest. Yes.
I see some of my colleagues in the residence praying the late-night prayer of tahajjud, and I would like to join them, but laziness or sleep prevents them. So, what is the ruling on praying at night?
Answer:
It is all a recommended practice (sunnah); the late-night prayer (tahajjud) is a recommended practice. It is as if the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would perform tahajjud at night. Allah, Mighty and Majestic, said to the servants of the Most Merciful:
(17) They used to sleep but little of the night, (18) And in the hours before dawn they would ask forgiveness,
كَانُوا قَلِيلًا مِّنَ اللَّيْلِ مَا يَهْجَعُونَ وَبِالْأَسْحَارِ هُمْ يَسْتَغْفِرُونَto their Lord prostrating and standing [in prayer]
لِرَبِّهِمْ سُجَّدًا وَقِيَامًا[part of] the night, pray with it as additional [worship] for you
اللَّيْلِ فَتَهَجَّدْ بِهِ نَافِلَةً لَّكَThe night prayer consists of pair, but if you
صلاة الليل مثنى مثنى، فإذا
Source
لقاءات لابن باز - لقاء الخير - ابن باز — archive.org (34:28)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.