What is the ruling on specifying certain surahs when standing in night prayer?
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Question:
A letter signed by a group of female teachers in a secondary school, and the counselor is Hasin Umm Sulayman. Our sisters have more than one issue; in one of their issues, one of them says: I also, praise be to Allah, am consistent with all the prayers, and I perform some voluntary prayers sometimes, such as the Dhuha prayer, standing in night prayer, and the sunnahs that are before the obligatory prayers. The question is: In my night prayer, it is obligatory for me to recite a specific surah that I do not change, and this has been the case for several years. I pray two rak'ahs with a long surah whose verses are approximately ninety, then two rak'ahs with another, then two rak'ahs with a surah shorter than the first, then two rak'ahs with a surah from the short ones, and then I complete with one rak'ah. What is the ruling on this practice? I mean being consistent in reciting these surahs every night when standing in prayer, even though I have memorized others, praise be to Allah, but I prefer to stand with them because I read about their virtue in some books of hadith. May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and companions. To proceed: The night prayer has a great virtue, and it is the best of the types of voluntary worship, the best of the types of voluntary worship. One recites in it whatever is easy for him of the Qur'an. So adhering to specific surahs is not appropriate except with evidence indicating the specification of these surahs. So you should recite whatever is easy for you of the Qur'an, especially since you mentioned that you have memorized, praise be to Allah, that you have memorized surahs other than these. Restricting yourself to them and repeating them every night has no evidence for it; it is considered a bid'ah (religious innovation), because specifying surahs from the Qur'an without evidence is a bid'ah. So you should abandon this specification and recite from these surahs and from others of the Qur'an. This is what is required. Yes.
A letter signed by a group of female teachers in a secondary school, and the counselor is Hasin Umm Sulayman. Our sisters have more than one issue; in one of their issues, one of them says: I also, praise be to Allah, am consistent with all the prayers, and I perform some voluntary prayers sometimes, such as the Dhuha prayer, standing in night prayer, and the sunnahs that are before the obligatory prayers. The question is: In my night prayer, it is obligatory for me to recite a specific surah that I do not change, and this has been the case for several years. I pray two rak'ahs with a long surah whose verses are approximately ninety, then two rak'ahs with another, then two rak'ahs with a surah shorter than the first, then two rak'ahs with a surah from the short ones, and then I complete with one rak'ah. What is the ruling on this practice? I mean being consistent in reciting these surahs every night when standing in prayer, even though I have memorized others, praise be to Allah, but I prefer to stand with them because I read about their virtue in some books of hadith. May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and companions. To proceed: The night prayer has a great virtue, and it is the best of the types of voluntary worship, the best of the types of voluntary worship. One recites in it whatever is easy for him of the Qur'an. So adhering to specific surahs is not appropriate except with evidence indicating the specification of these surahs. So you should recite whatever is easy for you of the Qur'an, especially since you mentioned that you have memorized, praise be to Allah, that you have memorized surahs other than these. Restricting yourself to them and repeating them every night has no evidence for it; it is considered a bid'ah (religious innovation), because specifying surahs from the Qur'an without evidence is a bid'ah. So you should abandon this specification and recite from these surahs and from others of the Qur'an. This is what is required. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، ما حكم تخصيص سور معينة عند قيام الليل؟ - الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.