What is your opinion of students of knowledge who stay up late studying, thereby missing the Fajr prayer, and cite the fact that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) missed the Fajr prayer?
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The questioner : Some students stay up at night studying and miss the Fajr prayer. When you advise them, they come to you with arguments that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) missed the Fajr prayer once, meaning they bring evidence that I am unable to refute.
The Shaykh : It is a great error for a person to stay up at night in tahajjud or reviewing knowledge, and then sleep through the Fajr prayer. As for their argument that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) missed the Fajr prayer, that was during a journey. They had stopped for the last part of the night and said, "Whoever can bear to watch for us for the Fajr." Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him) relied on that, but he fell asleep. This is not like a person who makes this a habit. We may excuse a person on a night when he stayed up for work or other reasons, or when insomnia kept him from sleeping, and then he slept until the sun rose. However, making this a habit is not excusable and is not permissible for him.
Furthermore, it is obligatory for a person, when citing the Qur'an or the Sunnah, that the evidence matches the situation for which it is cited. If he does not do so, he is distorting the Qur'an and the Sunnah and applying them in a context other than their intended one. Yes.
The Shaykh : It is a great error for a person to stay up at night in tahajjud or reviewing knowledge, and then sleep through the Fajr prayer. As for their argument that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) missed the Fajr prayer, that was during a journey. They had stopped for the last part of the night and said, "Whoever can bear to watch for us for the Fajr." Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him) relied on that, but he fell asleep. This is not like a person who makes this a habit. We may excuse a person on a night when he stayed up for work or other reasons, or when insomnia kept him from sleeping, and then he slept until the sun rose. However, making this a habit is not excusable and is not permissible for him.
Furthermore, it is obligatory for a person, when citing the Qur'an or the Sunnah, that the evidence matches the situation for which it is cited. If he does not do so, he is distorting the Qur'an and the Sunnah and applying them in a context other than their intended one. Yes.