Night Prayer 3
Today’s reminder is the third in the series of the night prayer.
This final reminder is on the method by which the night prayer is performed.
Firstly, the imam gave clarification on the witr prayer.
As stated by scholars and mentioned in hadith, the minimum night prayer that is counted for Witr prayer is 1 rakat.
There are numerous hadith that mention this point and the imam mentioned the following in order to illustrate this point. The Prophet SAWS is reported to have said:
“prayers at night are (offered) two by two, then if you fear that dawn will come, pray witr with one.”
Dear brothers and sisters, we are taught that witr prayer is done in three but in actual fact this is not the only option available to us. Allah SWT has not made our religion a difficult one and so those who want to pray less than three can do so, just as much as those who want to pray an odd number greater than 3.
The imam relayed the following hadith in relation to this point. It is translated to say:
That the Prophet (ﷺ) said: ‘Witr is a duty, and whoever wants to pray witr with seven (rak’ahs), let him do so; whoever wants to pray witr with five, let him do so, whoever wants to pray witr with three, let him do so; and whoever wants to pray witr with one, let him do so.'”
Dear brothers and sisters, this is the clarification of the night prayer and this differs from the voluntary prayer that is prayed in the night. The obvious difference here is that the voluntary night prayer is done in units of two rakat.
The imam relayed a hadith to us to illustrate the difference in which the Prophet SAWS said:
“the (voluntary) day and night prayers are two Rak’at, two Rak’at (in pairs).”
Dear brothers and sisters, this reminder concludes the series on the night prayers. To summarize the night prayer is one that has great benefit and mercy attached to it and the reasons for it are many.
We spoke of these during this series on the night prayer but this reminder today concludes once more with reasons as to why they are such an important part of our worship and why we should all be trying to incorporate them into our night schedule.
- To perform potent duas. This is the time brothers and sisters where our solitude and our focus allows us to get a real connection with Allah SWT and also where our prayers are answered.
- In order to wake up for the night prayers, one ought to sleep in a state of wudu. This in itself offers blessing to the Muslim who is attempting this practice of worship.
- One ends up eventually following a sunnah of sleeping early as this is one of the ways of waking for the night prayer.
- It allows structure to both the night as well as the day. Just like the 5 prayers are pegs that structure the day, the night prayer has the potential to be a peg during the night.
- It provides health for the mind and the soul by adhering to a practice that is done in serenity, in solitude and often in silence.
Dear brothers and sisters, the method of doing the night prayer is so simple, one would mistakenly think there isn’t a lot of reward associated with it. However, by making it a habit, it will serve us well both in this life and the next.
