Heaps of Virtues
The gracious Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam made a statement about a particular action, and there was nobody who loved the Ummah more than the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, neither was there anyone more sincere with the Ummah, nor anyone who wanted more to save the Ummah from Jahannam, nor anyone who wanted more to deliver the Ummah into Paradise. Who could come close to the noble Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam in this regard? So every statement that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam made was for us; he was an example and a guide for us, and we should understand that he is an ocean of Rahmah. May Allah ta’ala give us the ability to drink from this ocean, even if only one drop. Ameen.
So imagine the passion and love and affection in this statement of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, in which he told us to take hold of this Amal without fail. It is obvious from this that the Thawab and the benefit and the reward from this action will be very great for us – the holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam is saying that it is a must that we take hold of this action and implement it. He didn’t make it Fardh – it is not compulsory - but he explained that it is immensely beneficial for us. It should not be that something has to be Fardh in order for us to practice it; this should not be a necessary condition for practice. We need to get to Paradise, and we need to attain the rewards of Paradise, so the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam told us the methods and pathways through which Janah can be attained. Also, keep in mind that whatever action Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam has prescribed cannot be difficult – let me assure you that it cannot be difficult. This Amal is very easy indeed - and this Amal has also been recommended in the Qur’an.
Allah subhana wa ta'ala Himself has made statements about this Amal and has mentioned it in a unique and Ajeeb manner: {وَٱلَّذِينَ يَبِيتُونَ لِرَبِّهِمۡ سُجَّدً۬ا وَقِيَـٰمً۬ا}. So Allah ta’ala Himself has mentioned this exceptional action and says that it is a special attribute of His beloved people. Allah is saying ‘Those people who are close to Me and who love Me and whom I love, they in particular will do this Amal.’ Think about this – if they do it, then their claim of love is not false. So what about those who don’t do this Amal? Allah ta’ala has also explained their condition. And Allah gave Wahiy to Hadhrat Dawud alayhi salam that whoever does not do this action is making a false claim if he says that he loves Allah. Allah is telling us ‘He cannot be My Ashiq or My Mehboob; and I will not make him My beloved.’ Look at how essential this Amal is for us, my brothers; we must bring it into our lives.
Why don’t we do this action? Just Nafs and shaytan - Nafs and shaytan. Allah has given us life, health and energy, and Allah has given us courage. Ask a human being who is ill and cannot get up from his bed, poor soul, what the value of life and health is, or ask a person who is about to die what he needs. If you offer to put a house or a shop in his name or to gift him a car, he will not be at all interested in such things at that time. When the angel of death is standing in front of him, he will say ‘I just need one thing, which is to be saved from the punishment of the grave!’ Right now, me and you have a free rein, but is there any guarantee that we will not become ill tomorrow? How can we tell? There are so many diseases today, so we should consider every second and every moment as precious, my friends, as very valuable indeed.
Don’t leave anything until tomorrow – don’t delay. This is not an action that should be delayed. So many people have gone from those who sit with us. Yusuf bhai used to sit right here – even now, I can remember his face. Yusuf bhai used to come every Thursday night, but I can’t see him now. So many beloved colleagues have gone, like Noor Muhammad from Masjid al-Falah, who also used to come to Dhikr here. He was healthy and seemed well – healthier than us – but he has disappeared. We are sat here today, but must not treat this life as if it is a game, so pay attention to this Amal that has been prescribed for us. What is this Amal that the Qur’an is saying is so valuable? Allah ta’ala says that this is a special attribute of His beloved servants – so what is that attribute? Allah ta’ala says {وَٱلَّذِينَ يَبِيتُونَ لِرَبِّهِمۡ سُجَّدً۬ا وَقِيَـٰمً۬ا} – their quality is that they don’t leave the Salah of the night prayer, the prayer that we call Tahajjud. Allah ta’ala says ‘This is the habit of My beloved servants,’ and the Qur’an is saying this. Allah is saying ‘This is a quality of those who love Me and who I love. Such people do not leave Tahajjud Salah; they do not discard it. {لِرَبِّهِمۡ سُجَّدً۬ا وَقِيَـٰمً۬ا}.’ And it is stated that without this practice, the love of Allah ta’ala cannot be attained – nothing else will come to hand.
Allama Iqbal has said that it doesn’t matter who it is, the Walis of Allah become such by means of Tahajjud Salah. There is a Hadith in Sahih Muslim that after the Fardh Salahs, of all the voluntary Salahs, of which there are many throughout the day, the most virtuous and the greatest and the highest is Salat-ul-Tahajjud – SubhanAllah. The one which has the greatest rank is Tahajjud Salah. If this is such a great Salah which carries such a great status, then imagine the rewards for that Salah! And the biggest reward is this, that when a person wakes up in the night and prays Tahajjud, then he is taken close to Allah; he attains Allah’s Qurb. What is the point of sleeping a bit more? Compare that extra sleep to the value of prostrating to Allah ta’ala at that time – look at what is attained thereby. Think about the treasure that such prostrations will bring.
There is a Hadith in Tirmidhi that Allah makes an announcement for those servants who pray Tahajjud Salah. What an announcement this is: that there will be no problem for you when you pass away, for with peace and ease – with Salamat – you will be brought into Paradise. So what are you worried about? Alhamdulillah, if you have done this action and have woken up in the night and prayed Salah, then Allah ta’ala says ‘You have prayed for Me; you prayed for My sake. There was no mixture or contamination or connection to the Dunya, but rather it was done just to strengthen your relationship with Me. This is most definitely the case, because the time of Tahajjud is when I am the closest to human beings. I am so close that no Dua will be turned away and I listen very closely to any need that is presented to Me – I am very near at that time.’ The meaning of this Qurb is not that nearness referred to when Allah ta’ala says ‘I am closer to you than your jugular vein.’ Rather, the pious predecessors have stated that Allah ta’ala is explaining the definition of His nearness with the Qurb referred to here. Allah ta’ala is referring to the level of awareness and attention that is conferred, and the angels are amazed at the affection and love which rains down on His servants at that time.
But we are lost – we are Mahrum. We can get ourselves up very early indeed, for example when going to work, so what about when Allah’s alarm clock rings? Oh servants of Allah, at that time Allah is saying ‘Come - I will give to you! Is there anyone who is sick? Is there anyone who is in need? Is there anyone in distress?’ Throughout the Qur’an, Allah ta’ala has made it clear that when Allah’s servant asks from Him, it is impossible that the request is denied. It is the biggest deception and delusion and a sign that a person is off track, if he raises his hands and then thinks that his Dua is not being accepted. I tell you now, this is the biggest deception of Iman. We should have absolute conviction that if we raise our hands in Dua, then we cannot leave empty-handed. Don’t even imagine that you will leave empty-handed. When you raise your hands, then La Hawla wa la Quwwata illa bi-llah – there is no Amal that can take place without Allah’s permission. So when we raise our hands in Dua with presence of heart, never have dark thoughts such as ‘Oh, I am not going to get anything.’ Such a person prays Salah and then just raises his hands and quickly wipes them over his face. Imagine – we are stood in front of Allah al-Karim, and Allah is saying ‘There is nothing lacking in My Treasure Chest! There is nothing I cannot give,’ but our level of Iman does not believe this, and we just wipe our hands over our face and then leave.
Oh servants of Allah, if you are going to ask from Allah, then at least focus on your heart and don’t leave any need hidden – mention everything with your tongue. Rather, do one thing, which is that as soon as you raise your hands, then first and foremost when you start your Dua, take this approach and say ‘Oh Allah subhana wa ta'ala, I want to ask so much from You, but I don’t know how to ask from You, and You know my needs better than me, so please give me everything that I need, oh Allah!’ SubhanAllah. This way, whether or not we specifically ask for something, everything is covered, for Allah is Khabir and Basir. Sometimes it happens that we don’t feel like dropping our hands at all because it seems like everything is descending into our hands at that time. Yes? Goodness is coming, piety is coming, rewards are coming, so you feel like keeping the hands open and held up – you don’t feel like lowering them.
My brothers, who are we asking from? We are stood in front of Allah, and Allah does not decline to give when asked – there is nothing lacking in His Treasure Chest. We run around in the Dunya crying and begging from people and asking them to do things for us and to give us references and so on, but a Mu’min has no need to do this. Just do two Rakahs of Salah, raise your hands and go towards Allah – SubhanAllah. Make your Yaqeen solid – and we do Dhikr of Allah precisely in order to make our Yaqeen solid. So how can it be that a Dhakir would not want to do Dua when he is distressed? The meaning of Dhikr is that it gives strength to our heart and faith when they are weak – Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam has given us this path. First and foremost, Dhikr gives strength to the heart, so alhamdulillah, for the Dhakir, the one who sits in Dhikr, all the doors are opened. He develops Yaqeen, and if it hasn’t come today, it will come tomorrow, and if not tomorrow, then the day after. It will come from He who is being asked, SubhanAllah.
Allah has promised that He will give, and our Rabb is saying ‘When My servant does this, then with Salamat he will enter Jannah laughing and smiling – so what are you waiting for? You prayed Tahajjud because you had Yaqeen in My words – that is why you got up to pray.’ People who don’t have Yaqeen say ‘Oh leave it. I have prayed Isha, so what is the benefit of getting up in the middle of the night?’ But as for those with Yaqeen, who know that Allah subhana wa ta'ala is going to descend and give, will they sleep in the night? They will stay up all night waiting, thinking ‘Allah is about to come so I have a chance to have special discussion. I will pray two Rakahs of Salah and then I will start asking from Allah.’ Yes? It is about asking, so do Dhikr of Allah and strengthen your Yaqeen. It is the biggest Fitnah close to the Day of Qiyamah that our hands are raised as we sit in the Masjid, but our thoughts are somewhere else, and when we do Sajdah, we are thinking about something else, and when we are reading Qur’an, we are thinking about something else and have no idea of what the Qur’an is saying and what Allah is saying or what we need to ask from Allah. There is no knowledge or understanding, and all we do is physical practice. We run towards the Masjid, but there is no Khushu’, no awe, and also no peace nor contentment.
This is a sign of Qiyamah, and the cure for this has been given, which is to do the Dhikr of Allah, to remember Allah. So attend and sit in the Majalis of Dhikr of Allah, because this is the one clear path that will lead you to the nearness of Allah. This is how a person becomes strong, because his Yaqeen in Allah ta’ala increases, and then he comes to Salah happily. He thinks ‘Let me go to Salah, for Allah ta’ala is offering so many rewards. If I do Salah, so many rewards will come in front of me.’ When such a person opens the Qur’an, he becomes immersed in it and gets so much enjoyment, knowing that Allah ta’ala is very close – but we don’t have this Yaqeen. Allah will tell the person with Yaqeen to enter Paradise with happiness and Salamat, so he does not worry about whether death is imminent or not. He just says ‘Allah has made me successful!’ Such are the rewards that Allah gives.
There is another Hadith in Tirmidhi which explains that the reward for the men and women who pray Salah in the night will be big palaces and mansions in Paradise – and these palaces will be unique. SubhanAllah, the palaces and mansions of those who pray Tahajjud in the night will be unique – what sort of mansions will they be? They are described as clean, glowing and sparkling, although these examples are limited to our language, and we cannot understand what these palaces are really like. Allah gives us these worldly examples so that we can understand a little about them, but we cannot understand their reality. We cannot comprehend them, but from the outside to the inside and from the inside to the out, they will be crystal clear so that everything will be Dhahir and apparent. Imagine those residents and their specially prepared palaces! Allah will say ‘Go – these are your abodes, so go and live there.’ You will not have to give any mortgage, and there will be no bills to pay – they will be permanently yours, for ever; you will have these mansions for ever. Here, we have mansions and properties, but slowly and gradually the roof collapses or the walls start to crumble, whereas the condition of those mansions in the Hereafter will be that their decoration and beauty will increase daily.
For this, we have to earn here; we have to earn these palaces of the Hereafter here. We will be asked ‘What work did you do for the fifty, sixty, seventy or eighty years of your life? In what way did you toil and struggle for the Hereafter?’ But Allah is Rahim and Karim, so we must ask Allah today to forgive us for our negligence and for our ignorance in allowing Nafs and shaytan to destroy us. Say ‘Allah, You are Karim and today I have woken up! I promise that from today, I will pray Tahajjud Salah.’ And Allah says ‘If you make this promise today, I am so Karim that I will even reward you for the actions that you neglected before. I will recompense you to that extent.’ Allah – imagine! Should we not make this promise? Don’t be scared of Tahajjud.
As I told you before, any Amal that Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam prescribes will be very easy. Tahajjud is such an easy Amal that even a child can pray it. Allah ta’ala has opened the pathways for us, so don’t be scared of praying Tahajjud or let the word ‘Tahajjud’ put you off. There is such a great reward for it that it is stated in one Hadith that when a person wakes up for Tahajjud, SubhanAllah, at that moment his name is immediately removed from the list of those who are Ghafil – and Ghafil is a dirty, impure title. If a person is Ghafil, that means he is negligent, lazy and ignorant, but as soon as he wakes up for Tahajjud, then it is stated that Allah ta’ala immediately removes his name from the list of the Ghafileen and writes his name on the list of the Dhakireen, SubhanAllah. Those who do Dhikr of Allah will have a very high status in the Akhirah – you will have read this in the Qur’an. Allah ta’ala has explained the Maqam of the Dhakireen, so for those who pray Tahajjud, Allah ta’ala will remove their names from the list of dirty people and write them in the list of those pure folk.
So have courage, brothers, and determination. What great rewards Allah ta’ala is giving out! We wander around, chasing after these temporary things in the Dunya, but they are nothing – nothing at all. Go towards the real, genuine article, which is Allah’s love. Look how fantastic it is! As soon as a person wakes up for Tahajjud in the night, Allah says that He wipes away all of the sins he committed during the day – Allahu Akbar. As soon as he stands up and makes Wudhu, Allah says that He is very close to him, and the action that Allah does is to clean his Ruh, to make his spirit clean, totally clean and sparkling and glowing – say SubhanAllah. And Allah gives further rewards on top of this, including that during the day that is to come, Allah undertakes to prevent that person from committing sins. Allah says ‘I will give you the power and energy to prevent your eyes and your tongue from committing sins.’ Instead of sinning, you will hold yourself in check and avoid those sins. Allah gives a person the preparation for this through Tahajjud. So should we not pray Salat-ul-Tahajjud, my brothers? What great rewards Allah ta’ala is giving through this action of the night prayer that He has bestowed upon us!
Now I will explain how we should pray this Tahajjud Salah to you. Commonly it is thought that we have to get up in the middle of the night at Suhur time, pre-dawn, in order to pray Tahajjud. Listen - the time for Tahajjud starts immediately after Isha, SubhanAllah. Once we have prayed Isha, then directly thereafter, the time for Tahajjud starts. So who is this hard for? Tell me. In addition, there is no fixed number of Rakahs for Tahajjud – say SubhanAllah. There are seventeen Rakahs in total for Isha Salah, and twelve Rakahs at Dhuhr Salah – every Salah has its quantity. But Allah says ‘I have not fixed a quantity – according to your love and desire, you can pray as much as you want.’ So if you pray two Rakahs, that will count as Tahajjud, and four Rakahs will also count, as will six or even eight Rakahs. SubhanAllah.
So once you have prayed Isha Salah, you can pray Tahajjud as soon as you have finished. And when does this Isha time start? What have the scholars written? They say that as soon as the Fardh of Isha has been prayed, then Tahajjud time starts. Yes? After the four Fardh of Isha, Tahajjud time starts. Some of the commentators have stated that the remainder of the Salah can be included as part of your Tahajjud. This is such a great time – and how long does it last? Dhuhr time is quite limited, as is Asr, but look how long the time for Tahajjud lasts – it continues until the crack of dawn. It finishes when Suhur time finishes, just before the first crack of dawn. Yes? So pray it according to how busy you are in your life in the world. Allah says that if you are very busy, then pray Tahajjud Salah at a time that suits you, either straight after Isha or wait a while and then pray or sleep a bit and then wake up to pray – there is no precondition.
There is no precondition, and it is wrong to say that you have to sleep first before you get up and pray Tahajjud. No, no, no – there is no hard and fast condition of this sort. Many big Walis of Allah prayed Tahajjud all night long – they did not sleep first. So there is no precondition that you have to sleep and then get up. There is, however, an optimum time for Tahajjud - which is when? The greatest time to pray Tahajjud is in the third portion of the night, the last portion, but that doesn’t mean that you should leave it if you can’t pray it during the best time. There are optimum times for Fajr and Dhuhr and Asr, as well as for Maghrib and Isha, but there is leeway there too – have you thought about that? Think about Tahajjud in the same way. So brothers, if you can’t wake up at the best time, in the last third of the night, then pray it at another time and you will get the Thawab of Tahajjud.
So will you pray it now or not? Tell me. As soon as you are free from Isha Salah, then if you are busy, you can pray Tahajjud and then leave. And when you pray, make Dua at that time and ask Allah ‘Oh Allah, I have prayed Tahajjud, so whatever rewards You apportion for this, give me those rewards for this Tahajjud.’ Don’t make your hearts small and think ‘Oh, this is Isha time and I don’t feel the same as I would if I went to sleep and then got up.’ Allah will definitely give you the full reward that I have explained to you, and in the Book of Allah, you will be included in the list of those who have prayed Tahajjud Salah. So should we not pray it? How weird if we do not! The Barakah in Tahajjud is so great that if you start praying Tahajjud, you will definitely never miss Fajr Salah. Never. Allah ta’ala gives a big guarantee that Fajr Salah will be decreed in that person’s destiny.
So how easy we now realise that it is. There are fewer Rakahs than we thought, and we can pray Tahajjud after Isha or whenever you want during the night, and it will still count; and then Allah ta’ala will count you amongst those people who pray Isha Salah. So may Allah ta’ala give us all the Tawfeeq to practice this. Oceans and rivers of goodness flow from this, as Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam has explained to us, so how could we not practice and attain this? If we do not do this, remember that tomorrow, when we die, we will be desperately in need of this.
So may Allah ta’ala give us all the Tawfeeq to correct our Tahajjud Salah, and after today, make intention for Tahajjud when Isha Salah is about to begin. And if you do Tawbah for having missed this previously, inshaAllah ta’ala you will be granted the reward for all of those missed prayers as well. With the Fadhl of Allah, Allah ta’ala will bestow everything upon you.
So correct your Tahajjud and pray Tahajjud and don’t lose hope in Allah. Distress, problems, sadness and sickness all come from Allah. Just keep on asking from Allah, and keep on travelling to Allah, and keep hastening towards the best and most beautiful deeds that are beloved to Allah. We should sit in good gatherings and attend these Majalis and come to Dhikr in the morning. Salat-ul-Ishraq is another great Salah. Yes? And nowadays, at this time of year, we see that so much is included in just one part of the day. For example, when you pray Isha at this time of year, the third part of the night starts right away. As soon as we have finished the Majlis after Isha at 12 o’clock, the third part of the night has started. We leave at midnight anyway, so it is already late, and if you split the night into three parts, the night finishes at 2.15am anyway, so the time for Tahajjud is then. This is an Ajeeb point – you can attain the reward of staying awake all night long.
May Allah ta’ala give us the Tawfeeq to understand, because now we have come into the time of Tahajjud already. When the longer nights come, then you can think about sleeping for two, three or four hours and then getting up, but at the moment, we shouldn’t be lazy. There is a lottery-sized prize waiting at home for praying Tahajjud Salah during the summertime. At this time of year, there is a huge prize on offer – you get Isha Salah, Tahajjud Salah, Fajr Salah and also Ishraq Salah along with Dhikr! SubhanAllah – and then at 5.30am, you can go to sleep, SubhanAllah. Between midnight and 5.30, in those five hours you will earn so much that the angels will get tired of writing the rewards to your name! If you pray Isha and then Tahajjud Salah, and then sit in the Majlis after that, and then go home, make a nice cup of tea or coffee and do Tasbeeh, alhamdulillah, and keep doing your Dhikr. How nicely the time will pass until Fajr time comes round, alhamdulillah, so then come to pray Fajr Salah, after which Dhikr will start again, alhamdulillah. The Majlis comes again – where are all these Ni’mahs coming from? Where are these gifts and rewards coming from? La Hawla wa la Quwwata illa bi-llah – from Allah Most High! The Majlis takes place immediately after Fajr, so what a Thawab is there for the person who prays Fajr. Especially on Jumu’ah, if a person prays Fajr Salah and then sits for Dhikr and then prays Ishraq, he will get the reward of one accepted Hajj and Umrah. These are the oceans of Allah’s Rahmah – and how long does all this take? From 12.30am to 5.30am, and then you will be free – even at 5am you will be free to go and sleep for however long you want, until 10am or 11am.
What a beautiful programme and schedule Allah ta’ala has given to us nowadays. There is so much enjoyment in these nights – your sleep is fulfilled, alhamdulillah, and you get all of your Salahs as well. Tomorrow is Jumu’ah, so repent today and embark on this programme; run your life according to this. Make a start, and after a little bit of pain and hardship at first, you will get used to it, alhamdulillah. Your Ruh will drag you itself, saying ‘Come on, let’s do Dhikr – let’s sit down and pray Ishraq after sunrise.’ And if you do this on Jumu’ah, then the rewards will be multiplied by seventy; the Thawab of seventy Umrahs and seventy Hajj will be attained. So start this tomorrow, alhamdulillah, on the day of Jumu’ah. Yes? What failures and losers we are if we die without doing this.
May Allah ta’ala give us all the Tawfeeq. Ameen
30th Jun, 2021
Subhanallah
عطّارؔ ہو، رومیؔ ہو، رازیؔ ہو، غزالیؔ ہو
کچھ ہاتھ نہیں آتا بے آہِ سحَرگاہی
The gracious Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam made a statement about a particular action, and there was nobody who loved the Ummah more than the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, neither was there anyone more sincere with the Ummah, nor anyone who wanted more to save the Ummah from Jahannam, nor anyone who wanted more to deliver the Ummah into Paradise. Who could come close to the noble Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam in this regard? So every statement that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam made was for us; he was an example and a guide for us, and we should understand that he is an ocean of Rahmah. May Allah ta’ala give us the ability to drink from this ocean, even if only one drop. Ameen.
So imagine the passion and love and affection in this statement of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, in which he told us to take hold of this Amal without fail. It is obvious from this that the Thawab and the benefit and the reward from this action will be very great for us – the holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam is saying that it is a must that we take hold of this action and implement it. He didn’t make it Fardh – it is not compulsory - but he explained that it is immensely beneficial for us. It should not be that something has to be Fardh in order for us to practice it; this should not be a necessary condition for practice. We need to get to Paradise, and we need to attain the rewards of Paradise, so the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam told us the methods and pathways through which Janah can be attained. Also, keep in mind that whatever action Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam has prescribed cannot be difficult – let me assure you that it cannot be difficult. This Amal is very easy indeed - and this Amal has also been recommended in the Qur’an.
Allah subhana wa ta'ala Himself has made statements about this Amal and has mentioned it in a unique and Ajeeb manner: {وَٱلَّذِينَ يَبِيتُونَ لِرَبِّهِمۡ سُجَّدً۬ا وَقِيَـٰمً۬ا}. So Allah ta’ala Himself has mentioned this exceptional action and says that it is a special attribute of His beloved people. Allah is saying ‘Those people who are close to Me and who love Me and whom I love, they in particular will do this Amal.’ Think about this – if they do it, then their claim of love is not false. So what about those who don’t do this Amal? Allah ta’ala has also explained their condition. And Allah gave Wahiy to Hadhrat Dawud alayhi salam that whoever does not do this action is making a false claim if he says that he loves Allah. Allah is telling us ‘He cannot be My Ashiq or My Mehboob; and I will not make him My beloved.’ Look at how essential this Amal is for us, my brothers; we must bring it into our lives.
Why don’t we do this action? Just Nafs and shaytan - Nafs and shaytan. Allah has given us life, health and energy, and Allah has given us courage. Ask a human being who is ill and cannot get up from his bed, poor soul, what the value of life and health is, or ask a person who is about to die what he needs. If you offer to put a house or a shop in his name or to gift him a car, he will not be at all interested in such things at that time. When the angel of death is standing in front of him, he will say ‘I just need one thing, which is to be saved from the punishment of the grave!’ Right now, me and you have a free rein, but is there any guarantee that we will not become ill tomorrow? How can we tell? There are so many diseases today, so we should consider every second and every moment as precious, my friends, as very valuable indeed.
Don’t leave anything until tomorrow – don’t delay. This is not an action that should be delayed. So many people have gone from those who sit with us. Yusuf bhai used to sit right here – even now, I can remember his face. Yusuf bhai used to come every Thursday night, but I can’t see him now. So many beloved colleagues have gone, like Noor Muhammad from Masjid al-Falah, who also used to come to Dhikr here. He was healthy and seemed well – healthier than us – but he has disappeared. We are sat here today, but must not treat this life as if it is a game, so pay attention to this Amal that has been prescribed for us. What is this Amal that the Qur’an is saying is so valuable? Allah ta’ala says that this is a special attribute of His beloved servants – so what is that attribute? Allah ta’ala says {وَٱلَّذِينَ يَبِيتُونَ لِرَبِّهِمۡ سُجَّدً۬ا وَقِيَـٰمً۬ا} – their quality is that they don’t leave the Salah of the night prayer, the prayer that we call Tahajjud. Allah ta’ala says ‘This is the habit of My beloved servants,’ and the Qur’an is saying this. Allah is saying ‘This is a quality of those who love Me and who I love. Such people do not leave Tahajjud Salah; they do not discard it. {لِرَبِّهِمۡ سُجَّدً۬ا وَقِيَـٰمً۬ا}.’ And it is stated that without this practice, the love of Allah ta’ala cannot be attained – nothing else will come to hand.
Allama Iqbal has said that it doesn’t matter who it is, the Walis of Allah become such by means of Tahajjud Salah. There is a Hadith in Sahih Muslim that after the Fardh Salahs, of all the voluntary Salahs, of which there are many throughout the day, the most virtuous and the greatest and the highest is Salat-ul-Tahajjud – SubhanAllah. The one which has the greatest rank is Tahajjud Salah. If this is such a great Salah which carries such a great status, then imagine the rewards for that Salah! And the biggest reward is this, that when a person wakes up in the night and prays Tahajjud, then he is taken close to Allah; he attains Allah’s Qurb. What is the point of sleeping a bit more? Compare that extra sleep to the value of prostrating to Allah ta’ala at that time – look at what is attained thereby. Think about the treasure that such prostrations will bring.
There is a Hadith in Tirmidhi that Allah makes an announcement for those servants who pray Tahajjud Salah. What an announcement this is: that there will be no problem for you when you pass away, for with peace and ease – with Salamat – you will be brought into Paradise. So what are you worried about? Alhamdulillah, if you have done this action and have woken up in the night and prayed Salah, then Allah ta’ala says ‘You have prayed for Me; you prayed for My sake. There was no mixture or contamination or connection to the Dunya, but rather it was done just to strengthen your relationship with Me. This is most definitely the case, because the time of Tahajjud is when I am the closest to human beings. I am so close that no Dua will be turned away and I listen very closely to any need that is presented to Me – I am very near at that time.’ The meaning of this Qurb is not that nearness referred to when Allah ta’ala says ‘I am closer to you than your jugular vein.’ Rather, the pious predecessors have stated that Allah ta’ala is explaining the definition of His nearness with the Qurb referred to here. Allah ta’ala is referring to the level of awareness and attention that is conferred, and the angels are amazed at the affection and love which rains down on His servants at that time.
But we are lost – we are Mahrum. We can get ourselves up very early indeed, for example when going to work, so what about when Allah’s alarm clock rings? Oh servants of Allah, at that time Allah is saying ‘Come - I will give to you! Is there anyone who is sick? Is there anyone who is in need? Is there anyone in distress?’ Throughout the Qur’an, Allah ta’ala has made it clear that when Allah’s servant asks from Him, it is impossible that the request is denied. It is the biggest deception and delusion and a sign that a person is off track, if he raises his hands and then thinks that his Dua is not being accepted. I tell you now, this is the biggest deception of Iman. We should have absolute conviction that if we raise our hands in Dua, then we cannot leave empty-handed. Don’t even imagine that you will leave empty-handed. When you raise your hands, then La Hawla wa la Quwwata illa bi-llah – there is no Amal that can take place without Allah’s permission. So when we raise our hands in Dua with presence of heart, never have dark thoughts such as ‘Oh, I am not going to get anything.’ Such a person prays Salah and then just raises his hands and quickly wipes them over his face. Imagine – we are stood in front of Allah al-Karim, and Allah is saying ‘There is nothing lacking in My Treasure Chest! There is nothing I cannot give,’ but our level of Iman does not believe this, and we just wipe our hands over our face and then leave.
Oh servants of Allah, if you are going to ask from Allah, then at least focus on your heart and don’t leave any need hidden – mention everything with your tongue. Rather, do one thing, which is that as soon as you raise your hands, then first and foremost when you start your Dua, take this approach and say ‘Oh Allah subhana wa ta'ala, I want to ask so much from You, but I don’t know how to ask from You, and You know my needs better than me, so please give me everything that I need, oh Allah!’ SubhanAllah. This way, whether or not we specifically ask for something, everything is covered, for Allah is Khabir and Basir. Sometimes it happens that we don’t feel like dropping our hands at all because it seems like everything is descending into our hands at that time. Yes? Goodness is coming, piety is coming, rewards are coming, so you feel like keeping the hands open and held up – you don’t feel like lowering them.
My brothers, who are we asking from? We are stood in front of Allah, and Allah does not decline to give when asked – there is nothing lacking in His Treasure Chest. We run around in the Dunya crying and begging from people and asking them to do things for us and to give us references and so on, but a Mu’min has no need to do this. Just do two Rakahs of Salah, raise your hands and go towards Allah – SubhanAllah. Make your Yaqeen solid – and we do Dhikr of Allah precisely in order to make our Yaqeen solid. So how can it be that a Dhakir would not want to do Dua when he is distressed? The meaning of Dhikr is that it gives strength to our heart and faith when they are weak – Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam has given us this path. First and foremost, Dhikr gives strength to the heart, so alhamdulillah, for the Dhakir, the one who sits in Dhikr, all the doors are opened. He develops Yaqeen, and if it hasn’t come today, it will come tomorrow, and if not tomorrow, then the day after. It will come from He who is being asked, SubhanAllah.
Allah has promised that He will give, and our Rabb is saying ‘When My servant does this, then with Salamat he will enter Jannah laughing and smiling – so what are you waiting for? You prayed Tahajjud because you had Yaqeen in My words – that is why you got up to pray.’ People who don’t have Yaqeen say ‘Oh leave it. I have prayed Isha, so what is the benefit of getting up in the middle of the night?’ But as for those with Yaqeen, who know that Allah subhana wa ta'ala is going to descend and give, will they sleep in the night? They will stay up all night waiting, thinking ‘Allah is about to come so I have a chance to have special discussion. I will pray two Rakahs of Salah and then I will start asking from Allah.’ Yes? It is about asking, so do Dhikr of Allah and strengthen your Yaqeen. It is the biggest Fitnah close to the Day of Qiyamah that our hands are raised as we sit in the Masjid, but our thoughts are somewhere else, and when we do Sajdah, we are thinking about something else, and when we are reading Qur’an, we are thinking about something else and have no idea of what the Qur’an is saying and what Allah is saying or what we need to ask from Allah. There is no knowledge or understanding, and all we do is physical practice. We run towards the Masjid, but there is no Khushu’, no awe, and also no peace nor contentment.
This is a sign of Qiyamah, and the cure for this has been given, which is to do the Dhikr of Allah, to remember Allah. So attend and sit in the Majalis of Dhikr of Allah, because this is the one clear path that will lead you to the nearness of Allah. This is how a person becomes strong, because his Yaqeen in Allah ta’ala increases, and then he comes to Salah happily. He thinks ‘Let me go to Salah, for Allah ta’ala is offering so many rewards. If I do Salah, so many rewards will come in front of me.’ When such a person opens the Qur’an, he becomes immersed in it and gets so much enjoyment, knowing that Allah ta’ala is very close – but we don’t have this Yaqeen. Allah will tell the person with Yaqeen to enter Paradise with happiness and Salamat, so he does not worry about whether death is imminent or not. He just says ‘Allah has made me successful!’ Such are the rewards that Allah gives.
There is another Hadith in Tirmidhi which explains that the reward for the men and women who pray Salah in the night will be big palaces and mansions in Paradise – and these palaces will be unique. SubhanAllah, the palaces and mansions of those who pray Tahajjud in the night will be unique – what sort of mansions will they be? They are described as clean, glowing and sparkling, although these examples are limited to our language, and we cannot understand what these palaces are really like. Allah gives us these worldly examples so that we can understand a little about them, but we cannot understand their reality. We cannot comprehend them, but from the outside to the inside and from the inside to the out, they will be crystal clear so that everything will be Dhahir and apparent. Imagine those residents and their specially prepared palaces! Allah will say ‘Go – these are your abodes, so go and live there.’ You will not have to give any mortgage, and there will be no bills to pay – they will be permanently yours, for ever; you will have these mansions for ever. Here, we have mansions and properties, but slowly and gradually the roof collapses or the walls start to crumble, whereas the condition of those mansions in the Hereafter will be that their decoration and beauty will increase daily.
For this, we have to earn here; we have to earn these palaces of the Hereafter here. We will be asked ‘What work did you do for the fifty, sixty, seventy or eighty years of your life? In what way did you toil and struggle for the Hereafter?’ But Allah is Rahim and Karim, so we must ask Allah today to forgive us for our negligence and for our ignorance in allowing Nafs and shaytan to destroy us. Say ‘Allah, You are Karim and today I have woken up! I promise that from today, I will pray Tahajjud Salah.’ And Allah says ‘If you make this promise today, I am so Karim that I will even reward you for the actions that you neglected before. I will recompense you to that extent.’ Allah – imagine! Should we not make this promise? Don’t be scared of Tahajjud.
As I told you before, any Amal that Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam prescribes will be very easy. Tahajjud is such an easy Amal that even a child can pray it. Allah ta’ala has opened the pathways for us, so don’t be scared of praying Tahajjud or let the word ‘Tahajjud’ put you off. There is such a great reward for it that it is stated in one Hadith that when a person wakes up for Tahajjud, SubhanAllah, at that moment his name is immediately removed from the list of those who are Ghafil – and Ghafil is a dirty, impure title. If a person is Ghafil, that means he is negligent, lazy and ignorant, but as soon as he wakes up for Tahajjud, then it is stated that Allah ta’ala immediately removes his name from the list of the Ghafileen and writes his name on the list of the Dhakireen, SubhanAllah. Those who do Dhikr of Allah will have a very high status in the Akhirah – you will have read this in the Qur’an. Allah ta’ala has explained the Maqam of the Dhakireen, so for those who pray Tahajjud, Allah ta’ala will remove their names from the list of dirty people and write them in the list of those pure folk.
So have courage, brothers, and determination. What great rewards Allah ta’ala is giving out! We wander around, chasing after these temporary things in the Dunya, but they are nothing – nothing at all. Go towards the real, genuine article, which is Allah’s love. Look how fantastic it is! As soon as a person wakes up for Tahajjud in the night, Allah says that He wipes away all of the sins he committed during the day – Allahu Akbar. As soon as he stands up and makes Wudhu, Allah says that He is very close to him, and the action that Allah does is to clean his Ruh, to make his spirit clean, totally clean and sparkling and glowing – say SubhanAllah. And Allah gives further rewards on top of this, including that during the day that is to come, Allah undertakes to prevent that person from committing sins. Allah says ‘I will give you the power and energy to prevent your eyes and your tongue from committing sins.’ Instead of sinning, you will hold yourself in check and avoid those sins. Allah gives a person the preparation for this through Tahajjud. So should we not pray Salat-ul-Tahajjud, my brothers? What great rewards Allah ta’ala is giving through this action of the night prayer that He has bestowed upon us!
Now I will explain how we should pray this Tahajjud Salah to you. Commonly it is thought that we have to get up in the middle of the night at Suhur time, pre-dawn, in order to pray Tahajjud. Listen - the time for Tahajjud starts immediately after Isha, SubhanAllah. Once we have prayed Isha, then directly thereafter, the time for Tahajjud starts. So who is this hard for? Tell me. In addition, there is no fixed number of Rakahs for Tahajjud – say SubhanAllah. There are seventeen Rakahs in total for Isha Salah, and twelve Rakahs at Dhuhr Salah – every Salah has its quantity. But Allah says ‘I have not fixed a quantity – according to your love and desire, you can pray as much as you want.’ So if you pray two Rakahs, that will count as Tahajjud, and four Rakahs will also count, as will six or even eight Rakahs. SubhanAllah.
So once you have prayed Isha Salah, you can pray Tahajjud as soon as you have finished. And when does this Isha time start? What have the scholars written? They say that as soon as the Fardh of Isha has been prayed, then Tahajjud time starts. Yes? After the four Fardh of Isha, Tahajjud time starts. Some of the commentators have stated that the remainder of the Salah can be included as part of your Tahajjud. This is such a great time – and how long does it last? Dhuhr time is quite limited, as is Asr, but look how long the time for Tahajjud lasts – it continues until the crack of dawn. It finishes when Suhur time finishes, just before the first crack of dawn. Yes? So pray it according to how busy you are in your life in the world. Allah says that if you are very busy, then pray Tahajjud Salah at a time that suits you, either straight after Isha or wait a while and then pray or sleep a bit and then wake up to pray – there is no precondition.
There is no precondition, and it is wrong to say that you have to sleep first before you get up and pray Tahajjud. No, no, no – there is no hard and fast condition of this sort. Many big Walis of Allah prayed Tahajjud all night long – they did not sleep first. So there is no precondition that you have to sleep and then get up. There is, however, an optimum time for Tahajjud - which is when? The greatest time to pray Tahajjud is in the third portion of the night, the last portion, but that doesn’t mean that you should leave it if you can’t pray it during the best time. There are optimum times for Fajr and Dhuhr and Asr, as well as for Maghrib and Isha, but there is leeway there too – have you thought about that? Think about Tahajjud in the same way. So brothers, if you can’t wake up at the best time, in the last third of the night, then pray it at another time and you will get the Thawab of Tahajjud.
So will you pray it now or not? Tell me. As soon as you are free from Isha Salah, then if you are busy, you can pray Tahajjud and then leave. And when you pray, make Dua at that time and ask Allah ‘Oh Allah, I have prayed Tahajjud, so whatever rewards You apportion for this, give me those rewards for this Tahajjud.’ Don’t make your hearts small and think ‘Oh, this is Isha time and I don’t feel the same as I would if I went to sleep and then got up.’ Allah will definitely give you the full reward that I have explained to you, and in the Book of Allah, you will be included in the list of those who have prayed Tahajjud Salah. So should we not pray it? How weird if we do not! The Barakah in Tahajjud is so great that if you start praying Tahajjud, you will definitely never miss Fajr Salah. Never. Allah ta’ala gives a big guarantee that Fajr Salah will be decreed in that person’s destiny.
So how easy we now realise that it is. There are fewer Rakahs than we thought, and we can pray Tahajjud after Isha or whenever you want during the night, and it will still count; and then Allah ta’ala will count you amongst those people who pray Isha Salah. So may Allah ta’ala give us all the Tawfeeq to practice this. Oceans and rivers of goodness flow from this, as Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam has explained to us, so how could we not practice and attain this? If we do not do this, remember that tomorrow, when we die, we will be desperately in need of this.
So may Allah ta’ala give us all the Tawfeeq to correct our Tahajjud Salah, and after today, make intention for Tahajjud when Isha Salah is about to begin. And if you do Tawbah for having missed this previously, inshaAllah ta’ala you will be granted the reward for all of those missed prayers as well. With the Fadhl of Allah, Allah ta’ala will bestow everything upon you.
So correct your Tahajjud and pray Tahajjud and don’t lose hope in Allah. Distress, problems, sadness and sickness all come from Allah. Just keep on asking from Allah, and keep on travelling to Allah, and keep hastening towards the best and most beautiful deeds that are beloved to Allah. We should sit in good gatherings and attend these Majalis and come to Dhikr in the morning. Salat-ul-Ishraq is another great Salah. Yes? And nowadays, at this time of year, we see that so much is included in just one part of the day. For example, when you pray Isha at this time of year, the third part of the night starts right away. As soon as we have finished the Majlis after Isha at 12 o’clock, the third part of the night has started. We leave at midnight anyway, so it is already late, and if you split the night into three parts, the night finishes at 2.15am anyway, so the time for Tahajjud is then. This is an Ajeeb point – you can attain the reward of staying awake all night long.
May Allah ta’ala give us the Tawfeeq to understand, because now we have come into the time of Tahajjud already. When the longer nights come, then you can think about sleeping for two, three or four hours and then getting up, but at the moment, we shouldn’t be lazy. There is a lottery-sized prize waiting at home for praying Tahajjud Salah during the summertime. At this time of year, there is a huge prize on offer – you get Isha Salah, Tahajjud Salah, Fajr Salah and also Ishraq Salah along with Dhikr! SubhanAllah – and then at 5.30am, you can go to sleep, SubhanAllah. Between midnight and 5.30, in those five hours you will earn so much that the angels will get tired of writing the rewards to your name! If you pray Isha and then Tahajjud Salah, and then sit in the Majlis after that, and then go home, make a nice cup of tea or coffee and do Tasbeeh, alhamdulillah, and keep doing your Dhikr. How nicely the time will pass until Fajr time comes round, alhamdulillah, so then come to pray Fajr Salah, after which Dhikr will start again, alhamdulillah. The Majlis comes again – where are all these Ni’mahs coming from? Where are these gifts and rewards coming from? La Hawla wa la Quwwata illa bi-llah – from Allah Most High! The Majlis takes place immediately after Fajr, so what a Thawab is there for the person who prays Fajr. Especially on Jumu’ah, if a person prays Fajr Salah and then sits for Dhikr and then prays Ishraq, he will get the reward of one accepted Hajj and Umrah. These are the oceans of Allah’s Rahmah – and how long does all this take? From 12.30am to 5.30am, and then you will be free – even at 5am you will be free to go and sleep for however long you want, until 10am or 11am.
What a beautiful programme and schedule Allah ta’ala has given to us nowadays. There is so much enjoyment in these nights – your sleep is fulfilled, alhamdulillah, and you get all of your Salahs as well. Tomorrow is Jumu’ah, so repent today and embark on this programme; run your life according to this. Make a start, and after a little bit of pain and hardship at first, you will get used to it, alhamdulillah. Your Ruh will drag you itself, saying ‘Come on, let’s do Dhikr – let’s sit down and pray Ishraq after sunrise.’ And if you do this on Jumu’ah, then the rewards will be multiplied by seventy; the Thawab of seventy Umrahs and seventy Hajj will be attained. So start this tomorrow, alhamdulillah, on the day of Jumu’ah. Yes? What failures and losers we are if we die without doing this.
May Allah ta’ala give us all the Tawfeeq. Ameen