Lesson 3 of 6 · Tahajjud is not owed from a night you do not have
The most beloved night has sleep built into it
Three reports, and the arithmetic in the first one is the thing to look at.
The night prayer described as the most beloved is the prayer of Dawud, and it is set inside a schedule: sleep half the night, pray a third of it, sleep a sixth of it. That is two thirds of the night asleep, in two separate sleeps, with the prayer in between.
The second is the sentence this lesson could be built on by itself. Your body has a right over you, and your family has a right over you. It was said to a man who was praying all night and fasting every day, and the correction was not to try harder.
The third is the same correction in Muslim's wording, and it carries something the others do not. The man who was offered the lighter pattern did not take it, and he is recorded in old age saying: would that I had availed myself of this concession. That is this course's argument about concessions, spoken by the one person in the report who declined one.
Ibn Qudamah reads the second sleep as doing a job rather than as an accident of the schedule. In Mukhtasar Minhaj al-Qasidin, straight after quoting the same report:
ونوم آخر الليل حسن، لأنه يذهب آثار النعاس من الوجه بالغداة، ويقلل صفرته.
Our rendering: and sleep at the end of the night is good, because it removes the traces of drowsiness from the face in the morning and lessens its sallowness.
Qur’an and Sunnah
The arithmetic in this one is the thing to look at. Sleep half the night, pray a third of it, sleep a sixth. That is two thirds of the night asleep, in two separate sleeps, with the prayer in between, inside the prayer described as the most beloved.
Narrated `Abdullah bin `Amr bin Al-`As:Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) told me, "The most beloved prayer to Allah is that of David and the most beloved fasts to Allah are those of David. He used to sleep for half of the night and then pray for one third of the night and again sleep for its sixth part and used to fast on alternate days
Sahih al-Bukhari 1131graded sound, sahihaynthe Arabic and its grading
Your body has a right over you, and your family has a right over you. Everything here could be built on that sentence alone. It was said to a man who was praying all night and fasting every day, and the correction was not to try harder.
Narrated 'Abdullah bin 'Amr:Once Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said to me, "I have been informed that you offer Salat (prayer) all the night and observe Saum (fast) during the day." I said, "(Yes) I do so." He said, "If you do so, your eye sight will become weak and you will become weak. No doubt, your body has right on you, and your family has right on you, so observe Saum (for some days) and do not observe it (for some days), offer Salat (for sometime) and then sleep
Sahih al-Bukhari 1153graded sound, sahihaynthe Arabic and its grading
The same correction in Muslim's wording, and it carries something the others do not. The man who was offered the lighter pattern did not take it, and is recorded in old age saying he wished he had availed himself of the concession. That is the whole argument about concessions, spoken by the one person in the report who declined one.
Abdullah b. 'Amr (Allah be pleased with them) reported that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said to me! 'Abdullah b. 'Amr, it has been conveyed to me that you observe fast during the day and stand in prayer during the whole night. Don't do that, for your body has a share of its own in you, your eye has a share of its own in you, your wife has a share of her own in you. Observe fast and break it too. Fast for three days in every month and that is a prepetual fasting. I said! Messenger of Allah, I have got strength enough (to do more than this), whereupon he said:Then observe the fast of David (peace be upon him). Observe fast one day and break it (on the other) day. And he ('Abdullah b. 'Amr) used to say: Would that I had availed myself of this concession
Sahih Muslim 1159graded sound, sahihaynthe Arabic and its grading