Part of Lives of the Salaf — the Pious Predecessors (series completed)
· Lesson 26 of 72
A summary of the life of the Salaf between words and deeds | Episode (26) | Night prayers, and stories of those who perform tahajjud
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Transcript
Machine translation — may contain errors
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In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
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The life of the righteous between speech and action.
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The virtue of the night prayer and the stories of those who kept vigil.
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Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) would pray at night as much as Allah willed for him to pray.
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Then, when the last part of the night arrived,
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He would wake his family.
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He would say to them,
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"Prayer, prayer!"
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And he would recite this verse:
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"And enjoin prayer upon your family
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and be steadfast therein.
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We ask you not for provision;
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We provide for you,
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and the [best] outcome is for righteousness."
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He (may Allah be pleased with him) also said,
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"Winter is the spoils of the worshipper."
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And regarding Abdullah ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him),
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It is narrated that when winter arrived,
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He would say,
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"O people of the Qur'an,
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The night has grown long for your prayer,
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And the day has grown short for your fasting,
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So seize the opportunity."
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He (may Allah be pleased with him) also said,
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"A man during the lifetime of the Prophet (peace be upon him)
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would see a dream and relate it to the Prophet (peace be upon him)."
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He said,
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"I was a young, unmarried man,
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and I used to sleep in the mosque during the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him).
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I saw in a dream as if two angels took me
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and brought me to the Fire.
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It was built like a well,
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and it had two horns.
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I saw in it people I recognized.
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I began to say,
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'I seek refuge in Allah from the Fire,
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I seek refuge in Allah from the Fire.'
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Then another angel met them,
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and he said to me,
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'Do not be afraid.'
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I related this to Hafsah (may Allah be pleased with her),
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and Hafsah related it to the Prophet (peace be upon him).
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He said,
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'Abdullah is an excellent man,
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if only he would pray at night.'"
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Salim said,
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"After that, Abdullah
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would not sleep at night except for a little."
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He (may Allah be pleased with him) would spend the night in prayer,
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then he would say,
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"O Nafi',
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has the time of suhur arrived?"
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I would say, "No."
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So he would return to prayer.
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Then he would say,
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"O Nafi',
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has the time of suhur arrived?"
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I would say, "Yes."
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So he would sit, seek forgiveness, and supplicate until morning.
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And regarding Usayd ibn Hudayr (may Allah be pleased with him),
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It is narrated that while he was reciting one night,
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his horse suddenly shied.
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He stopped reciting,
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then it shied again.
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He stopped,
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then it shied again.
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Usayd said,
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"I feared it would trample Yahya,
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so I stood up toward it,
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and there was something like a canopy above my head
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containing things like lamps.
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It ascended into the air
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until I could no longer see it."
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I went to the Prophet (peace be upon him) in the morning
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and said, "O Messenger of Allah,
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while I was reciting in my enclosure in the middle of the night,
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my horse shied."
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The Prophet (peace be upon him) said,
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"Recite, O Ibn Hudayr,
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recite, O Ibn Hudayr."
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"Do you know what that was?"
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I said, "No."
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He said,
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"Those were the angels listening to you.
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Had you continued to recite,
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the people would have seen them in the morning;
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they would not have been hidden from them."
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And regarding Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him), he said,
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"The virtue of the night prayer over the prayer
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of the day
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is like the virtue of secret charity over public charity."
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And regarding Abu Uthman al-Nahdi, he said,
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"I was a guest of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) for seven days.
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He, his wife, and his servant would divide the night into thirds:
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one would pray,
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then wake the next,
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who would pray,
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then wake the next."
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And regarding Abdullah ibn Abi Mulaykah, he said,
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"I traveled with Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) from Medina to Mecca,
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and from Mecca to Medina.
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He would stand in prayer for half the night."
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And regarding 'Ata' al-Khurasani (may Allah have mercy on him), he said,
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"It used to be said:
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'The night prayer is a life-giver for the body,
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a light in the heart,
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a radiance for the eyes,
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and strength for the limbs.'
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When a man stands at night in vigil,
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he wakes up joyful,
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finding joy in his heart.
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But if his eyes overcome him and he sleeps through his portion,
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he wakes up sad and broken-hearted,
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as if he has lost something,
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and indeed, he has lost the most beneficial of things for him."
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And regarding Qatadah (may Allah have mercy on him), he said,
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"It used to be said:
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'Few who stay awake at night are hypocrites.'"
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And regarding Sufyan al-Thawri (may Allah have mercy on him), he said,
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"I caught up with the early generations, and they were those who stood in prayer at night."
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'Ata' (may Allah have mercy on him), after he grew old and weak,
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would stand for prayer
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and recite two hundred verses of Surah al-Baqarah while standing,
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not swaying or moving at all.
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And al-Rabi' ibn Khuthaym (may Allah have mercy on him),
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after his side became paralyzed,
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would be supported by two men to the mosque of his people.
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The companions of Abdullah would say to him,
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"O Abu Yazid,
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Allah has granted you a concession;
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if only you would pray in your house."
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He would say, "It is as you say,
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but I heard the caller saying,
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'Come to success.'
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So whoever among you hears it,
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let him answer it, even if by crawling,
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even if by creeping."
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Thabit al-Bunani (may Allah have mercy on him) said,
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"I struggled with prayer for twenty years,
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then I enjoyed it for twenty years."
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Al-Awza'i (may Allah have mercy on him) said,
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"Whoever lengthens his night prayer,
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Allah will make the standing on the Day of Resurrection easy for him."
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Al-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him)
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would divide the night:
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the first third he would write,
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the second he would pray,
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and the third he would sleep.
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Al-Dhahabi (may Allah have mercy on him) said,
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"All three of his actions were worship through intention."
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And regarding Ibrahim ibn Shammas,
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he said,
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"I knew Ahmad ibn Hanbal (may Allah have mercy on him) when he was a boy,
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and he would spend the night in worship."
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Abu Sulayman al-Darani (may Allah have mercy on him) said,
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"The people of obedience in their night
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find more pleasure than the people of amusement in their amusement.
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Were it not for the night,
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I would not have loved to remain in this world."
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Muhammad ibn Abi Hatim said,
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Muhammad ibn Isma'il (al-Bukhari) (may Allah have mercy on him) was invited
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to the orchard of one of his companions.
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When he led the people in the Dhuhr prayer,
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he stood to perform voluntary prayers.
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When he finished his prayer,
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he lifted the hem of his garment,
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and said to some of those with him,
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"Look,
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do you see anything under my garment?"
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There was a wasp that had stung him in sixteen or seventeen places,
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and his body had swollen from it.
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Some of the people said to him,
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"Why did you not stop the prayer the first time it stung you?"
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He said,
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"I was in the middle of a surah and I wanted to complete it."
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The virtue of the Duha prayer.
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Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) said,
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"Whoever misses his portion of the night prayer,
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let him pray it during the prayer before Dhuhr,
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for it is equivalent to the night prayer."
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Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf (may Allah be pleased with him)
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would pray a long prayer before Dhuhr,
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and when he heard the adhan,
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he would tighten his clothes and leave.
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The month of Ramadan and fasting.
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Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him)
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and his companions, when they fasted,
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would sit in the mosque.
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They would say, "We are purifying our fast."
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And Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) said,
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Abu Talhah (may Allah be pleased with him)
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would not fast during the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him)
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because of military expeditions.
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But when the Prophet (peace be upon him) passed away,
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I never saw him break his fast
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except on the days of Eid al-Fitr or Eid al-Adha.
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Al-Ahnaf ibn Qays (may Allah have mercy on him) wanted to fast,
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and he was asked about that.
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He said,
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"I am preparing it for a day whose evil is long-lasting."
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Then he recited,
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“Therefor Allah hath warded off from them the evil of that day, and hath made them find brightness and joy;” (76:11)
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Some of the salaf, may Allah have mercy on them,
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would complete the entire Qur'an every night during Ramadan,
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sleeping only between the Maghrib and Isha prayers.
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Others would complete it every two nights during Ramadan,
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also sleeping between the Maghrib and Isha prayers.
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Abu al-'Aliyah, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
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"The fasting person is in a state of worship as long as he does not backbite,"
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"even if he is asleep in his bed."
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Musabbih ibn Sa'id said:
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"Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-Bukhari, may Allah have mercy on him,"
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"would complete a full reading of the Qur'an every day during the daylight hours of Ramadan,"
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"and he would complete another reading every three nights during the night prayers after Tarawih."
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Preparing for worship and getting ready for it:
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Tamim al-Dari, may Allah be pleased with him, bought a cloak for a thousand dirhams,
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and he would pray in it.
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Whenever he, may Allah be pleased with him, would rise at night,
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he would call for his siwak,
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and then he would call for his finest garment,
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which he would only wear when he rose at night to perform the tahajjud prayer.
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Waki' ibn al-Jarrah, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
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"Whoever does not prepare for the prayer before its time arrives,"
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"has not truly honored it."
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Al-Mughirah ibn Hakim, may Allah have mercy on him, whenever he intended to rise for tahajjud,
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would put on his finest clothes,
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and apply the perfume of his family.
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He was among those who performed the night vigil.
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Other benefits:
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'Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, said:
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"Be more concerned with the acceptance of your deeds,"
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"than you are with the performance of the deeds themselves."
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Have you not heard Allah say:
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“But recite unto them with truth the tale of the two sons of Adam, how they offered each a sacrifice, and it was accepted from the one of them and it was not accepted from the other. (The one) said: I will surely kill thee. (The other) answered: Allah accepteth only from those who ward off (evil).” (5:27)
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'Abd al-Rahman ibn Mahdi said:
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"If it were said to Hammad ibn Salamah, may Allah have mercy on him,"
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"'You will die tomorrow,'"
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"'he would not be able to add anything more to his deeds.'"
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Sufyan al-Thawri, may Allah have mercy on him, was asked about a man praying:
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"What should he intend with his prayer?"
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He replied, "He should intend to commune with his Lord."
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The life of harmony between speech and action.