Thirteen Methods of Waking up for Tahajjud

Now, the question is that Tahajjud should indeed be offered but how should one get up at night? Let me mention one of the less important ways first. Although there is a detriment in it, it could be beneficial as well. And that is that these days one can get alarm clocks and one can wake up using these. However, my experience is that this is not a very beneficial method. The reason is that because a person begins to rely upon it, that it will wake me up at the right time, so he does not pay attention and thought to the need to get up at night for the doing of a virtuous deed that should have been there. If he had had the idea in mind of getting up at night and had he fallen asleep with that thought in mind, then it would have been as if he had spent the entire night in worship.

Apart from this, it also happens sometimes that if one does not feel like getting up, then he switches the alarm off even while it is ringing. But if the person goes to sleep with the intention and resolve, then he will certainly get up at the right time. Then the people who wake up using the alarm clock complain that they feel sleepy during Prayers. The reason for this is also the very same that they get up by the alarm clock and not due to their own will. So for this reason this method is not of much benefit. But yes, in the initial stages or at the time of some special need, it can be of benefit.

In my view there are thirteen methods that can help in getting up at night. If anyone acts upon them, then I believe that, by the grace of Allah the Exalted, he will certainly encounter success. There are difficulties in the beginning of every endeavour, but in the end these methods will certainly lead to success. All these things that I will say have been extracted from the Quran and Hadith alone and are not from me myself. Nevertheless, this is the special grace of God Almighty upon me that these points, which remained hidden from others, have been manifested upon me. If time had not been limited I would have also mentioned the verses of the Holy Quran and the [specific] hadith from which I have extracted these methods, but right now I will simply state the results alone.

1. The first of these methods is that Allah the Exalted has embedded this rule in nature that a phenomenon that arises at a particular time, when that same time reappears, that phenomenon again comes into a state of excitement. Its examples can be found in abundance. For example, the illness that a person may have suffered from during his childhood, that same illness returns in his old age when the condition of the person again reverts to that same childlike condition. The same phenomenon is found among birds and trees. Based on this rule, one can get help in getting up at night in the following way. Perform dhikr for a while after offering the ‘Isha’ Prayers [night Prayer before going to bed]. The benefit of this will be that the amount of time spent by one doing dhikr his eyes will open that much time before morning.

2. The second method is that one should not talk to anybody after having performed the ‘Isha’ Prayers.1 The Holy Prophet (sas) has also prohibited speaking after the offering of ‘Isha’ Prayers. Although it is also established that at some times he did continue talking, as a general rule he had forbidden it. The reason for this is that if you start talking after the ‘Isha’ Prayers, you will stay awake longer and, thus, will get up later in the morning. And secondly, if such talk is not about faith or religion, then your attention will be diverted away from faith on account of them. This is why the Holy Prophet (sas) said that one should go right to sleep after offering ‘Isha’ Prayers without talking to anyone so that you should go to sleep while your thoughts hover on matters of faith and you get up early in the morning. It is not forbidden to carry out office work or other important assignments after ‘Isha’ Prayers, but it is necessary that one should engage in the remembrance of Allah before going to sleep. So this is the second method.

3. The third method is that when one comes home after offering the ‘Isha’ Prayers and is about to go to sleep then regardless of whether one’s wudu [ablution for Prayer] is intact or not, one should still perform ablution afresh before going to bed. This affects the heart and creates a special kind of freshness. And when someone goes to sleep in that state of freshness after having performed the ablution, he will also get up in the same state of freshness. This is a common observation that a person who goes to sleep crying wakes up screaming, and if he goes to sleep smiling then he will also get up with a cheerful countenance. Similarly, a person who goes to sleep fresh having done ablution will also wake up fresh. And in this way he will be helped in waking up.

4. The fourth method is to recite some dhikr before going to sleep; the result of this will be that you will wake up again for dhikr during the night. This is indeed the reason why the Holy Prophet (sas) also used to perform the following dhikr before going to sleep: First he would recite Ayatul-Kursi.2 Then he would recite the last three chapters of the Holy Quran3 and, having done this, he would gently blow upon his hands and lightly pass them over his entire body. He would do this three times. Then he would turn his face to his right and say:

   

   [Allahumma aslamto waj hi ilaika wa fawwadtu amri ilaik raghbatan wa rahbatan ilaik. La malja’a wa la manja’a minka illa ilaik. Allahumma amanto bikitabikalladhi anzalta wa nabiyyikalladhi arsalta—‘O our Allah, I put myself in Your protection, and turn my face towards You and assign all my affairs to You, with complete inclination and fear of You. There is no refuge or protection from You except towards Yourself. I believe in Your Book which You have revealed, and Your Prophet whom You have sent’] (Sunan at-Tirmidhī, Kitābud-Da‘wāt, Bābu ad-Du‘āu’ ‘indan-Naum; Hadith 3574).

   All believers should do likewise and then, when lying down in bed, recite this dhikr in their heart: [Subhan-Allahi wa bi-hamdihi, Subhan-Allah-hil-Azim—‘Holy is Allah and worthy of all Praise; Holy is Allah, the Great’], or continue with some other dhikr until one falls asleep because the condition in which a person goes to sleep generally stays with him all night. Thus, the person who goes to sleep while performing tasbih [glorifying Allah] and tahmid [praising Allah] will be as if he had been occupied in doing that very act the entire night.

   Look, if women or children go to sleep suffering in some grief or pain, then—even while they are asleep, turning over onto their sides—they utter painful and sorrowful sounds, because the effect of the sorrow or grief that they were involved in at the time of going to sleep, stays with them. But if someone goes to sleep reciting tasbih he will indeed be heard reciting tasbih when he will turn on his side. This is indeed the reason why God Almighty says in the Holy Quran that the believers are those who:

   
   —Surah as-Sajdah, 32:1

   Meaning that their sides keep away from their beds, and they call on their Lord in fear and hope, and spend out of what We have bestowed on them.

   From all appearances this may not seem to be true because the Holy Prophet (sas) would also go to sleep as did all the other believers as well. But the reality is that because they go to sleep while performing tasbih, their sleep is not sleep; it is, in fact, a form of tasbih. They appear to be sleeping, but in reality they are not asleep. Their sides keep away from their beds; and they are busy in the remembrance of God.

5. The fifth method is that at the time of going to sleep resolve firmly that one will certainly get up for Tahajjud. God Almighty has placed this ability in man that when he gives his self some command forcefully, it obeys him. And this is one of those things that all wise people have been accepting. So at the time of going to sleep make a resolve firmly that you will definitely get up for Tahajjud. By doing this, although you will have gone to sleep, your soul will stay awake, for it has been given a command to awaken at such and such a time and exactly at that time you will awaken on your own.

6. The sixth method is something I only permit to be employed by a person who sees that his faith is really strong and it is that instead of performing Vitr [three rak‘at prescribed as essential] after ‘Isha’, leave Vitr for Tahajjud time. In general, people are strict in performing the obligatory worship, but show slackness in the voluntary.4 Thus, when a Wajib [essential] is combined with the Nawafil, the soul of the person will not rest until it has been observed. Its result will be that the self will not show indolence. However, if the Vitr have already been offered, and even if one awakens for Tahajjud, one’s self says that well, I have offered the Vitr already and if the Nawafil remain unfulfilled, let them remain so. Nevertheless, when the mindset will be that the Vitr must also be offered, he will definitely get up, and when he wakes up, then he will offer the Nafl as well, but as I have said before, the condition for this is that the person’s faith be very strong. When faith is strong, he will certainly get up to offer the Vitr; otherwise, the person will deprive himself from the offering of Vitr as well.

7. The seventh method is also only for those who are far advanced in spirituality, and that is, they should start offering Nawafil after ‘Isha’ Prayer and continue doing so for so long that they begin to fall asleep in the Prayer itself and sleep overpowers them so much that it becomes unbearable. That is when they should go to sleep. Even though this will take a lot more time, they will get up in the morning. This is a spiritual exercise.

8. The eighth method is the one that has been practiced by many of our sufis. I have not felt the need for it, but it is beneficial. This method is that in the days when one is overpowered by sleep and one does not awaken on time, then soft bedding should be removed.

9. The ninth method involves taking dinner several hours before going to bed. In other words, eat before Maghrib Prayer [evening Prayer, immediately after sunset] or immediately after it. It happens sometimes that while the spirit is willing and alert, the body makes it lazy. The body acts like a yoke that is clinging to the spirit and when the yoke becomes heavy, it suppresses the spirit. For this reason the stomach should not be full at the time of going to sleep, because it affects the heart greatly and it makes a person lazy.

10. The tenth method is that when a man goes to sleep at night, he should not be in the post-sex state of uncleanliness or have some filth attached to him. The fact is that the angels have a strong affinity with cleanliness and they do not come close to a man who is unclean; instead, they distance themselves from him. This is why when something with a strong odour was brought to the Holy Prophet (sas) to eat, he told his companions that they could eat it, but he would not. The Companions said that they, too, would not eat it. He explained to them that they could eat it but the angels come to converse with him, which was why he would not eat it since they have a strong dislike for such things.

    In short, the angels abhor filth. Hazrat Khalifatul-Masih I (ra) used to narrate that once he went to bed without washing his hands after eating. He saw in a vision that his older brother came and wanted to give him the Holy Quran, but when he was about to touch it, his brother forbade him from doing so as his hands were not clean. So cleanliness of the body has a great effect upon the heart. One who goes to sleep clean, will have the angels come to wake him up, but should there be any shortcoming in the state of cleanliness, they do not come close. This method has to do with the cleanliness of the body.

11. The eleventh method is that the bedding should be clean. Many people do not take the proper care regarding this matter, but it must be remembered that the purity of the bedding has a very special relationship with spirituality—so special care must be exercised in this regard.

12. The twelfth method is such that if ordinary people act on it they may suffer harm from it. Yes, it is not harmful for special people and it is that husband and wife should not sleep in the same bed. The Holy Prophet (sas) used to do so, but his excellence is lofty and paramount. This could have no effect upon him, but other people need to exercise caution. The fact is that the degree to which one is overcome by carnal passions, is the very degree to which spirituality is shut down. This is the very reason why the Islamic Shariah says to eat and drink but not to exceed the limits. Why not exceed the limits? Because when carnal passions grow excessively they harm spirituality. Thus, for those people who maintain their selves under control, should they sleep together there would be no harm, but ordinary people should refrain from doing this. And those people who do not have full and complete control over their thoughts should not sleep together. If they do, they will continue to have their carnal passions aroused and sometimes it even happens that they begin to have sex or engage in love-making as they sleep. That has a bad effect on spirituality and causes laziness in waking up.

13. The thirteenth method has such excellence that not only does it greatly assist and help in getting up for Tahajjud, but by acting upon it, man is also saved from many sins and evils. And that is, before going to sleep, we should observe whether there is any malice or rancour in our hearts against anyone. And if there is, we should banish it from our heart.

The result of this will be that the purification of the soul achieved in this way will grant you the ability to get up for Tahajjud. Even though these kinds of thoughts may again overpower the person, they must be expelled from the heart before going to sleep at night and the heart must be cleared completely. What harm is there in doing this? If one considers that there is some worldly benefit in these thoughts, then he should tell his heart to remember them again during the day. There is no fighting to do while sleeping at night for which they should be kept in the heart.

Firstly, what will happen is that once a thought is uprooted from the heart, it will not even come again. Secondly, one is safeguarded from the damage that a person could suffer from harbouring such thoughts. It is a proven fact that the longer something stays with another, the greater is the effect that it leaves. For example, if you wipe something with a wet sponge quickly, it will become moistened just a little, but if you leave the wet sponge upon it for quite some time, it will become fully soaked. Similarly, the thoughts that linger with a person for a long time will become deeply absorbed in his heart, and the thoughts that one keeps in his heart while sleeping, his spirit will continue to repeat them throughout the night.

Such thoughts cannot do as much harm during the day as they can at night because the mind is absorbed in other activities and one forgets, but during the night they visit again and again. Thus, if there is any bad thought at the time of going to sleep, it should be expelled so that it does not become embedded in the heart; for, if it becomes embedded, then it will be very difficult for it to go away. And then, what if one were to pass away during the night? One would lose the opportunity to seek repentance for that evil thought. So one should make one’s self fearful in this way. And once the thought is expelled, one is granted deliverance from it. In short, at the time of going to sleep, evil thoughts must not be permitted to stay in one’s self. When one goes to sleep with a heart purified and cleansed, then he will certainly be granted the ability to wake up at the time of Tahajjud.