interesting article about night prayer

This article was taken from 'The Purification of the Soul' compiled from the works of al-Hanbali, al-Ghazali and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya

Read this article insha Allah - The last part explains why some of us cannot wake up at night for tahajjud so it is a good reflection on ourselves.

Allah says:

{ Verily, your Lord knows that you do stand (to pray at (also night) a little less than two-thirds of the night, or half the night, or a third of the night, and a party of those with you...(73:20)}

And also:

{ And those who spend the night in worship of their Lord, prostrate and standing (25:64)}

The Prophet sallahu alayhi salaam said, "The best prayer, after the obligatory prayes, is the night prayer."

Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, said, "Between the 'isha prayer and the fajr prayer, the Prophet, May Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to pray eleven rak'at. He used to give the taslim after every two rak'at and then pray one witr raka'a"

Ibn Mas'ud related that mention was made before the Prophet Sallahu alayhi salaam, of someone who sleeps throughout the night until dawn (without praying). The Prophet sallahu alayhi salaam said, "That is a man in whose ears shaytan urinates."

The Prophet sallahu alayhi salaam said, "When any one of you sleeps, shaytan ties three knots at the back of your head. On each knot he repeats and exhales the following words, 'The night is long, so stay asleep'. If you wake up and remember Allah, one knot is undone; and if you do wudu, the second knot is undone; and if you pray, the third knot is undone, and you get up in the morning full of energy and with a clear heart. Otherwise, you get up feeling lazy and with a muddled heart."

Ibn Mas'ud used to get up when other people were asleep, and a continuous humming, like the huming of bees, could be heard from him until daybreak.

Al-Hasan was once asked, "How is it that those who stay up at night have the most attractive faces?" He replied, "Because they are on intimate terms with the Merciful, and He robes them in some of His light."

He also said, "A man commits a sin and so (because of it) he is deprived of staying up at night.

A man once said to a righteous man, "I am unable to keep on staying up at night; give me a remedy." The righteous man said, "Do not disobey Him during the day and He will keep you up, between His hands, at night."

It has ben transmitted that Suffian ath-Thawri said, "I was once deprived of staying up at night for five months because of a sin that I had committed."

Ibn al-Mubarak said:

When the night is completely dark,

it finds them staying up in the night.

Fear has chased away their sleep so they stay up, while those who feel secure in this life quietly sleeps on.

Abu Sulaiman said, "The people of the night are more content with their staying up at night than the people who play are with their play. Were it not for the night, I would not have liked to continue living in this word."

Ibn Al-Munkadir said, "Only three pleasure remain in tis life: staying up at night, meeting one's brothers, and doing the obligatory prayers in jama'a."