Qiyam ul Layl

Opening — Khutbah al-Hajah

إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ، نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ، وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا، مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ، وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ.

أَمَّا بَعْد، فَإِنَّ أَصْدَقَ الْحَدِيثِ كِتَابُ اللَّهِ، وَأَحْسَنَ الْهَدْيِ هَدْيُ مُحَمَّدٍ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، وَشَرَّ الْأُمُورِ مُحْدَثَاتُهَا، وَكُلَّ مُحْدَثَةٍ بِدْعَةٌ، وَكُلَّ بِدْعَةٍ ضَلَالَةٌ، وَكُلَّ ضَلَالَةٍ فِي النَّارِ.

Brothers and sisters in Islam, our khutbah today is about a great act of worship. An act of worship that as individuals and as an ummah we desperately need. Yet we don't do this act of worship — moreover, we barely know anyone who does it on a regular basis.

Today we're talking about qiyam ul-layl. Qiyam is standing. Qiyam ul-layl — standing the night in prayer.

It is also known as tahajjud, from the root hujood, which means to stop or to leave — to leave or forsake the bed or sleep at night in order to pray.

The Qur'anic Command for Qiyam ul-Layl

Allah tells his Prophet ﷺ in Surah al-Muzzammil: O the one who is wrapped up in your bed sheets, in your garment — stand the night in prayer except for a little of it. Meaning, don't stand the entire night, but stand part of the night in prayer.

Likewise in Surah al-Isra:

And from the night, make part of it a tahajjud — stand the night in prayer for part of it as a naafila, as an extra act of good deed for you. Perhaps so that your Lord may take you or resurrect you in a higher status or a higher position.

And Allah describes the righteous in the Qur'an as being from the people of qiyam:

And those who spend the night for their Lord in sujood — prostration — and qiyam, standing.

Likewise Allah describes the believers:

Their sides forsake their beds, their places of sleep. They call upon their Lord out of fear and out of hope. And they spend from that which We have provided them.

Likewise Allah describes the believers:

They used to sleep little in the night, and in the early mornings they are found making istighfar. Even though they spent the night in istighfar, in the early mornings they are still found making istighfar.

The Prophetic Encouragement

Our Prophet ﷺ mentioned — and made it sound so easy — in this hadith narrated by al-Tirmidhi:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2485; also recorded by Ibn Majah and Ahmad — graded Sahih)

O people! Spread greetings amongst each other. Feed one another. And pray at night while the majority of people are asleep — you will enter al-Jannah by salam, you will enter al-Jannah easily.

But what's interesting, brothers and sisters, is that the Prophet ﷺ combined a very difficult act of worship with two extremely simple things. Spread salam — that's so easy. Feed one another — we do that all the time. And then: pray at night while people are asleep. Why combine a difficult one with two things that are extremely easy? Part of that wisdom is to say: it is doable. Just like you can give salam, just like you feed one another and invite each other to meals — it's doable, it's not an impossibility.

In Sahih Muslim, the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 757)

In the night, there is an hour. No believing man or woman will coincide with — or be awake at — this hour, asking Allah for any good — and in another narration: from the good of this dunya and the akhirah — except that Allah would give it to them. And that is every single night.

Don't we have problems in our lives? Don't we have problems in our ummah?

The Descent of Allah in the Last Third of the Night

Look at this famous hadith that we all know, in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim. The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1145; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 758)

Our Lord, every night in the last third of the night, descends in a way that befits His greatness and His majesty — He descends to the lowest heaven. When it is the last third of the night, Allah says: Who will supplicate to Me so that I will respond to him? Who will ask Me so that I may give him? Who is asking Me for forgiveness so that I may forgive him?

Every single night, Allah is asking these three great questions. Don't we have problems? In our personal lives, don't we have problems? Don't we have problems as an ummah? And every night, Allah is asking: who has a problem? Who needs something? I'll give it to him. And the majority of the world is asleep. And the person with problems is asleep.

What if a millionaire or a billionaire said to Houston, "I'll meet you in this masjid in the last third of the night — I have money and I have connections with immigration, with whatever you need." Do you think this masjid will be empty in the last third of the night? Why is it that when a human being makes us a promise, we trust in them so much — but Allah is asking these magnificent three questions every single night, and the person with problems snores through that part of the night?

Wallahi, brothers and sisters, there are people who have come to us with problems that would crumble the mountains. And we advise them: qiyam — this night, don't sleep, wake up for qiyam. And they don't. It's like the solution to their problems, and they sleep through the night.

Isn't what's happening in Gaza something you could never imagine in a million years? That people would be silent, that Muslims and rulers and people would be silent about what's happening in Gaza. Wouldn't this warrant the entire ummah to make qiyam every single night? If we don't make qiyam for this situation, what on earth will motivate us to make qiyam? Everyone should be making qiyam. Our du'a for Gaza should be in the last third of the night, during this time.

True Stories: The Power of Qiyam ul-Layl

Wallahi, brothers and sisters, there are so many stories about du'a being answered in the last third of the night. We had a brother in Virginia — he did not have a social security number. He was trying to get a driver's license because he's a delivery person. And they had changed the law so that the system would not even print a driver's license if you don't have a social security number. He said, "I'm going to try the DMV tomorrow." We said, "The system won't allow it — you don't have a social security number." He said nothing. And he spent the night in qiyam. He came back in the later part of the morning with a brand new driver's license. Don't ask me how — it's impossible, the system won't do it. But Allah did it.

We had another brother — one of the best people of du'a that I've ever met in my life — from Washington D.C. He said, "I became Muslim in jail, and I understood Islam very well in jail." He said, "I was caught red-handed. I used to sell things that were illegal and do all kinds of bad things. I'm supposed to be put in jail for a good long time. Evidence is clear, track record is nasty — there is no way." He said, "I spent the nights in qiyam." Spending the nights in qiyam, asking Allah to allow him to be free so that he could serve the religion of Allah. And this man is one of the best people of du'a that I've ever seen in my entire life. He said: the judge — a non-Muslim — on the day of his trial, looked at him and said, "I should put you away for a long time. The evidence is there and everything is there. There is absolutely no reason to let you go. But something is telling me to let you go." And he did not spend one night in prison.

This is qiyam ul-layl, people. We could spend hours just sharing true stories. You probably know true stories of miraculous things that happened through qiyam.

Why Don't We Do It?

But the real question is: why don't we do it? Why don't we all spend the night making du'a for Gaza? What bigger calamity can befall the ummah? The truth is, the answer is that it requires effort — tremendous effort — and it requires motivation.

Al-Hasan al-Basri, rahimahullah, the great scholar, he said:

We don't know anything in Islam that is more difficult than struggling against the night — and they didn't even have alarm clocks, yet they struggled to wake up for qiyam. And spending of this wealth — people naturally love and want to keep their wealth. He said: these are the two things; I don't know anything more difficult than these.

But then look at what he also said: a man will commit a sin, and because of that sin Allah will prevent him from the qiyam at night.

Some of our grandparents used to make qiyam regularly. Some of you remember your grandparents regularly making qiyam. They were not scholars, they were not imams or students of knowledge, they were not huffadh — but it was just part of their life. Now today we have calamities and we don't get up for qiyam. We never think of qiyam. The best of us just thinks of waking up for Fajr.

Families Waking Each Other Up

Families should wake each other up. The Prophet ﷺ said, as narrated by Abu Hurairah:

(Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 1308; also recorded by Ibn Majah — graded Sahih)

Allah has mercy upon a man who gets up and prays from the night, then wakes his wife up — and if she refuses, he sprinkles water in her face. And: Allah has mercy on a woman who gets up at night, prays, and wakes up her husband — and if he refuses, she sprinkles water in his face.

Examples from the Righteous

One of the early righteous Muslims, his name was Ali ibn al-Hasan. He, his brother, and his mother used to split the Qur'an into thirds — each one of them would spend the night in qiyam with one third of the Qur'an. So in that household, every single night, the entire Qur'an was completed in qiyam. He said: then our mother died, so my brother and I split the Qur'an half and half, and every night the Qur'an was completed in our house. And then his brother died. So Ali ibn al-Hasan would do it every night — the entire Qur'an by himself — just to keep their sunnah alive of completing the Qur'an every single night.

It was the way of the righteous before us — da'ab al-saliheen qablakum. The Prophet ﷺ said it was the practice of the righteous who came before you. We have problems and we don't do it. We have problems and we can't wake up for it. We have a calamity in the ummah and no one is doing it.

Wallahi, it behooves us that right now — before you leave, perhaps — you find a friend and make a deal to wake each other up for qiyam and remind each other. It should be a community project. It should be a project for the entire ummah, because of what's going on. And on a personal level, we all have problems — we need solutions from Allah.

The nations before us — children used to do it. A man said: "I used to see Ahmad ibn Hanbal stand the night in prayer while he was a ghulam" — a child of nine or ten years old — and he regularly prayed the night.

Al-Hasan ibn Salih — one of the righteous of the early Muslims — had a servant girl and he gave her to another family. So when it was the last third of the night, this little girl got up and said: "O people of the house — prayer!" The family said, "It's Fajr already, it's time for salah." The little girl said: "You only pray the five obligatory prayers?" And the next day she went back to Al-Hasan ibn Salih and said: "Take me back. You sold me to a people who pray only the five obligatory prayers."

What would this little girl say if she saw our situation today? People with calamities snoring through the night. People with what's happening to our ummah — and not just in Gaza, but in Gaza and in Sudan and Yemen and make a list of calamities. You would imagine that for the last ten years our ummah would be making qiyam. But if we were making qiyam for the last ten years, we wouldn't be in this situation.

Practical Points: How to Do Qiyam

Some last quick points.

1. Calculating the Last Third of the Night

You can start praying from any time at night, but the last third is that special time when Allah draws near. So let's suppose Fajr is at 6 AM and Maghrib is at 6 PM — that gives us an easy 12-hour night. If we break it into thirds, that will be increments of four hours, which would mean the last third of the night would start at 2 AM in this case. But you don't have to get up at exactly 2 AM — 2:30, 3:00, 3:45, even 5:30, half an hour before Fajr. Anything in this blessed time.

The early Muslims used to respect this time so much. One time two of them were just chatting at night, and one of them continued chatting; the other tapped him with a stick and said: "Enough — it's the last third. Allah has descended. It is not appropriate."

2. You Don't Have to Sleep First

There is this strange notion that you have to sleep and then wake up. So strange — as if if you're already awake, you can't do it; you have to fall asleep first. If you're awake until Fajr time, you can simply pray. You can pray Fajr without having to sleep first.

3. It Doesn't Have to Be Long

You don't have to be a hafidh. Anybody can make qiyam. It is well documented — authentically — about the Prophet ﷺ, and about the companions, and about the tabi'een, that they used to spend the night sometimes repeating one verse over and over again. You don't have to be a hafidh. Because it's not the five obligatory prayers, you can open the mus'haf and read from it during the qiyam.

4. The Night Prayer Is in Sets of Two

The Prophet ﷺ said: Salatul layli mathna mathna — the night prayer is in groups of two. Units of two. So you don't do fours and fives — it's two, taslim, two, taslim — as many or as few as you want. If you do two rak'at, you are better than the majority of this planet. Then the Prophet ﷺ said: if you are afraid that it is Fajr or Subh, then make witr with one rak'ah.

With that, we ask Allah to make us of those who hear the truth as clear truth and follow the best of it. And to make us of those who recognize falsehood as clear falsehood and abstain from it.

أَقُولُ قَوْلِي هَذَا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ الْعَظِيمَ لِي وَلَكُمْ مِنْ جَمِيعِ الذُّنُوبِ، فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهُ، فَيَا فَوْزَ الْمُسْتَغْفِرِينَ. Ask Allah for His forgiveness — indeed, those who ask for His forgiveness shall prosper.

Second Khutbah & Du'a

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ، وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى رَسُولِهِ الْأَمِينِ، وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ أَجْمَعِينَ.

We ask Allah to give victory to the Muslims in Gaza. We ask Allah to put an end to this war — this oppressive war.

We ask Allah to enumerate and count their enemies and extinguish them one by one.

وَصَلَّى اللَّهُمَّ وَبَارِكْ عَلَى مَنْ بُعِثَ رَحْمَةً لِلْعَالَمِينَ، وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ أَجْمَعِينَ. وَقُومُوا إِلَى صَلَوَاتِكُمْ رَحِمَكُمُ اللَّهُ.