[Islam & Science] Virtues of Fajr Prayer‏

Question: “I miss salaat al-Fajr on most days, and I hardly ever pray it at
the right time. Usually I do not wake up until after the sun has risen, or
at best I wake up after the time for praying fajr in jamaa’ah. I have tried
to wake up at the right time, with no success. What is the solution to this problem?”

Answer: All praise be to Allah. The solution to this problem, like others,
has two aspects: theoretical and practical.
The theoretical aspect may be further broken down into two points:

of Allah, may He be glorified.
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever prays
the dawn prayer in congregation, it is as if he had prayed the whole night long.” (Muslim, p. 454, no. 656; al-Tirmidhi, 221).

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said: “The most
burdensome prayers for the hypocrites are salaat al-’isha’ and salaat
al-fajr, but if they only knew what they contain, they would come even if
they had to crawl.” (Reported by Imaam Ahmad, al-Musnad, 2/424; Saheeh
al-Jaami’, 133).

“Whoever prays fajr is under the protection of Allah. Do not put yourselves
in a situation where Allah has to call you to account for your negligence.”
(Reported by al-Tabaraani, 7/267; Saheeh al-Jaami’, no. 6344).

“Angels come to you in shifts by night and by day. They meet at salaat
al-fajr and salaat al-‘asr, then those who had stayed with you at night
ascend, and are asked by the One Who knows better than they: ‘How did you
find My servants?’ They say, ‘We left them when they were praying, and we
came to them when they were praying.’” (Reported by al-Bukhaari, al-Fath,
2/33).

“The best of prayers in the sight of Allah is the dawn prayer on Friday, in
congregation.” (Reported by Abu Na’eem in al-Hilyah, 7/207, and in
al-Silsilah al-Saheehah, 1566).

According to a saheeh hadeeth: “Whoever prays al-Bardayn will enter
Paradise.” (Reported by al-Bukhaari, al-Fath, 2/52). Al-Bardayn are fajr and
‘asr.
(2) The Muslim should understand the seriousness of missing salaat al-fajr.
This is explained by the hadeeth already quoted: “The most burdensome
prayers for the hypocrites are salaat al-’isha’ and salaat al-Fajr…”
In al-Saheeh, it is reported that Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with them
both) said: “If we did not see a person at fajr and ‘isha’ prayers, we would
think badly of him.” (Reported by al-Tabaraani in al-Mu’jam al-Kabeer,
12/271. Al-Haythami said, the men of al-Tabaraani are muwaththaqoon
(trustworthy). al-Majma’, 2/40).
They thought badly of a person who was absent from these two prayers because
regular performance of them is an indication of a person’s faith and a
measure of his sincerity. Other prayers may be easier to do because they are
more convenient to a person’s circumstances and fit in with his work and his
sleep, but only those who are determined and sincere, people whom one hopes
are good people, will be able to pray fajr and ‘isha’ regularly in
congregation.

Another hadeeth, which indicates the seriousness of missing salaat al-fajr,
is: “Whoever prays fajr is under the protection of Allah. Do not put
yourselves in a situation where Allah has to call you to account for your
negligence, because whoever finds himself in this situation will be sorted
out and then thrown on his face in the Fire of Hell.” (Reported by Muslim,
p. 454).

These two points are sufficient to guarantee that the Muslim’s heart will
burn with the concern to ensure that he does not miss fajr. The first
motivates him to strive to earn the reward for fajr, and the second acts as
a warning that will deter him from committing the sin of negligence.

The practical aspect of dealing with this problem includes a number of steps
which the Muslim can take in order to get used to performing salaat al-fajr
regularly in congregation. These steps include:

1. Sleeping early:
According to a saheeh hadeeth, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be
upon him) used to dislike sleeping before ‘isha’ and talking afterwards. The
Muslim should not sleep before salaat al-’isha’ because it is obvious that
most of those who sleep before it will spend the rest of the night feeling
so tired and heavy that it will be as if they are ill.

Also, the Muslim should not talk after ‘isha’, and the scholars have
explained the reason why doing so is disliked: it is because doing so leads
to people staying up late, which in turns leads to the fear that they will
sleep and miss qiyaam al-layl, or the correct or preferred time for fajr
prayer.
The kind of talk that is disliked after ‘isha’, as the commentators explain,
is that in which there is no clear benefit, but if there is some benefit –
such as studying and gaining knowledge, learning stories of righteous
people, speaking to a guest, spending time with one’s wife and family,
speaking to travellers and taking care of them and their luggage, or any
other permissible reason – then there is nothing wrong with it. This has no
connection with the reasons for which many people stay up late nowadays, to
do wrong and commit sin! So the Muslim should sleep early, so that he can
wake up refreshed to pray fajr and avoid the kind of late nights that make
him too tired to get up and pray fajr in congregation.

It is a fact that people differ with regard to their need for sleep, so it
is not possible to dictate a set number of hours that people should sleep,
but each person should stick to the time that will give him enough sleep to
wake up refreshed for salaat al-fajr. If a person knows from experience that
sleeping after 11 p.m., for example, will mean that he cannot get up for
fajr, then from an Islamic point of view he should not sleep any later than
that… and so on.

2. Making sure that one is clean (taahir) and reciting adhkaar (prayers)
before sleeping. This helps a person to get up for fajr.

3. Having a sincere intention and being determined, when going to sleep,
that one will get up for fajr. But a person who goes to sleep hoping that
the alarm will not go off, and that no one will come and wake him up, will
not – with such a corrupt intention – be able to get up to pray fajr whilst
he still has this bad intention.

3. Having a sincere intention and being determined, when going to sleep,
that one will getup, then they go back to sleep again. But if a person remembers Allah straight after waking up, this will loosen one of the knots of Shaytaan, and
will motivate him to get up. When he performs wudoo’, his determination
becomes stronger, and Shaytaan is driven further away, and when he prays,
his shaytaan is defeated, his balance (of good deeds) becomes heavier, and
he will feel happy and energetic.

5. Seeking help from one’s family and friends to pray fajr, and encouraging
one another in this regard. This is essential, and is undoubtedly included
in the words of Allah (interpretation of the meanings): “… Help you one
another in al-birr and al-taqwa (virtue, righteousness and piety)…” [al-Maa’idah
5:2].. “By al-‘asr (time). Verily! Man is in loss, except those who believe
and do righteous good deeds, and recommend one another to the truth and
recommend one another to patience.” [al-‘Asr 103:1-3]

The Muslim should encourage his wife, for example by waking her up to pray
fajr, and she should encourage him, no matter how tired and exhausted he may
be. Children should also seek their father’s help to wake up, so he can wake
them when it is time for the prayer. No father should say “They have exams,
they are tired, let them sleep, poor kids.” It is a mistake to think that be
doing this one is being a kind and merciful parent; true parental mercy
means that the father wakes them up to worship Allah. “And enjoin al-salaah
(the prayer) on your family, and be patient in offering them (the prayers)…”
[Ta-Ha 20:132].

Just as family members should help and encourage one another to pray fajr,
so brothers in Islam can also help one another. For example, university
students living in the same residence or neighbours in the same
neighbourhood can help one another by knocking on a neighbour’s door to wake
him for prayer and helping him to worship Allah.

6. Praying to Allah to help him to wake up to pray fajr in congregation. Du’aa’
is one of the greatest sources of strength and success in all things.

7. Using various means of being woken up, such as alarm clocks. These should be put in the most appropriate place. Some people put the alarm clock next
to their head, and when it rings, they turn if off at once and go straight
back to sleep. Such a person should put the clock a little further away, so
that he can feel that it is really waking him up.

8. One can also arrange to receive alarm calls from the telephone company,
and no Muslim should think that it is too much to pay for this service if he
needs it, because this is spending in the way of Allah, and waking up to
obey the command of Allah cannot be measured in terms of worldly wealth.

9. Throwing water in the face of the person who is sleeping. The Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) praised the man who gets up at
night to pray, and wakes his wife, and when she refuses to get up, he throws
water in her face; and he praised the woman who gets up at night to pray,
and wakes her husband, and when he refuses to get up, she throws water in
his face. (Reported by Imaam Ahmad in al-Musnad, 2/250; Saheeh al-Jaami’,
3494).

Throwing water in a person’s face is one of the means of waking a person for
prayer that is prescribed by sharee’ah. In fact it is quite refreshing and
energizing. Some people may become enraged when woken in this manner, and
they may shout and swear and issue threats, so the person who is seeking to
wake another should employ wisdom and patience, and remember that the pens
are lifted from the record of one who is sleeping (i.e., his deeds are not
being recorded while he is asleep) – so he should put up with any bad
treatment, and not let this put him off trying to wake people up for prayer.

10. Not sleeping alone. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon
him) forbade any man to sleep alone. (Reported by Imaam Ahmad in al-Musnad,
2/91; al-Silsilah al-Saheehah, no. 60). Perhaps the wisdom behind this
prohibition is that a person could sleep too long if there is no one to wake
him up for prayer.


11. Not sleeping in remote places where it would not occur to anyone that
someone could be sleeping there, such as a person sleeping on the roof of a
house without telling his family where he is, or sleeping in a remote part
of the house or student residence, so that no-one will know to wake him for
prayer, but everyone will think that he is in the mosque when in fact he is
fast asleep. Anyone who needs to sleep in a remote place should tell the
people around him where he will be so that they can come and wake him.

12. Being lively and active upon waking. One should get up straightaway, and
not wake up in stages, as some people do. A person could be woken up several
times, and each time he gets up, but when his friend leaves, he goes back to
bed. Waking up in stages usually ends in failure, and the only way to
prevent falling asleep again is to get up straight away.

13. Not setting the alarm too early. If a person knows that there is still a
long time to go until the time of the prayer, he may think, “I still have
time, let me sleep a little more…” Everyone should know how to handle
himself and avoid this situation.

14. Lighting a lamp when waking up – or, in our modern times, switching on
the light. This has the effect of dispelling sleepiness.

15. Not staying up late, even to pray qiyaam al-layl. Some people may stay
up late to pray qiyaam al-layl, then fall asleep a few minutes before fajr
and be unable to wake up for the prayer. This happens a lot in Ramadaan –
people stay up late and sleep a little while before fajr, so they miss the
prayer. No doubt this is a grave error, because fard (obligatory) prayer
should take precedence over naafil (supererogatory) prayer. So what about
those who stay up late not to pray but to commit sin, or at best to do
permissible things? The Shaytaan may make the idea of staying up late to
discuss important matters attractive to some daa’iyahs (Islamic workers),
then they sleep late and miss the prayer, thus losing much more than they
gained.

16. Not eating too much before going to sleep. Eating too much makes one
sleep deeply. The one who eats a lot gets very tired, and sleeps a lot, thus
losing a lot. So one should try to eat lightly in the evening.

17. Warning about the misinterpretation of the sunnah to lie down after
praying the sunnah of fajr. Some people may have heard the hadeeth in which
the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “When any one
of you has prayed, let him lie down on his right side.” (Reported by
al-Tirmidhi, no. 420; Saheeh al-Jaami’, 642).
It was also reported that when the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be
upon him) had prayed the sunnah of fajr, he would lie down, then Bilaal
would call him to prayer, and he would stand up to pray. People may have
heard these ahaadeeth, and be keen to follow this proven sunnah, but they do
not understand how to do it properly. So a person may pray the sunnah of
fajr, then lie down on his right side, and fall fast asleep until the sun
rises. This is because of a lack of proper understanding. The lying down is
not for the purpose of sleeping, and Bilaal used to come and tell the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) when it was time to pray.
Moreover, as was reported by Imaam Ahmad and Ibn Hibbaan in a saheeh
hadeeth, if the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) wanted to
rest before fajr, he would put his head on his right palm, propped up on his
elbow. (Reported by Ahmad in al-Musnad, 5/298; Saheeh al-Jaami’, no. 4752).
This kind of resting prevents one from falling fast asleep, because in this
case one’s head is propped up on one’s palm and elbow, and will drop if one
dozes off, thus waking one up again. In addition to this, Bilaal was
entrusted with the responsibility of waking the Prophet (peace and blessings
of Allah be upon him) for the fajr prayer.

18. Praying qiyaam al-layl late in the night, just before fajr, so that when
one finishes witr, the call for fajr prayer is given, making the worship
continuous. The night prayer should be offered during the last third of the
night – which is the preferred time – and immediately followed by the fajr
prayer, whilst one is feeling awake and energetic.

19. Following the example of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be
upon him) in lying down to sleep. So a person should lie on his right side,
placing his right cheek on his right hand. This position makes it easy to
wake up. The best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings
of Allah be upon him), and this is better than sleeping in any other
position that may make it difficult to wake up.
20. Helping oneself by taking a nap during the day, because this will help a
person by making him need less sleep at night.

21. Not sleeping after ‘asr or maghrib, because this will make a person
sleep late, and whoever sleeps late will find it difficult to wake up.

22. Finally, sincere devotion to Allah is the best thing to motivate a
person to get up for prayer, because Allah is the One Who is controlling all
means of help. If a person has that true sincerity and his heart is burning
with devotion to Allah, then Allah will help him to get up to pray fajr in
congregation, even if he goes to sleep only a few moments before fajr.


This sincerity and devotion may cause some very enthusiastic people to find
unusual ways to help themselves to wake up to pray, which is a sign of their
eagerness and keenness. One of them may set a number of alarm clocks to wake
him up, setting each one a few minutes later than the other, so that if he
turns the first one off, the next one will wake him a few moments later, and
so on. Another may tie a string to his wrist, with the other end dangling
from his window, so that when one of his friends passes by on his way to the
mosque, he can pull on the string and wake him for fajr prayer.

See what can be achieved with sincerity and determination, may Allah guide
you! But the bitter truth is that weakness of faith and lack of sincerity
are widespread among people nowadays, as we can see from the small numbers
of people to be found praying in the mosques at fajr, despite the fact that
there are so many people living around the mosques in many neighborhoods.

But no doubt there are people who sleep so heavily that it is almost like an
illness, and they may be excused, because the matter is beyond their
control. People in this situation should turn to Allah for help, and do
everything that they possibly can, and visit the doctor, to try to find a
cure.

Finally, a word about a well known phenomenon: some people claim that there
is a hadeeth which says that the person who wants to get up for fajr should
recite the last part of Soorat al-Kahf before sleeping, and have the
intention in his heart to get up at a certain hour, and this will make him
get up at that time. They claim that this is a tried and tested method. Our
response is that there is no such saheeh hadeeth, and this carries no weight
whatsoever. The best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him)