What if I told you that your path is lit and your life begins to shine once you start

praying Tahajjud?

Ladies and Gentlemen for today’s speech, let me unveil the secrets of Tahajjud.

‫بسم هللا الرحمن الرحيم‬

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. My utmost respect to
our panel of judges, fellow contestants and ladies and gentlemen members of the
floor. I greet with the greeting of Islam, Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi
wabarakatuh

Bismillahirahmanirahim

‫ُّك َم َقامًا‬ َ ‫ك َع َس ٰ ٓى َأن َيب َْع َث‬

َ ‫ك َرب‬ َ َّ‫َو ِم َن ٱلَّي ِْل َف َت َهجَّ ْد ِب ِهۦ َنا ِف َل ًة ل‬
‫مَّحْ مُو ًدا‬
And during the night, pray tahajjud as a nafilah for you..... It is
possible ... it is likely that Allah will resurrect you upon the praiseworthy
station. (Al-Isra:79)
Have you ever heard the phrase “ ‫?”رهبان في الليل و فرسان في النهار‬
This short phrase describes the Companions during the time of Rasulullah
(PBUH).” ‫“ رهبان في الليل‬literally means worshippers in the night whereas”‫’’فرسان في النهار‬
means knights in the morning.

Rasulullah and the companions are diligent in the morning. Some participated in
business to improve the economy, some travelled very far from their homes thirsty for
knowledge and many engaged in fierce wars for the growing nation. They sacrificed all
their energy for the sake of uniting and expanding their Islamic nation. But during the
night, these obedient companions were busy reciting and memorizing the Holy Quran
and Hadiths and performed many acts of worship to obey Allah. Was it not a miracle
that they were capable to perform all of these tasks, while getting achievements on top
of one another?

Ladies and gentlemen, Tahajjud is the night prayer that is prayed as early as
3 in the morning until dawn. In fact, it was part of a daily routine that our prophet
and the sahabah never missed to do. During those times, the tahajjud prayer was
considered as a gift, and not a burden to the companions. They repent to Allah,
supplicate their duas and requests, and give full submission of themselves to
their Lord. Narrated by Umama Al-Bahili that the Messenger of Allah said, “hold
fast to the night prayer, for it was the way of drawing closer to your lord, an
expiation for your wrong deeds and a shield from sins”. Therefore, the scholars
have concluded that anybody who wants to have a private conversation with
Allah must do so during this sacred period. There is a saying that, “If there is
something you want in life and you are not praying Tahajjud for it, then you don’t
really want it.”
Next, Let us ponder many more secrets of tahajjud quoted from listless
hadiths and quran verses. The most numerous narrated hadith by 22
companions, possibly the most motivational hadith, which is in every book of
hadith Bukhari and Muslim and all of them...our Prophet s.a.w said:

ُ ُ‫ُثل‬
 ‫ث‬ ‫اء ال ُّد ْن َيا حِينَ َي ْب َقى‬ َّ ‫ار َك َو َت َعا َلى ُكل َّ َل ْي َل ٍة ِإ َلى ال‬
ِ ‫س َم‬ َ ‫َي ْن ِزل ُ َر ُّب َنا َت َب‬
ْ‫يب َل ُه َمنْ َي ْسَألُنِي َفُأ ْعطِ َي ُه َمن‬ َ ‫ال َّل ْي ِل اآل ِخ ُر َيقُول ُ َمنْ َيدْ ُعونِي َفَأ ْس َت ِج‬
‫َي ْس َت ْغفِ ُرنِي َفَأ ْغف َِر َل ُه‬

Allah swt comes down to the lower heavens in the last third of the night, Allah
himself comes down in the manner we can’t imagine, but we just have to believe
he comes down and he asks “Who is there that is praying? Who is there that is
wanting to be forgiven? Who is there that is asking me , I will give, who is there
invoking, I shall respond. So, what are we waiting for? The dua made at tahajjud
is like an arrow which does not miss its target. And what are we doing at those
times? Sleeping? watching tv? Why are we doing these things, while it is
undisputedly the best time to pray tahajjud? A scholar quoted that “the night is a
testimony of a person’s love. So we as a muslim should use the night as our love
testimony from a slave to his Lord, begging for all our necessities and provisions
rather than accomplishing unnecessary acts at night.
Meanwhile, during Sultan Muhammad Al-Fatih era, it was said that he
would not even miss a single tahajjud or rawatib. When he and his army wanted
to liberate Constantinople on the final battleday, he said:”Those who never
missed tahajjud every night please be our imam.” Long awaited, there was no one
going forward, and so, he himself went forward and became the imam.
As the result?
He successfully liberated Constantinople. It’s not really a surprise to us since the
prophet S.A.W has foreshadowed his success by saying: Verily you shall conquer
Constantinople. What a wonderful leader will he be, and what a wonderful army will
that army be!" And this, is the kind of success we will achieve when we pray
tahajjud consistently. Allah opens your provisions and increase it to a level that
we cannot even imagine.
Have we ever pondered tahajjud’s benefits to us indirectly? The night
prayer makes you sleep early, wake up early so you could be more productive
and acquire inspirations. Studies shown that tahajjud prayers accelerate blood
circulation, improve the brain function, increases immunologic body resistance,
reduces the risk of heart disease and increases life expectancy. Interestingly, a
recent research by a sleep expert Dr Nerina Ramlakhan explained that the 90
minute phase before midnight is one of the most powerful phases of sleep,
because it’s the period where the body is replenished and so the quality of sleep
before 12 midnight is more healing, rejuvenating physically, mentally and
emotionally.
Many successful people like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg are able to be so
excellent in life due to their determination and to have an early start in the
morning. Jeff Bezos, the second richest man in the world stated that “Go to bed
early and wake up early. The morning hours are good”. So as Muslims, why not
take advantage of this time to reap the listless benefits of tahajjud, not just for
this world but also for the hereafter?
To conclude, how do we prepare ourselves for tahajjud before going to
bed?
 First, have the intentions and make dua to wake up early for tahajjud.
Then, Sleep early, read zikr before we sleep, take ablution, eat healthily and not
overeating. Do good deeds and avoid bad deeds during daytime, as Imam
Ghazali when commenting on the issue said, “All sins are the cause for someone’s
heart to harden and preventing him from performing qiyamullail”.
My brothers and sisters in Islam, lets not wait till tomorrow or until the
time of Ramadhan. Decide and do it now. “Life is all about choices. We are what
we chose to be.”
With that,I thank you. Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.