Chapter 8

THE NIGHT VIGIL It is recommended (Mustahab) to maintain the Night Vigil (stay awake for worship) during the following nights – 15th night of Sha’baan (Shab-e-Baraat or the Night of Deliverance), the nights of Eid ul Fitr and Eid ul Adha, the last 10 nights of Ramadhan, and the first 10 nights of ZilHajj. The Night Vigil does not mean merely spending the night staying awake, but to spend it in worship. If one has some lapsed Prayers pending, one should offer them or else offer Voluntary (Nawafil) Prayers alone, or read or listen to the Holy Quran or Ahadith, or send Salutations upon the Holy Prophet () – all these are acts of worship and one should engross oneself in them. In these special sacred nights, if one gets the chance to attend a gathering where one can obtain religious knowledge, this is still better as obtaining such knowledge is an obligation upon all Muslims. Among these, the Night Vigil for the nights of the two Eids means offering the Night (Isha) Prayer as well as the Dawn (Fajr) Prayer along with the first congregations. It is mentioned in the Hadith: “The one who offers the Night Prayer with the congregation has spent half the night in worship, and the one who also offers the Dawn Prayer with the congregation has spent the full night in worship.” (Muslim) If one wishes to spend one third of the night in worship, it is better to sleep for the first one third and do worship in the middle one third of the night. If one wishes to spend half the night in worship, it is better to do worship in the second half of the night. The Holy Prophet () has stated: “Every night when a third of it remains, Allah the Supreme directs His special attention to the sky of the world and says: “Is there anyone who invokes Me, so that I may accept his invocation ?? Is there anyone who seeks something from Me so that I may bestow to him ?? Is there anyone who seeks forgiveness so that I may forgive him ??” (Bukhari & Muslim)