Sleeping and missing salaat al-fajr
Excessive laughter
Waswaas (insinuating thoughts from Shaytaan)
Staying up late
Short temper

Introduction
Praise be to Allaah, we praise Him and seek His help, and we seek refuge with
Allaah from the evil of our own selves and from our evil deeds. Whomever
Allaah guides, no one can mislead, and whomever Allaah leaves astray, no one
can guide. I bear witness that there is no god except Allaah alone, with no
partner or associate, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and
Messenger.
“O you who believe! Fear Allaah as He should be feared, and die not except in
a state of Islam (as Muslims) with complete submission to Allaah.” [Aal
‘Imraan 3:102 – interpretation of the meaning]
“O mankind! Be dutiful to your Lord, Who created you from a single person,
and from him created his wife, and from them both He created many men and
women, and fear Allaah through Whom you demand your mutual (rights), and

(do not cut the relations of) the wombs (kinship). Surely, Allaah is Ever an All-
Watcher over you.” [al-Nisaa’ 4:1 – interpretation of the meaning]

“O you who believe! Keep your duty to Allaah and fear Him, and speak
(always) the truth. He will direct you to do righteous good deeds, and will
forgive you your sins. And whoever obeys Allaah and His Messenger, he has
indeed achieved a great achievement.” [al-Ahzaab 33:70 – interpretation of
the meaning]
Some brothers have asked me questions in various talks and lectures, including
questions about a number of problems, “diseases of the heart” (spiritual
problems) and very real obstacles that they are facing. I answered these
questions and enquiries in a series of studies entitled Shakaawaa wa Hulool
(Problems and solutions).
This series has been reviewed for publication, and I now present it to my
brothers in the hope that this action may be included in those referred to in the
hadeeth of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him):
“Whoever relieves a believer of some of the distress of this world, Allaah will
relieve him of some of the distress of the Day of Judgement... Allaah will help
His slave so long as the slave is helping his brother.” (Saheeh Muslim) I ask
Allaah to give my brothers and me the strength to do good deeds and to avoid
evil, and to save us on the Day of Regrets, for He is the Best of those who are
asked, and He is Able to do all things.

[ Arabic Index | English Index ]

Sleeping and missing salaat al-fajr
A brother complained: “I miss salaat al-Ffjr 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?”
All praise be to Allaah. The solution to this problem, like others, has two
aspects: theoretical and practical.
The theoretical aspect may be further broken down into two points:

(1) The Muslim should know the great status of salaat al-fajr in the sight of
Allaah, may He be glorified. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah 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 Allaah 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 Allaah. Do not put yourselves in
a situation where Allaah 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 Allaah 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 Allaah 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 Allaah. Do not put yourselves in
a situation where Allaah 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:
Sleeping early. According to a saheeh hadeeth, the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah 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.
Making sure that one is clean (taahir) and reciting adhkaar (prayers) before
sleeping. This helps a person to get up for fajr.

 Some enlightening solutions to common problems faced by Muslims in practicing their religion