Sleeping and Missing Salat al-Fajr (3/3)

9. Not Sleeping Alone

The Prophet (Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) forbade any man to sleep alone. [Reported by Imam Ahmad in Al-Musnad, 2/91; As-Silsilah as-Sahihah, 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.

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.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. Lighting a Lamp when Waking Up

Or, in our modern times, switching on the light. This has the effect of dispelling sleepiness.

13. Not Staying Up Late, Even to Pray Qiyam al-Layl

Some people may stay up late to pray qiyam al-layl, then fall asleep a few minutes before Fajr and be unable to wake up for the prayer. This happens a lot in Ramadhan – 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 nafil (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 Shaytan may make the idea of staying up late to discuss important matters attractive to some da'iyah (Islamic workers), then they sleep late and miss the prayer, thus losing much more than they gained.

14. 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.

15. Warning About the Misinterpretation of the Sunnah to Lie Down After Praying the Sunnah of Fajr

Some people may have heard the hadith 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 At-Tirmidhi, no. 420; Sahih al-Jami', 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 Bilal would call him to prayer, and he would stand up to pray. People may have heard these ahadith, 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 Bilal 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 Imam Ahmad and Ibn Hibban in a sahih hadith, 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; Sahih al-Jami', 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, Bilal was entrusted with the responsibility of waking the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) for the Fajr prayer.

16. Praying Qiyam 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.

17. Following the Example of the Prophet (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 which may make it difficult to wake up.

Helping oneself by taking a nap during the day, because this will help a person by making him need less sleep at night.

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.

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 neighbourhoods.

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 hadith which says that the person who wants to get up for Fajr should recite the last part of Surah 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 sahih hadith, and this carries no weight whatsoever. The best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).