Name: Ep. 1: Why Tahajjud? | Tahajjud: Waking Soul & Society
Uploaded: 2021-10-07T19:41:35.000Z
Channel: Dr. Tamara Gray
Description: In Islam, we can choose from many forms of extra, optional worship—so why Tahajjud? Why focus on this prayer over other forms of nafila? To open this series, Dr. Tamara describes the unique place that Tahajjud should occupy for the believers.

DH 2026 Donation

Cookie Consent Banner

Rituals and deeds performed to demonstrate submission and devotion to God, such as prayer and fasting. These acts purify the soul and strengthen the believer's connection with their Creator.

Acts of Worship

Ep. 1:  Why Tahajjud? | Tahajjud: Waking Soul & Society

Ep. 2: The Sincere Prayer | Tahajjud: Waking Soul & Society

EP. 3: Turning to Tahajjud in Hard Times | Tahajjud: Waking Soul & Society

Ep. 4: How to Pray Tahajjud | Tahajjud: Waking Soul & Society

Ep. 5: Benefits of a Tahajjud Habit | Tahajjud: Waking Soul & Society

Ep. 6: How to Wake Up for Tahajjud | Tahajjud: Waking Soul & Society

All Members

Fellows

Researchers

Senior Fellow

Dr. Tamara Gray

How did our pious predecessors accomplish so much in their lifetimes and change the world while maintaining a deep connection with the Lord of the Universe?

When we look at what fuels their unwavering inner strength and resolve, we see that they were habitual risers for nightly worship. Whether we strive to be like them or are simply looking for strength to make it through another day, tahajjud is prescribed as the best sunnah prayer to perform.

Journey with Dr. Tamara Gray to awaken your soul with this beautiful prayer, and learn how you can not only build your inner strength but also benefit society.

Series

Video

Sharia, or Islamic law, is the divinely ordained path governing ritual devotion and aspects of daily life. This section covers research on Islamic jurisprudence, including worship, commerce, family law, and penal codes.

Sharia

Tahajjud: Waking Soul &amp; Society

 People ask me, why tahajjud?  Why are you always talking about this?  It's such a small part of life, such a small part of worship life.  Why do you talk about this?  Talk about other things.  Talk about recitation of Qur'an.  Talk about charity.  Talk about fasting.  And of course all of these other things are very important.  But tahajjud has a unique reflection or a unique importance that we understand if we really carefully read the Qur'an and carefully think about the words and lifestyle of Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.  If we think about the concept of nafila, what does nafila mean?  Nafila is something extra.  We know we have to do the farood.  We know that the farood alayna is very important and many, many people are struggling with the farood.  I know this.  But when we ask ourselves, what is nafila?  We can look to the Qur'an to understand.  Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says,  So nafila means it's nafila.  So this is something that is nafila.  This of course is  This is something special for Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.  Something special for his ummah.  That we have this unique time at night that is nafila.  What does nafila do?  Nafila brings us to the love of God.  And this ultimately is what we all need.  And so then we look around.  What is the nafila that we should be doing?  And we discover that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la Himself has described nafila as tahajjud.  Okay, so now we need to get up.  And in other places in the Qur'an,  Get up at night except for a little.  So we begin to understand this night time is for sleep and for worship.  And when we begin to understand and think about that, we begin to walk a different path.  The importance of tahajjud comes back to the importance of really what it means to be human.  Because we are created to be ibadallah, to be of the worshippers of God.  And we have a whole life of busyness and running around and rushing and coming at night exhausted.  And we're looking for rest in a hundred places.  But the real rest is at night.  The real rest is standing before God.  Standing before God at night.  The real rest is standing in the last third of the night, standing before Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la.  Qoom al-layl, stand up at night.  Stand up at night.  To be of the ibadur rahman allatheen yubituna li rabbihim sujjanan wa qiyaman.  Let's think about that verse for a minute.  To be of the worshippers of the merciful.  And I want to talk a little bit about what that means, to become of the worshippers of the merciful.  But to be that person, we'll talk about that maybe later, is also to define this as the one, yubitun means to settle.  If you think about the word bait, a house, a place you settle, yubitun, to settle in.  Settle in to worship.  It becomes something that you're at home with.  Something that you settle your heart in.  And it's very interesting, the verse, because it begins with sujjan.  So yubituna, in prostration, prostration to God, in great humbleness to God.  And then qiyaman.  And think about that.  When we talk about the fuqaha of prayer, when we think about what's the most important part of the prayer.  If you have bad knees or if you have an injury, you break your leg or something like that.  What do you have to do?  We have to make sure about qiyam.  We have to make sure about the standing up at night, right?  Or excuse me, the standing in prayer, which is the standing at night, the establishing of the prayer.  And sujood is the thing that if we break our leg or something, we don't have to do.  Yet in this verse, sujjadan wa qiyaman, sujood comes first.  Why?  Because it's not only an action.  Because the nighttime prayer is not only an action of the body.  It's not only an action of the forehead kissing the ground.  It's also an action of the heart.  And tahajjud is the place where our heart wakes up and where our heart rests.  And so when we begin to develop a habit of tahajjud, naafilatan lak, naafilatan lak,  this naafila, this special thing that it's not a farad.  No, no, it's not an obligation.  Think about your children.  When you ask your children, what is the most important thing in your life?  And when you ask your children to do something that is an obligation and they do it, you're happy.  But what if they come and do something extra?  Maybe you ask your kids to unload the dishwasher.  And you come upstairs, you come into the kitchen, and you find out they unloaded the dishwasher  and they did the dishes.  Of course, in a way, it's a silly comparison.  But as parents, we know how that feels.  You didn't have to neg for the dishwasher to get unloaded.  You didn't have to fuss about all of these things, about whatever it is to take the garbage out  or whatever the thing is.  And on top of that, they did something extra.  Imagine if you're a son or daughter.  After you told them to take the garbage out, you discovered they washed the garbage tins.  Allah, you might faint, fall on the chair and say, w…

Tahajjud: Waking Soul & Society

Other series

40 Hadiths on Social Justice

Confident Muslim

Sayedaty

The Faith Revival

Proofs of Prophethood

To Know Him is to Love Him: Finding Answers Through Allah's Attributes

Khutbahs

Virtues of Dhul Hijjah

Firm Roots

The Firsts (Sahaba Stories) | The Forerunners of Islam

Connect with us

Yaqeen app

Ameen app