Importance of worship of the night in islam

Allah Most High has decreed 2 kinds of obligations on believers. One the obligations they owe to Allah Most High Himself and the second are the rights they owe to fellow humans. Only that person will be considered successful in this world and there hereafter who fulfills the obligations due to Allah Most High and
fellow human beings as well. That person is worthy of being granted the approval of Allah Most High and the approval of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam). In a typical day, a human being has various engagements. Meeting people, working, business, etc. is done almost all during the day only. On the other hand, the night is free of all this. The last part of the night is particularly is the time of supreme concentration of the mind and the heart. Things/engagements which make the heart and the mind anxious are absent in those hours. The atmosphere itself is very calm and the best time for worship and remembrance of Allah is the time when one is free and consequently the worship is wholehearted. Thus, the last part of the night is the best for worship and remembrance of Allah Most High. Apart from this, the thoughts of ostentation and fame also don’t cross one’s mind when one stands up in worship in the last part of the night, as the world itself is asleep. There is no one to watch the worshipper. Thus, this is the best time to worship and remember Allah with utmost sincerity. For this reason, the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said: Translation: The mercy of Allah Most High is closest to a slave in the last part of the night. If you can, include yourselves among those who perform remembrance of Allah at that time. (Jame’ Tirmidhi, Hadith No. 3928) Yet one more benefit of worship in the night is that our base self (Nafs) is rendered subservient to us. This is because getting up in the middle of the night and standing up in worship is a panacea to end base desires. For this reason, Almighty Allah says: No doubt rising at night strictly subdues (the ill-commanding self), and makes the tongue deliver straight and clear speech (with the concentration of head and heart). Surah Muzammil (73:06

Importance of worship of the night 

The believers are permitted to perform supererogatory (Nafl) worship of Allah in any part of the day and night without any reservations. However, in light of the Holy Quran and the Sunnah, the worship of the night has been deemed more excellent than the worship of the day. This is because, because of various reasons worship of the night is much more excellence than worship of the day. 1. The Holy Quran was revealed in the night, i.e. in Shab Qadr. 2. Special mercy of Almighty Allah descends from the first heavens upon His slaves in the last part of the night. 3. At night, there is a general declaration of forgiveness for believers. 4. The heavenly ascension (M’eraj) of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) in which He saw the Lord Almighty Himself in all His sublime glory, occurred in night. 5. The night is the best time for worship of Allah Most High as others are sleeping and this is the ideal time for the sincere slaves of Allah to present themselves before their Lord Almighty and there is not even a trace of showing off or the like in this. 6. The affairs of the world are stopped at night. Noise and bustle is non-existent then and there is peace and calm everywhere. All this helps in concentration and devotion in worship. The scholars have detailed these and such reasons which establish that the worship performed in the night has a special excellence. Hadhrat ‘Allama Ibn Hajar Haitami (May Allah shower His mercy on him) describes the excellence of the day and night and then writes about the excellence of night over day: Translation: Other scholars have declared night to be superior to the day as the entity which has been declared greater than 1000 months (Shab Qadr) is night itself. For us, no day has been decreed to be better than 1000 months. The scholars have qualified that if a man tells his wife that she is divorced in the most excellent time, then the wife will be divorced in Shab Qadr only. The special radiance of Allah’s mercy is expressed in the night only and the heavenly journey of M’eraj also occurred in the night and Allah knows best. (Al Fatawa Al Hadeethiya, Vol. 26) The Hadith mention many details about the excellence of spending the night in prayer. The Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) has encouraged and exhorted His Ummah to spend the night in worship. Sleeping for the whole night is the sign of the heedless and due to the effect cast by Satan. When the Satan casts his effect on any human being, then that person’s nights are spent in heedlessness and the day is spent in laziness and lethargy. Thus, there is a Hadith in Sahih Bukhari: Translation: It is narrated on the authority of Hadhrat Abu Hurairah (May Allah be well pleased with him) that the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said: When any one of you goes to sleep, Satan ties three knots at the nape of the neck. On every knot, he says: The night is very long for you. You sleep for the whole night. When a believer awakens and makes a mention of Almighty Allah, one knot is unraveled. Then, if that person performs ablution, then another knot is unraveled. If that person offers Salaat, all the knots are unraveled. Then the next morning that person awakens glad and fit and fine otherwise he (or she) awakens miserable and lethargic. (Sahih Bukhari, Hadith No. 1142; Sahih Muslim, Hadith No. 3269) This Hadith teaches us that if the effect of Satan, the accursed, can be undone, it can be done with the benevolence of Allah Most High and with spending the night in worship. The benefits of spending the night in worship that are described n the Hadith aren’t for any particular night and neither has any condition been described with it that this distinction is for those who spend every night of the year in worship, but whichever night a Muslim spends in worship, that person will get the reward and benefits of it. Be it any night or a particular night like Shab Meraj, Shab Bara'at, Shab Qadr, the nights preceding the 2 Eids, etc. Now it can’t be said that spending Shab Meraj, etc. in worship is a reprehensible innovation because Shab Meraj is also included in the aforementioned Hadith. If the benefit of sending any night in worship of Allah is this, then the benefits of spending the night of Meraj is worship should be even greater. If someone insists that excellence mentioned in the aforementioned Hadith does not include Shab Meraj and such nights, then present a Hadith which says so, which states clearly that Shab Meraj is NOT a night of worship and remembrance of Allah. No one can limit the excellence of worshipping in the night based on one’s own whim and wish. And certainly no one can be allowed to play around with the rules of the Shariah!