Tahajjud prayer

" The midnight prayer means the Tahajjud prayer. “Tahajjud” is derived from “Hujud”, meaning sleep. Tahajjud, literally, signifies giving up of sleep. The prayer was observed by the Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h.) from midnight up to the appearance of the early dawn. This prayer was specially ordained for the Holy Prophet by the following verses: “And forsake sleep by it during a part of the night, being optional for you.” “Perchance the Lord will send thee to the Praised Abode.” (17: 79Q.) The Prophet was asked to stand up in prayer at night and seek nearness to God by the following verses:
“O thou who hast wrapped thyself! Rise to pray in the night except a little or add to it, and recite it with a little or add to it, and recite the Quran well arranged. Surely the rising by night is the firmest way to tread and most impressive in speech.” (73: 1-6Q.)
According to this direction of the Almighty, the Prophet imposed upon himself the additional prayer of Tahajjud and spent the greater portion of his night in divine service. To this effect, the Quran says: “Surely the Lord knows that thou passest in prayer nearly tow-thirds of the night and (sometimes) held of it, and also a party of those who are with thee.” (73: 20Q.) These risings of the Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h.) were generally interrupted by short naps at intervals of a few minutes. In this prayer at night the Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h.) unrevealed his mind before his Great Maker with his entire self-surrender, and remained standing so long in prayer that his feet used to get swollen.
There is no fixed number of rak’ats in Tahajjud prayer. It is generally a prayer without any standard forms of rituals and verses. The great objects is to pour out one’s heart before one’s Maker most submissively and with the utmost self-surrender and self-effacement in the worshipper’s own language and preferably with the verses of the Quran which he likes most. The number of rak’ats varies form three to thirteen, including the “Witr” prayer.

(b) Excellence of night prayer
“Great rewards and merits have been promised for the night prayer. Allah descends to the lowest heaven in the latter part of the night and invites invocations and petitions. Therefore the latter part of the night, specially the middle of the latter half of the night is opportune moment for acceptance of prayers. There is a moment in the night in which the prayer of a devotee is accepted. Night prayer expiates and prevents sins. The honourable among the Muslims are those learned in the Quran and those who pray at night.”

Salat Ul Awwabin:

After performing the fard and sunnah of Maghrib, one may perform from 6 to a maximum of 20 rak’ât nafl. This prayer has been called as Awwâbîn. (This name is sometimes also applied to the morning prayer.)

The Prophet ( saws) reportedly said:


“Whoever prays, after the Maghrib, six rak’ât without talking of anything indecent in between them, it would be equivalent to twelve years of worship for him.” [M1173, from Tirmidhi]

“The one who prays twenty rak’ât after Maghrib- Allâh will build for him a house in Paradise.” [M-1174, from Tirmidhi]
if u want to perform six (6) rakah read 2 x 3=6
if u want to perform eight (8) rakah read 2 x 4=8
if u want to perform ten (10) rakah read  2 x 5=10
continue the above procedure for more rakahs but maximum rakah is 20..

Dhuhaa Salat (Tahajjud)

Timings: The way to calculate this was to find the time of sunrise..then after sunrise add 10 to 20 minutes then pray..

The Mustahabb (preferred) time of performing Salat al-Dhuhaa is after 1/4 of the day has passed. This is deduced from a Hadith of Muslim. (Halabi; Sharah Kabeer pg.390).but u can pray together it doesn’t matter but its better to pray on ¼ of the day
Sayyidna Anas, Radi-Allahu anhu, reports that Rasulullah (Sallallaahu Alayhi
Wasallam) said, 'Whoever performs 12 Rakaats of Salat al-Dhuhaa, Allah Ta' ala will build for him a castle of gold in Jannah.' (Mishkaat pg.116)
It is reported that Sayyidna Aaisha (Radhiallaahu Anha) used to perform 8 Rakaats of Salat al-Dhuhaa. She said that even if her parents arose from the grave, she would not leave Salat al-Dhuhaa to go and meet them. (Ibid). Rasulullah S.A.W.W is reported to have said, 'Whoever offers 2 Rakaats of Salat al-Dhuhaa, all his sins will be forgiven even though they are as much as the foam of the sea.' (Ibid)
'Salat al-Dhuhaa consists of 2 - 12 Rakaats and it is preferable to perform 8 Rakaats.' (Raddul Mukhtaar vol.1 pg.505)
The Mustahabb (preferred) time of performing Salat al-Dhuhaa is after 1/4 of the day has passed. This is deduced from a Hadith of Muslim. (Halabi; Sharah Kabeer pg.390). From many Ahaadith, we understand that Salat al-Dhuhaa should be performed after the sun has risen quiet high. Because the Fuqahaa and Muhadditheen are of the opinion that the commencement of the time of Salat al-Dhuhaa is the same as that of Ishraaq (i.e. immediately after sunrise), the Ulama have stated that 'if due to lack of time, one performs the Salat of Ishraaq and Dhuhaa together at one time, that too will be correct.' (Our Namaas pg.44)
And Allah Ta'ala Knows Best

Ishraaq Salat

Timings : The way to calculate this was to find the time of sunrise..then after sunrise add 10 to 20 minutes then pray.. 
Rasulullah (S.A.W.W) is reported to have said that Allah Ta'ala says, 'O son of Aadam, perform 4 Rakaats of Salat (Ishraaq) in the early part of the day. I shall help you in accomplishing all your responsibilities during the rest of the day.' (Mishkaat pg.116)
In another narration of Tirmidhi, Rasulullah (S.A.W.W) is reported to have said, 'He who performs Fajr Salat with Jamaat and remains seated in the same place while engaging in Dhikr until after sunrise and thereafter performs 2 Rakaats Nafil Salat, (Ishraaq), he will obtain the Thawaab of one Hajj and one Umrah.' (Tirmidhi).
From the above Ahaadith, we learn that the number of Rakaats to be performed are 2 or 4 Rakaats, and the Mustahabb method of performing it is to remain seated in your place of Salat after Fajr and engage in Dhikr, etc. until sunrise. Then, approximately, 10-15 minutes after sunrise perform 2-4 Rakaats. 'If a person gets occupied in some worldly activity after the Fajr Salat, and after sunrise he offers Ishraaq Salat, this will also be permissible although the reward will be less.' (Bahishti Zewar part2 pg.30)

Brotherhood and Unity amongst Muslims

Why is it that when the Muslims of the 21st century hear that there has been an earthquake in Indonesia, Pakistan or a Tsunami along the borders of Asia but do not feel pained? When they hear of such atrocities or sufferings happening to their beloved Muslim brothers across the world there is no shared grief or significant compassion? Why is it that today when we hear that our Muslim brothers and sisters around the world are being tortured mercilessly, their land and posessions destroyed/occupied; their children are being killed/enslaved in poverty and human rights are being annihilated, that we feel no pain?

While we are living and enjoying the comforts and luxuries of the 21st century, our brothers and sisters are being oppressed all around us. It has become such that we have become immune to hearing such afflictions. It has become such that we find it hard to shed even one tear.
My dear readers, whoever you are and wherever you are, have we forgotten the Hadith of Rasullullah ?
Rasullullah giving an example of Muslim unity is reported to have said in a Hadith:
“The Muslim Ummah is like one body. If the eye is in pain then the whole body is in pain and if the head is in pain then the whole body is in pain”
So we the Muslim Ummah, whatever colour, nationality or gender, wherever we are, are like this body. If we hear that any part of this Ummah is being oppressed, then we should feel this pain.
My dear readers, our oppressed brothers and sisters are crying out for help. They find that the Muslims of the 21st century are asleep and there is no one to help them. The reason why we the Muslims are collapsing is because we do not have any love amongst us. We harbour hatred for one another and our worldly matters and materialistic pursuits have taken over our lives.
Have we forgotten the beloved companions radiyallaho anhum of Rasullullah ? Have we even realised that they were of different colours and backgrounds. Hazrat Bilal was from Ethiopia , Hazrat Salman was of Persian decent, Hazrat Suhaib was from Rome and Hazrat Abu Zar was from Gifar.
They used to love each other more than real brothers. These were the Sahabas.
When Rasullullah made the Hijrah to Madinah, amongst them was Hazrat Abdur Rahman .
Rasullullah had just established peace between Hazrat Abdur Rahman and Hazrat Sa'ad Radhiallaho Anhu of Madinah. Rasullullah tells Sa'ad to take Hazrat Abdur Rahman as his brother. Hazrat Sa'ad says to Hazrat Abdur Rahman, “O Abdur Rahman, I am one of the richest men of Madinah, take half of my wealth and do whatever you want to do with it. I have two wives, take a look at them, whichever one pleases you, I will divorce her so that you can marry her.”
This is the love that the Sahaba had amongst them. Can we find any two people in the world like this today? And this is the love that Islam is asking from all the Muslims around the world today.
Has the time not come for all of us Muslims to unite again? The unity, which our Prophet has taught us, the unity that the Sahabas had, the Unity of Islam.