Sunan Ibn Majah

“We fasted Ramadan with the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and he did not lead us in praying Qiyam (prayers at night) during any part of it, until there were seven nights left. He led us in praying Qiyam on the seventh night until approximately one third of the night had passed. Then on the sixth night which followed it he did not lead us in prayer. Then he led us in praying Qiyam on the fifth night which followed it until almost half the night had passed. I said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, would that we had offered voluntary prayers throughout the whole night.’ He said: ‘Whoever stands with the Imam until he finishes, it is equivalent to spending the whole night in prayer.’ Then on the fourth night which followed it, he did not lead us in prayer, until the third night that followed it, when he gathered his wives and family, and the people gathered, and he led us in prayer until we feared that we would miss the Falah.” It was asked: “What is the Falah?” He said: “Suhur.” He said: “Then he did not lead us in prayer at night for the rest of the month.”

“I met Abu Salamah bin ‘Abdur-Rahman and said: ‘Tell me a Hadith that you heard from your father, in which mention is made of the month of Ramadan.’ He said: ‘Yes, my father narrated to me that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) mentioned the month of Ramadan and said: “A month which Allah has enjoined upon you to fast, and in which I have established Qiyam (prayers at night) as Sunnah for you. So whoever fasts it and spends its nights in prayer out of faith and in hope of reward; he will emerge from his sins as on the day his mother bore him.”

“The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘At night Satan ties a rope in which there are three knots to the nape of the neck of anyone of you. If he wakes up and remembers Allah, one knot is untied. If he performs ablution, another knot is untied, and if he gets up to pray, all the knots are untied, so he wakes up energetic and cheerful, he has already earned something good. But if he does not do that, he wakes up bad-tempered, having earned nothing good.”

“Mention was made to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) of a man who slept until morning came. He said: ‘That is because Satan urinated in his ears.’”

“The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘Do not be like so-and-so, who used to pray voluntary night prayers then stopped praying voluntary night prayers.”

“The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘The mother of Sulaiman bin Dawud said to Sulaiman: “O my son, do not sleep too much at night, for sleeping too much at night will leave a man poor on the Day of Resurrection.”

“The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘Whoever prays a great deal at night, his face will be handsome during the day.’”

“When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) came to Al-Madinah, the people rushed towards him and it was said: ‘The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) has come!’ I came along with the people to see him, and when I looked at the face of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), I realized that his face was not the face of a liar. The first thing he said was: “O people, spread (the greeting of) Salam, offer food to people and pray at night when people are sleeping, you will enter Paradise in peace.”

‘When a man wakes up at night and wakes his wife, and they pray two Rak’ah, they will be recorded among the men and women who remember Allah much.”

“The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘May Allah have mercy on a man who gets up at night and prays, and wakes his wife, and she prays; and if she refuses he sprinkles water in her face. And May Allah have mercy on a woman who gets up at night and prays, and wakes her husband and he prays; and if he refuses, she sprinkles water in his face.’”

“Sa’d bin Abu Waqqas came to us when he had become blind. I greeted him with Salam and he said: ‘Who are you?’ So I told him, and he said: ‘Welcome, O son of my brother. I have heard that you recite Qur’an in a beautiful voice. I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: “This Qur’an was revealed with sorrow, so when you recite it, then weep. If you cannot weep then pretend to weep, and make your voice melodious in reciting it. Whoever does not make his voice melodious, he is not one of us.”

“One night at the time of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) I was late returning from the ‘Isha’, then I came and he said: ‘Where were you?’ I said: ‘I was listening to the recitation of a man among your Companions, for I have never heard a recitation or a voice like his from anyone.’ He got up and I got up with him, to go and listen to him. Then he turned to me and said: ‘This is Salim, the freed slave of Abu Hudhaifah. Praise is to Allah Who has created such men among my Ummah.’”

“The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘Among the people who recite the Qur’an with the most beautiful voices is the man who, when you hear him, you think that he fears Allah.’”

“The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘Allah listens more attentively to a man with a beautiful voice who recites Qur’an out loud than the master of a singing slave listens to his slave.’”

“The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) entered the mosque and heard a man reciting Qur’an. He asked: ‘Who is this?’ It was said: ‘(He is) ‘Abdullah bin Qais.’ He said: ‘He has been given (sweet melodious voice) from the Mazamir of the family of Dawud.’”

“Beautify the Qur’an with your voices.”

“I heard ‘Umar bin Khattab say: ‘The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘Whoever sleeps and misses his daily portion of Qur’an, or any part of it, let him read it between the Fajr prayer and the Zuhr prayer, and it will be recorded as if he had read it during the night.”

“Whoever goes to bed intending to wake up and pray during the night, but is overwhelmed by sleep until morning comes, what he intended will be recorded for him, and his sleep is a charity given to him by his Lord.”

“We came to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) in the delegation of Thaqif. The allies of Quraish stayed at the house of Mughirah bin Shu’bah, and the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) camped Bani Malik in a tent belonging to him. He used to come to us every night after the ‘Isha’ and speak to us standing on his two feet, until he started to shift his weight from one foot to the other. Most of what he told us was what he had suffered from his people, the Quraish. He said: ‘(The two sides) were not equal. We were weak and oppressed and humiliated, and when we went out to Al-Madinah, the outcome of the battles between us varied; sometimes we would defeat them and sometimes they would defeat us.’ One night he was later than he usually was, and I said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, you have come to us late tonight.’ He said: ‘It occurred to me that I had not read my daily portion of Qur’an and I did not want to come out until I had completed it.’” Aws said: “I asked the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ): ‘How did you used to divide up the Qur’an?’ They said: ‘A third, a fifth, a seventh, a ninth, an eleventh, a thirteenth, and Hizbul-Mufassal.’”

“I memorized the Qur’an and recited it all in one night. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘I am afraid that you may live a long life and that you may get bored. Recite it over the period of a month.’ I said: ‘Let me benefit from my strength in my youth.’ He said: ‘Recite it in ten days.’ I said: ‘Let me benefit from my strength and my youth.’ He said: ‘Recite it in seven days.’ I said: ‘Let me benefit from my strength and my youth,’ but he refused (to alter it any further).”