Name: Ep. 5: Benefits of a Tahajjud Habit | Tahajjud: Waking Soul & Society
Uploaded: 2021-11-04T21:30:00.000Z
Channel: Dr. Tamara Gray
Description: How can we pray Tahajjud despite our exhaustion? In this episode, Dr. Tamara gives us a new perspective on sleep, as well as some practical tips on developing the keystone habit that can change our lives.

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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

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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.

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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.

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Tahajjud: Waking Soul &amp; Society

 When I read sleep studies, I really read them with wonder.  I'm not wondering about the study. I'm wondering about what would happen.  What would happen if we did a sleep study on the early ummah, the early community?  What would it tell us about the need for sleep versus the need for worship?  I know there are some studies out there because people have sent them to me  around how meditation affects the heart and how meditation is healthy and replenishing for the  body, if I'm not mistaken, equal to or even more so than sleep. And so what about tahajjud?  Would not tahajjud be the same? That thing that the Prophet ﷺ spent so long in,  wouldn't it also replenish us? Wouldn't it also be that thing that we need to give us the strength  and well-being and spiritual health that we are all seeking and looking for? I believe so.  I believe if we could do those tests and we could do a sleep study where we had those who did not  pray tahajjud and we would look at how much sleep they actually need and then we were able to  compare them later with those who prayed tahajjud and see how much sleep they need, I believe they  would need much less sleep and I believe they would be more energetic. They would have more  peace. Their temper would be less easily tripped. Tahajjud is a keystone habit. I learned about  this term, keystone habit, from a book called The Power of Habits. A keystone habit is something  that you begin here and it's like a waterfall of other habits that follow it. So there is  a really good story in the book The Power of Habit about a company that manufactured aluminum  and a new CEO took over the company and he decided that the keystone habit of the company was going  to be safety. Now you'd think that the new habit for success, successful sales, would be marketing  or would be the product or would be something like that but he decided it was going to be safety  and because of that keystone habit of safety in the factory for aluminum, everything came up roses  as you can say. Their sales went up, their losses went down, everything really became  in the business world exactly as he had hoped. Now in the spiritual world, what is that thing?  It's tahajjud. People argue with me about this. They say, why tahajjud? No, it should be something  else because if you pray tahajjud, you're not going to miss fajr. If you pray tahajjud and  you pray fajr, you're not going to miss dhuhr, you're not going to miss asr. All of a sudden,  the struggle to make the furood happen, that struggle isn't there because the keystone habit  is tahajjud. With the keystone habit of tahajjud as well, if you have fasting to make up, now you're  up. You can have suhoor and you can start fasting. If you're getting up at tahajjud,  you become more organized in your day because the blessing of the ummah is in the morning  and so now you're up early, you've prayed, you've prayed your fajr prayer, maybe you got a little  whatever you needed to get done at home, maybe you got your exercise in, you took care of whatever  you need to do, you're off to work. Maybe you cleaned the entire house, you went off to work.  I remember one of my teachers, she used to say by 6 a.m tahajjud, morning dhikr, morning wriddh,  morning quran, clean up the whole house, six o'clock everything is done. Now you're ready to go  out and serve the community or do your job or go to work or whatever it is, take care of the  eight children at home, mashaAllah. Whatever it is that you have to do.  That early morning time, that habit, that keystone habit, that habit will change your life.  It will change your life and this concept of a keystone habit, so you start with this tahajjud  time and now you can start with a short one like if you say to yourself, oh I can't do that, that's  too much. Start with two minutes, start with, not two minutes, that's probably too short, but start  with let's say 10. 10 minutes before fajr, jump up, make wudu, come pray two raka'as, make that a  habit, set your alarm for that. If you're getting up for fajr anyway, it's just a short amount of  time. Now in the beginning you might have jet lag of extra worship because you're not used to  getting up that early, so be patient with your body as it changes. Be patient with it and don't  say to yourself, oh I need the extra sleep. This is a, this is a trip, a trick or maybe a trip up,  I can say, of shaitan, where shaitan comes to us and says, oh no, no, no, no, we need so much extra  sleep. Now yes, go to bed early. I'm not, you know, don't go to bed at 3 a.m. and expect to wake up  at 3.30 for tahajjud. No, but as you begin to change your habits and get up early, you'll start  to go to bed a little bit earlier and this is going to help you get up even earlier. It's going to  help you increase your, your tahajjud time, but be careful of telling yourself, no, no, no, no, no,  no, no, I need sleep, I need sleep. Unless you're sick or ill or something like that, that's a  different story. But …

Tahajjud: Waking Soul & Society

Dr. Tamara Gray

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Tahajjud: Waking Soul &amp; Society

Dr. Tamara Gray

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

Tahajjud: Waking Soul & Society