Deeds to Habit
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How to Start a 5-Minute Qiyyam Habit
Abrar Omeish describes the power of qiyam, some best practices, and how we can make this beautiful prayer a part of our routine.
What is Qiyam al-Layl
Qiyam (or Qiyam al-Layl) is the voluntary prayer that is offered in the middle of the night, anytime between the evening prayer (isha) until dawn.
The purpose of prayer
In Surah al-Baqarah, verse 153 Allah SWT advises us to seek help in patience and in prayer. The kind of help that is to be found is mentioned in Surah Ash-Shurah where Allah SWT addresses the Prophet ﷺ and says, "have we not expanded your chest and relieved from you this burden which weighed so heavily on your back and elevated your status?" Allah then says "so, surely with hardship comes ease, surely with hardship comes ease".
Start with 10 verses
There is a connection between prayer and a sense of purpose and fulfilment that can be cultivated by praying in the middle of the night. Here are some ways that we can start developing this habit, beginning by reading just 10 verses at night.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi ta'ala wa barakatuhu. Bismillah walhamdulillah wa salatu wassalamu ala rasulillah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala. As we continue with our series from deed to habit, I want to talk about qiyam. But before you click out, I want to try to challenge the way we think about this in really coming to see that it's something that may only take 10, maybe 5 minutes of our day and is a deep source of spiritual fulfillment. We know the Prophet, peace be upon him, and the companions spent hours, day after day, late into the night, praying to the point where the Prophet's blessed feet would blister even though he knew he was going to heaven. So what was it that connected them and how can it do the same for us, even in just 5 minutes of our day? Allah tells us of course that indeed, with his mention, our hearts find ease. But we also know that Allah says, seek aid in patience and in prayer. So what is that aid? In one of the chapters that we may be familiar with, Surat al-Sharh, Allah says, he addresses the Prophet, peace be upon him, and says, how have we not expanded your chest? وَوَضَعْنَا عَنْكَ وِذْرَكَ الَّذِي أَنقَضَ ذَهْرَكَ وَرَفَعْنَا لَكَ ذِكْرَكَ Allah says, and we've lifted from you this burden that weighed heavily on your back and elevated your status, your platform. So right after this removal of this burden, we have, فَإِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرَىٰ Indeed with hardship comes ease, indeed with hardship comes ease. Then what comes right after?
فَإِذَا فَرَغْتَ فَانْصَبْ وَإِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ فَرْغَبْ Allah says, so if you find that opening, if you find that time, then stand up, rise up, pray, وَإِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ فَرْغَبْ And to your Lord long, seek out of devotion for Him, seek out of your love for Him. There's a connection there, subhanAllah, the Prophet ﷺ and the Sahaba used to derive deep fulfillment and comfort. The Prophet ﷺ, just the mention of prayer would say, أَرِحْنَا بِهَا يَا بِلَالِ Bring comfort and ease to us with it, O Bilal. So what was that connection? Allah ﷻ further comments on this of course in the Qur'an in many ways, in one particular where He says, وَذْكُرْ رَبَّكَ فِي نَفْسِكَ تَضَرُّ عَنْ وَخِيْفَةً وَدُونَ الْجَهْرِ مِنَ الْقَوْلِ بِالْغُدُوِّ وَالْأَصْوَلِ Allah ﷻ says, and mention your Lord between you and yourself out of humility and a God consciousness of fear without outward display of that speech, without being public about it in the night and in the day وَلَا تَكُن مِّنَ الْغَافِلِينَ And He mentions, and do not be amongst those who are heedless. So there's a connection with that sense of purpose, with that fulfillment and that prayer, that qiyam that we can put forward. So how can we bring that to our daily lives? The Prophet ﷺ shows us how easy this can actually be. He mentions in a hadith where مَنْ قَامَ بِعَشْرِ آيَاتٍ لَمْ يُكْتَبْ مِنَ الْغَافِلِينَ The Prophet ﷺ tells us that you're not amongst those who are heedless if you just pray with ten verses. If you do qiyam with ten verses, manqamah with ten verses,
which may take ten minutes or so. The chapter we just went over is already more than halfway there. And if we are to incorporate that in the evening after our evening prayer, or perhaps before going to bed, or even as a study break late into the evening if you're a student and you're staying up late, or if we just wake up five minutes before the time of our morning prayer, where we're waking up anyway, we're making wudu, we might as well just five minutes to offer those two rak'ahs and just ten verses that can connect us and transform our spiritual experience with our Lord. That may be a source of connection that eases our pain and suffering as we saw in the chapter of Ash-Sharh. And to continue doing so, of course, alarms are helpful, setting every several minutes or every ten minutes or so, just to be, even if we snooze it or turn it off, that we have another opportunity. And I would also recommend drinking a lot of water before going to bed because it becomes an opportunity to wake up in the middle of the night. And then inshallah for when we are up, to consider that a blessing, a gift, an honor, that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is glorifying us by allowing us to be in his servitude in those late hours of the night, which are when he's closest to us, when those hours are most blessed, when everyone is asleep and we have that intimate private appointment with the creator of the heavens and the earth. So I ask Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala to make us amongst those who can in fact develop this into habit, even if for just five minutes in the day, and amongst those who derive a deep sense of fulfillment and grounding from that deed, and that he may allow us to practice it throughout this month so that we become regular in it.
BarakAllahu Fiqh.
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