Barakah Is in Waking Up Early

Bismi Llāhi r-Raḥmāni r-Raḥīm

One of the beautiful du’ā’s of our Holy ‎Prophet ﷺ is:

“اللَّهُمَّ أَيْقظنَا فِي أَحَبِّ الساعاتِ إِلَيْكَ يَا وَدود”

“Allahumma aykidhna fi ‘aḥabbi s-sa’āti Ilayka, Ya Wadūd”

“O Allah, wake us up at the most beloved times to You, O Most Loving.”

“Wake us at Your most beloved times,” he ﷺ says as a du’ā’ to Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla. We follow and repeat this every day.

It is from the ḥadīths of our Holy ‎Prophet ﷺ, and one of his ﷺ beautiful words. We say it but we say it without understanding its meaning. The hours that Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla loves are the night hours. He ﷺ says, “Wake us up.” Not staying awake.

Before you sleep, there are two rak’ats called Qiyāmu l-Layl. If you don’t sleep, there is no tahajjud. To pray tahajjud you must sleep then wake up. Tahajjud prayer, the night prayer is the most valuable thing. He ﷺ says, those two rak’ats have a greater reward than fifty rak’ats.

That’s why, even if it’s hard for the ego to go to bed and wake up at night – the harder it is for the ego, the more valuable it is, the more beloved it is in the sight of Allāh ﷻ. Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla loves it.

People now stay up late. There wasn’t so much [distractions] in old times. They would go to bed easily, and wake up easily. Now most people say, “I can’t wake up for Fajr prayer. I can’t feel awake in the morning. I feel sleepy in the morning.” You feel sleepy because the ego suppresses. Old people say that shayṭān urinates in a person’s ear in the morning so he cannot wake up. That’s why it’s hard. The more you oppose him, the more you attain the pleasure of Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla.

Therefore, to get up at night for Fajr prayer, to get up earlier, do not stay awake past midnight. You must go to bed before midnight, that is, at 10 o’clock, 11 o’clock so that you can do those worships. Moreover, getting up early in the morning is also barakah for work. The barakah of the day is in the morning, says our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam. It is barakah to wake up early in the morning.

Therefore, may Allāh ﷻ help you. It is necessary to acquire this habit. They had this habit in old times. Now it is gone. In the past, when it was seven o’clock, you see everywhere is full, people are going to work. Now it’s not like that. Even kids go to school at nine in the morning. When we went to school, we would go at seven o’clock. It’s best to say “Maktab”; Mawlānā Shaykh Nāẓim didn’t like to call it “School”. We would go to Maktab at seven o’clock, at seven thirty at the latest. And it would be over by noon. After that, everyone would go on with their duties. Now, they get up very comfortably in the morning. Then, they will go, and the children will be locked up all day inside. Then, they await goodness. May Allāh ﷻ grant goodness, in shā’a Llāh. Wa min Allah at-Tawfiq.

Al-Fatiha.

• Mawlana Sheikh Muhammad Adil ar-Rabbani 

6 March 2025/ 6 Ramadhan 1446

Fajr Prayer – Akbaba Dergah, Istanbul