Fasting and the Time of Sleep

11 April by Mawlana Sheikh Muhammad Adil Ar-Rabbani

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ says,

أَفْضَلُ الْأَعْمَالِ أَشَقُّهَا

The best of deeds is the difficult one. What we mean by difficult is something that’s difficult for the ego of mankind. They are the deeds that are more virtuous and that make us earn more Thawab. Certainly, first among them comes Jihad, The Greatest Jihad which is to fight against the ego. To do that brings more virtue and grace of Allah ﷻ to people.

It is Ramadan now. In some countries, fasting is difficult for people. But they must fast, what can they do? So they are turning things upside down. They sleep during the day and are awake at night.

Is such fasting accepted?

It is. It is accepted, but the physical and spiritual benefits are much less.

Apart from the benefits, some people fast, but they go to bed at Sahur time and sleep during the day. And they wake up close to Maghrib. What is it then? They pray Fajr, skip Dhuhr for sure, and they are asleep at Waqt al-Karahah/Disliked Time after ‘Asr. So what is the benefit then? They don’t get any of the benefits of fasting on the body as well.

Fasting is a great benefit for the health of the body. Our Holy Prophet ﷺ says,

صُومُوا تَصِحُّوا

“Sumu tasihhu”, Fast and you’ll have good health. When it is done in the way mentioned before, there is no benefit. It doesn’t remove the bad things in the body. If there are useless, unhealthy and ill cells, by the Wisdom of Allah ﷻ, all of them are consumed by the body when the stomach is empty while fasting. When they are consumed, people get rid of them and get benefit, as the body functions better again. It is both energy for the body and cleansing from those things.

Otherwise, when eating and sleeping, it affects the body negatively, and it becomes worse. The advice of our Holy Prophet ﷺ is to make Qailulah when fasting, to take a mid-day nap. The Qailulah can be 15 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour, or two hours the most. It is better after Dhuhr, and before Dhuhr is fine too.

But beware of sleeping after ‘Asr. Many people don’t know this. Sleeping after ‘Asr is not good.

It is fine to sleep after Maghrib. But after ‘Asr, may Allah ﷻ protect us, it is a cause for insanity. Certainly, it is good to know for people who don’t know. The time after ‘Asr is normally two hours before Maghrib according to our Hanafi Madhhab, but they’ve made it longer now. Therefore, beware of sleeping in that time until two hours prior Maghrib.

Allah ‘Azza wa Jalla told us about these things in the smallest details through our Holy Prophet ﷺ. Whatever he ﷺ did, his ﷺ Sunnah is beneficial for mankind both physically and spiritually. Not only Muslims, but also non-Muslims are making research and looking into it. They accept it as true, but their egos don’t let them say the beautiful Kalimah Shahadah anyhow. May Allah ﷻ give strength to our Iman. And may there be guidance for people insha’Allah.

Wa min Allah at-Tawfiq. Al-Fatiha.

Sohbah by Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Adil Ar-Rabbani (q)

11th April 2022| 10th Ramadan 1443

Akbaba Dergah, Istanbul

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