Tahajjud, also known as night prayer. It is a nafl prayer performed by the followers of Islam. It is not included in the five obligatory prayers for Muslims. Most Muslims do not know how to pray tahajjud prayer. As it is the sunnah of our Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, therefore we should pray tahajud namaz regularly.

How to pray tahajjud prayer? Complete guide with step-by-step

As we know namaz is one in the five pillars of islam. Now it is a question of how to pray tahajjud prayer?  Or how many rak’ahs of tahajud prayer? The tahajjud prayer has a minimum of two rak’ahs and a maximum 12 rak’ahs. The Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم recited two rak’ahs, four rak’ahs, and twelve rak’ahs in the tahajud nmaz. After the Isha prayer, lie down on the bed and sleep. And wake up any time of the night and pray the tahajjud namaz. The best time is midnight and late night.

 If you are sure of getting up for tahajud, you can leave the Witr of Isha. in this case, recite the witr at the end with tahjjud prayer. In this way, including the eight nawafils, the total of 11 rak’ahs of tahajud will be made. If waking up at night is not certain, it is better to recite Witr with Isha prayer. This prayer, recited in solitude, it is the door to prayer and meeting with Allah. Now we finally know how to perform namaz e tahajud.

Wake up in the last part of the night

Set an alarm in your mobile phone or clock and peacefully wake up in the third part of the night. Because last part of the night is the best time for tahajud. In this way a man can sleep many hours and can perform salah tahjud easily.

1. Do ablution (wudu)

For details of wudu you can visit our blog what is wudu. As wudu is an important step for prayer. So cleanse yourself by doing ablution. This will prepare you for salah tahjud.

2. Create aim or intention (niyyah)

Begin intention in your heart to pray tahajud prayer. Recite intention 

أُصَلِّي سُنَّةَ التَهَجُّد رَكعَتَينِ لِلَّهِ تَعَالَى

3. Translation in english 

I intend to pray the Sunnah prayer of Tahajjud two raka’at for Allah s.w.t.

4. Pray 2 rak’ahs means two nafil

Like the other obligatory prayers, perform tahajud prayer in unit of two rak’ahs. 

5. Start with Takbeer e Tehrima

Stand with humanity before Allah  and raise your hands to ears with Takbeer e Tehrima. After sana recite surah fatiha and other any surah or qirat of the Quran in every rak’ah.

6. Come to an end  with salam

After completing two rak’ahs, first turn your head towards right side, then turn your head left side while saying Asslam O Alaikum Wa Rahma Tullah.

7. Perform again as want

You can perform as many rak’ahs as you want. For example you can pray 2 4 6 8 10 or 12 rak’ahs in tahajud prayer.

8. Pray witr 

As described below, we should skip wit in Isha prayer and perform witr with tahajud. 

9. Make personal prayers (duas)

After completing your namaz e tahajud take few minutes for your personal duas. We should should demand Allah whatever we want. 

10. Set up consistency 

As tahjud is a very precious prayer, therefore we should set up our routine of salah tahajud regularly.

Importance of Tahajjud Prayer in Ahadiths

A lot of its virtues have been described in the ahadith of the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم. The Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم used to perform tahajjud namaz regularly himself and encouraged his companion. He صلى الله عليه وسلم used to wake up all his vives, Hazrat Ali(رضي الله عنه) and Hazrat Fatimah(رضي الله عنها) for tahajud by going to their houses. He صلى الله عليه وسلم had reserved a place for him in the Prophet’s mosque. Companion also used to recite this prayer strictly.

 Once in Ramadan, heصلى الله عليه وسلم taught the companions the tahjjud prayer in congregation. On the second night, more people gathered. And on the third night, even more people gathered, then he صلى الله عليه وسلم did not come. Let people start to consider this prayer obligatory, even though the tahjud prayer is only sunnah.

Narrated `Abdullah bin `Amr bin Al-`As: Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) told me,

” The most beloved prayer to Allah is that of David and the most beloved fasts to Allah are those of David. He used to sleep for half of the night and then pray for one-third of the night and again sleep for its sixth part and used to fast on alternate days. ” (Sahih al-Bukhari 1131 Book 19, Hadith 11)

Narrated Al-Mughira:

” The Prophet (ﷺ) used to stand (in the prayer) or pray till both his feet or legs swelled. He was asked why (he offered such an unbearable prayer) and he said, “Should I not be a thankful slave.”(Sahih al-Bukhari 1130 : Book 19, Hadith 10)

What is the time of tahajjud prayer?

The tradition of Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and his companions was that they used to wake up late in the night to pray. So it is better to wake up late at night for the tahajud namaz. It means that we should pray tahjud during the last third part of the night and before the Adhan of Fajar prayer. It is the time when angels come down from paradise or the sky. Allah Almighty sends them for the acceptance duas of servants. 

It is not necessary to wake up for tahajud namaz. You can recite it without sleeping. However, it is preferable to recite to recite tahajud after sleeping. Because the later part of the night gets late, the blessing and blessings increase. Therefore, the end of the night is better

Recitaton in tahajjud

Recitational is optional for anyone. Before recitation we should must know how to read the Holy Quran. We should recite the Holy Quran in tahajud with ten Qirats of the Quran. who want to recite it and do not the remember Quran then it is better to recite surah Ikhlas 3 times in every rak’ah. As the number one recites it, one will get the reward of completing the Quran. This prayer can be performed at both home and mosque.

Tahajjud dua

There is no particular tahajjud dua that must be recited in tahajud namaz. However, you can pray tahajud dua from Allah, whatever you want. But there is a dua you can recite at tahajjud time, which is from Sunnah of our Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم.

 حَدَّثَنَا عَلِيُّ بْنُ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا سُفْيَانُ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا سُلَيْمَانُ بْنُ أَبِي مُسْلِمٍ، عَنْ طَاوُسٍ، سَمِعَ ابْنَ عَبَّاسٍ ـ رضى الله عنهما ـ قَالَ كَانَ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم إِذَا قَامَ مِنَ اللَّيْلِ يَتَهَجَّدُ قَالَ ‏”‏ اللَّهُمَّ لَكَ الْحَمْدُ أَنْتَ قَيِّمُ السَّمَوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ وَمَنْ فِيهِنَّ وَلَكَ الْحَمْدُ، لَكَ مُلْكُ السَّمَوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ وَمَنْ فِيهِنَّ، وَلَكَ الْحَمْدُ أَنْتَ نُورُ السَّمَوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ، وَلَكَ الْحَمْدُ أَنْتَ الْحَقُّ، وَوَعْدُكَ الْحَقُّ، وَلِقَاؤُكَ حَقٌّ، وَقَوْلُكَ حَقٌّ، وَالْجَنَّةُ حَقٌّ، وَالنَّارُ حَقٌّ، وَالنَّبِيُّونَ حَقٌّ، وَمُحَمَّدٌ صلى الله عليه وسلم حَقٌّ، وَالسَّاعَةُ حَقٌّ، اللَّهُمَّ لَكَ أَسْلَمْتُ، وَبِكَ آمَنْتُ وَعَلَيْكَ تَوَكَّلْتُ، وَإِلَيْكَ أَنَبْتُ، وَبِكَ خَاصَمْتُ، وَإِلَيْكَ حَاكَمْتُ، فَاغْفِرْ لِي مَا قَدَّمْتُ وَمَا أَخَّرْتُ، وَمَا أَسْرَرْتُ وَمَا أَعْلَنْتُ، أَنْتَ الْمُقَدِّمُ وَأَنْتَ الْمُؤَخِّرُ، لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ أَنْتَ ـ أَوْ لاَ إِلَهَ غَيْرُكَ ـ ‏”‏‏.‏ قَالَ سُفْيَانُ وَزَادَ عَبْدُ الْكَرِيمِ أَبُو أُمَيَّةَ ‏”‏ وَلاَ حَوْلَ وَلاَ قُوَّةَ إِلاَّ بِاللَّهِ ‏”‏‏.‏ قَالَ سُفْيَانُ قَالَ سُلَيْمَانُ بْنُ أَبِي مُسْلِمٍ سَمِعَهُ مِنْ طَاوُسٍ عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ ـ رضى الله عنهما ـ عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم‏.‏ (Sahih al-Bukhari 1120 Book 19, Hadith 1)

Conclusion 

Here we described that how to pray tahajjud, tahajjud prayer and tahajjud dua. Tahajjud prayer is a nawafil prayer, which is performed in the middle of the night or the last third part of the night. This is not an obligatory prayer for Muslims. However, a servant who prays tahajud prayer will get a huge reward in the next world. This is the sunnah of our Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. His compaions also used it. We can recite minimum 2 rak’ahs and maximum 12 rak’ahs in tahajud prayer. Our Rasool صلى الله عليه وسلم recited the obove mentioned dua at tahajjud time. May Allah courage us to pray tahajud. Ameen.