MuslimKidsMatter | Qiyām-ul-Layl: Ideas of how to stay up during the night

 Ramadan2012 Posts

 By Nur Kose

[See original post here]

One of our regular contributors to Muslim Kids Matter monthly posts is young Nur Kose. Today she writes to us about useful tips on how to stay up for Qiyām. We wish Nur the best and make dua that her intention and efforts are rewarded without measure, Ameen!

(Note: Muslim Kids Matter is a monthly feature at Muslim Matters. You’re welcome to send in your entries to muslimkidsmatter@muslimmatters.org!)

Most people want to do Qiyām -ul-Layl – night prayer – during the last ten nights of Ramaḍān. This year, the night is only about three or four hours because we sleep at 12 or 1 AM after tarāwīḥ and we wake up at 4 AM for suḥūr.

Some people don’t sleep at all during the night and sleep after suḥūr for the whole Ramaḍān.

However, for the people who do sleep after tarāwīḥ, when they try to stay up doing ‘ibādah during the night, they realize that it’s hard to even miss just those few hours of sleep.

Here are some ideas I use to help me stay awake and do ibādah during the night:

– Sleep during the day – It’s practically impossible to stay up during the night if you don’t sleep during the day.

– Make wuḍū’ frequently during the night to keep you more fresh and awake.  Also, you can keep a glass of water beside you and splash your face with water every time you feel like you’re dozing off.

– Do NOT stay on your bed.  Or if you do, sit up and do not lie down.  You don’t want to break your wuḍū’ by sleeping when you’re reading Qurʾān!

– Listen to interesting lectures such as Tarāwīḥ Truffles or Eman Rush Hajj Moments by Sh. Muhammad Al-Shareef, or Pearls from Sūrah Yūsuf videos by Sh.Yasir Qadhi, and the list goes on.

– Another way to keep awake is to make yourself laugh. Watch Baba Ali videos – Ask Baba Ali, Ummah Films Seasons, etc..

– As you pray tahajjud during the night, make du‘ā’ for things you really want.

– If you feel like you don’t know what to do, make a schedule of things to do during the night.  You can put in a time for reading Qurʾān, listening to a lecture, praying a few rakaʿāt of tahajjud, reading an Islamic book, etc.

– Do dhikr out loud.  Doing dhikr out loud is lots more fun and interesting.  To add to that, listen to nasheeds that have dhikr inside them such as Zain Bhikha’s “SubḥānAllāh” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AedFYturDsg), Native Deen’s “Bismillah” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjPwqrmqtII), etc.

– You can also try doing 100 jumping jacks while saying subḥānAllāh 100 times.

– Stay up with someone else, like one of your siblings, your parents, your friends, etc.  You can encourage each other to stay up.