The night
The Qur’an asks him ﷺ for the night prayer:
﴿ يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلْمُزَّمِّلُ قُمِ ٱلَّيْلَ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا نِّصْفَهُۥٓ أَوِ ٱنقُصْ مِنْهُ قَلِيلًا أَوْ زِدْ عَلَيْهِ وَرَتِّلِ ٱلْقُرْءَانَ تَرْتِيلًا ﴾“O you, wrapped in your cloak! Rise through the night, except a little: half of it, or a little less, or add to it, and recite the Qur’an slowly and distinctly.”
He ﷺ stayed faithful to it to the end. “He would stand in prayer until his feet swelled”, says al-Mughira. This was pointed out to him: had God not forgiven his past and future faults? “Should I not be a grateful servant?” (Bukhari 4836). Aisha asked him too (Bukhari 4837). She adds that, when his body grew heavier, he prayed seated, and rose to recite before bowing.
His Companions tried to follow him ﷺ. Ibn Mas’ud prayed with him one night, and he stood so long that a bad thought came to him. “What was it?” “To sit down, and leave him” (Bukhari 1135).
Hudhayfa also prayed behind him ﷺ. He began the sura of the Cow, then that of the Women, then the family of Imran, in a single unit of prayer. He recited slowly: at a verse of praise, he praised; at a petition, he petitioned; at a verse of refuge, he sought refuge (Muslim 772).
The number, however, stayed measured. “Neither in Ramadan nor at any other time did he go beyond eleven units. He would pray four: do not ask about their beauty and their length. Then four: do not ask about their beauty and their length. Then three” (Aisha, Bukhari 1147).
Prayer, his rest ﷺ
“Bilal, establish the prayer: give us rest through it” (Abu Dawud 4985, graded authentic by al-Albani).
“Of this world, women and perfume were made dear to me, and the coolness of my eyes was placed in prayer” (Nasa’i 3939, graded good and authentic by al-Albani).
He ﷺ wept in it. “I saw him praying, and his chest made the sound of a millstone, so much was he weeping” (Abd Allah ibn al-Shikhkhir, Abu Dawud 904, graded authentic by al-Albani).
In the night, in a low voice
Aisha looked for him one night and did not find him in his place. Her hand came upon his feet: he ﷺ was prostrating, and he was saying:
“O God, I seek refuge in Your good pleasure from Your wrath, in Your preservation from Your punishment, and I seek refuge in You from You. I cannot count Your praises: You are as You have praised Yourself” (Muslim 486).
In his prostration, he ﷺ also said: “O God, forgive me all my sins, the small and the great, the first and the last, those that are public and those that are secret” (Muslim 483).
The remembrance of God
“He would remember God at all times”, says Aisha (Muslim 373). He ﷺ himself said: “By God, I ask God’s forgiveness and turn to Him in repentance more than seventy times a day” (Bukhari 6307), a hundred times in another hadith, in Muslim (Muslim 2702).
The Qur’an was his companion. In Ramadan, Gabriel had him recite it every night (Bukhari 1902). He loved to hear it from another, and he wept at it (His speech, his laughter, his tears).
Fasting
“He would fast until we said: he will not break his fast; and he would break his fast until we said: he will not fast. I never saw him fast a whole month except Ramadan, and I never saw him fast more than in Sha’ban” (Aisha, Bukhari 1969).
Asked about fasting on Mondays, he ﷺ said: “It is the day I was born, and the day I was sent, or the day revelation came down on me” (Muslim 1162).
When the last ten nights of Ramadan came, he ﷺ would tighten his belt, stay awake and wake his family (Bukhari 2024), and he spent them in retreat at the mosque (Bukhari 2025).
He ﷺ would sometimes join days together without breaking his fast, but he forbade it to others: “I am not like you: I am fed and given drink” (Bukhari 1962).
The pilgrimage
He ﷺ made only one pilgrimage after his Hijra, the Farewell Pilgrimage (Bukhari 4404), and four lesser pilgrimages to Mecca, one of them with that pilgrimage (Bukhari 1780). The account is in The Farewell Pilgrimage and his death.
Measure
This worship was not a rule for everyone, and he ﷺ said so firmly. Three men came to find out about his practice and seemed to think it little: “Where do we stand next to him?” One said he would pray all night, another that he would fast without ceasing, the third that he would not marry. He went to see them:
“By God, I am the one among you who fears God most and is most mindful of Him. But I fast and I break my fast, I pray and I sleep, and I marry women. Whoever turns away from my way is not of me” (Bukhari 5063).
Asked which action God loves most, he ﷺ answered: “The most constant, even if small” (Bukhari 6465).
How this page connects to the others
- His hours ﷺ, from night to night: His days and his nights.
- The revelation of these verses: The revelation and the first believers.
- The night the prayer was prescribed: The Isra and Mi’raj.