1 - Endless Bliss - Hüseyin Hilmi Işık

Tahajjud means to forgo one’s sleep. Our Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu
alaihi wa sallam’ used to perform tahajjud even during war. He
who has omitted prayers of namâz should perform his omitted
prayers during the time of tahajjud. Thus he will both pay his
debt of omitted prayers and earn the thawâb of tahajjud. How to
perform the namâz called Tahajjud and other nâfila
(supererogatory) prayers of namâz is written in our (Turkish)
book Islâm Ahlâkı (Islamic Morals). If it is difficult to wake up at
midnight, order some of your servants to wake you up then.
After getting up for a few nights, you will form it as a habit and
will begin to wake up. He who wants to wake up for tahajjud
and morning prayer should go to bed right after performing the
night prayer, instead or being late for sleep by busying oneself
with useless things. At the time of tahajjud, it is necessary to
repent, to say istighfâr, to trust oneself to Allahu ta’âlâ, to
entreat Him, to think of one’s sins, to remember one’s faults,
defects, to fear by thinking of the torment in the next world; and
to tremble with the thought of the bitter torments of Hell. One
should beg for afw and maghfirat (forgiveness) very much. At
that time and also at any time, it is necessary to say istighfâr
(Astaghfirullah-al-’azîm-allazî lâ îlâha illâ huwa-l-hayy-alqayyûma
wa atûbu ilayh) a hundred times and to think of its
meaning. [‘’Azîm’ means one whose person and attributes are
perfect. ‘Kabîr’ means one whose person is perfect. ‘Jalîl’
means one whose attributes are perfect.] One should say it a
hundred times after the afternoon prayer [after telling one’s
tasbîhs and saying one’s prayers]. It may be said when one has
an abdast (ablution) or when one does not have an abdast. It is
declared in a hadîth: “Good news to those on whose pages
there are many istighfârs on the Day of Last Judgement!”
Muhammad Ma’sûm-i Fârûkî, in the eightieth letter of the
second volume, states, “It has been proven by experimentation
that reciting istighfârs is effective in getting rid of calamities and
hardships. It has been reported in a hadîth-i sharîf that saying
istighfâr causes every sort of adversity to be removed and one’s
sustenance to increase.” During the time of duha, that is, at a
certain time after sunrise, it is necessary to perform at least two
rak’ats of namâz. The namâz of tahajjud or duhâ (forenoon) is
of twelve rak’ats at most. [In supererogatory prayers of namâz,
you should say salâm after two rak’ats at night and after four
rak’ats during the day.]
- 183 -