Chapter on the Manner of Prayer, Explanation of the Fifty-One Rak‘ahs; The Order, Recitation, Tasbih in Bowing and Prostration, Qunut, and What is Obligatory and Recommended Therein

What was narrated by Hammad ibn Isa from Mu'awiyah ibn Wahb: from Abu Abdillah عليه السلام. He said: I asked (Imam عليه السلام): “One of your followers from among the righteous has complained to me about what he experiences from sleep. He (follower) said, ‘I want to rise for prayer at night, but sleep overcomes me until morning, so I sometimes make up my prayer for a month consecutively, or even two months. I endure its burden.’” Imam عليه السلام said: “By Allah سبحانه وتعالى, it is a source of delight for him.” Yet He عليه السلام did not grant him a concession to pray at the beginning of the night, and Imam عليه السلام said: “Making it up during the day is better.” I asked: “Among our women are young maidens, who love goodness and its people and are eager for prayer, but sleep overcomes them to the extent that they sometimes make up the prayer and sometimes are too weak to make it up. Yet they are capable of performing it at the beginning of the night.” So He عليه السلام granted them a concession: “They may pray at the beginning of the night if they are weak and neglect making it up.”