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wa-lladhīna yabītūna li-rabbihim sujjadan wa-qiyāman
Those who spend the night for their Lord, prostrating and standing [in worship].
— Ali Quli Qarai
25Al-FurqānالفرقانVerse 64 of 77
The Criterion25. Al-Furqānالفرقان
Al Furqān
The Criterion
MeccanVerse 64 of 77
Surah al-Furqan - Verses 63-64
63. “And the servants of the Beneficent (Allah) are those who walk on the earth humbly; and when the ignorant address them, they answer; ‘Peace’.
64. “And those who spend the night prostrating themselves before their Lord and standing.”
The behaviour of each person shows his personality and character. The supreme reward and medal for man is the medal of servitude of Allah:
For being related to infinity makes man exalted. Form this holy verse on, an interesting and comprehensive discussion about the attributes of Allah’s special slaves is brought up under the title of
It, in fact, completes the former verses in which there has been mentioned that the obstinate polytheists said out of conceit and ridicule when the name of Allah, the Beneficent, has been mentioned:
We saw that the holy Qur’an introduced Allah, the Beneficent, to them in two verses. Now it is time for introducing the Beneficent Allah to the special servants. When His servants are so dignified and lofty, the magnificence of Allah, the Beneficent, will be understood better. In these two verses and the next verses, more than 10 attributes of theirs are mentioned, some of which are related to the creedal aspects, some are moral, some are social, some are personal, and some are collective. On the whole they are of the supreme humane values.
It first says:
In fact the first attribute introduced for ‘The servants of the Beneficent (Allah)’ is denial and negation of conceit, pride and self-admiration, which is seen in all deeds of man, even in his way of walking, for moral habits will appear in man’s deeds, speech, and gestures, so that by studying the way of walking of a person we can find out many things about his morality. Yes, they are humble and the key of faith is humbleness, while the key of unfaithfulness is conceit and pride. We have seen many times in everyday life and we have also read frequently in the holy Qur’an that the conceited arrogant have not been willing even to listen to the words of the divine leaders, and they have ridiculed the truths.
They do not see further than the end of their own nose. Is it possible to acquire faith with such mood of conceitedness? Yes, these faithful persons are the servants of Allah, the Beneficent. The first sign of servitude is that humbleness, which penetrates all particles of their entity and even it can be detected in their way of walking. Since the spirit of faith is humbleness, we see that one of the main commandments given to the Prophet (S) by Allah is:
Verily if man knows himself and the universe minimally, he knows how small he is comparing with this great universe! Even if his neck gets as long as mountains, the highest mountains are less than the peel swells of sour orange in regard to the hugeness of the earth which is itself just a tiny particle in these great galaxies. After all, is not pride and conceit the reason of absolute ignorance and lack of knowledge? It is narrated that one day the Prophet (S) was passing through a lane where he saw some of people had gathered in a place. He asked them its reason. They said that a mad person was doing some mocking actions and people were therefore attracted by him.
The Prophet (S) called them and told them:
“Do you want to introduce you the real mad man?”
All people were silent and were listening to him carefully. He said:
“A person who walks conceitedly, and he continually looks around himself. He moves his sides along with his shoulder, (he sees no one but himself and thinks about no one save himself). A person whom people expect no goodness and a person from whose mischief people are not safe. This is the real mad man. The person whom you saw is a patient.” 6
The second attribute of theirs is patience and forbearance, as the holy Qur’an says in this verse:
This ‘peace’ is the sign of heedlessness which is along with nobility and greatness, and it is not because of weakness. It is the ‘peace’ that is the reason of lack of retaliation against the ignorant. It is to say farewell to their senseless words. This ‘peace’ is not a greeting which is the sign of kindness and friendship. It is the ‘peace’ that is the sign of patient and greatness. Yes, one of the great spiritual phenomena of theirs is patience and forbearance, without which no man can pave the fluctuating path of Allah’s servitude and bondage, especially in the societies in which there are a lot of corrupted, ignorant and wicked persons.
In the second verse, the third attribute of theirs, that is the sincere worshipping of Allah, is mentioned. It says:
In the darkness of night, when the eyes of the ignorant are sleeping and there is no place for hypocrisy and feigning, a believer deprives himself of pleasant sleep and does what is more pleasant, that is the remembrance of Allah and prostrating and standing before Him, the Magnificent. He spends some part of night supplicating Him and illuminates his heart and soul with His name and remembrance. Though the Qur’anic phrase /yabitūna/ (‘who spend the night’) indicates that they spend the night prostrating and standing before Him, it is clear that its purpose is considerable part of the night or if its purpose is all the night, sometimes it is so.
Meanwhile, coming the word ‘prostrating’ before the word ‘standing’ is because of its importance, though in prayer (salat) prostrating is practically after standing.
Some Traditions On Humbleness and Night Prayer
1. The Prophet (S) said:
“Why do not I see the sweetness of worshipping in you?”
One said:
“What is the sweetness of worshipping?”
He said:
“Humility.” 7
2. Imam Ali (as) said:
“Be humble and modest, for it is one of the greatest worships.” 8
3. The Prophet (S) said:
“Verily Allah revealed to me to be humble so that no one boasts anyone and no one oppresses anyone.” 9
4. The Prophet (S) said:
“Humbleness and modesty increases the rank and dignity of one who is humble, then be humble so that Allah exalts you.” 10
5. Imam Ali (as) said:
“No dignity and greatness is like humbleness, and no nobility is like knowledge and knowing.” 11
6. Imam Ali (as) once said:
“The fruit of knowledge is humility.” 12
7. The Prophet (S) said:
“Performing two rak‘ats of prayer in the midnight is better than the world and what is in it. Verily, if it were not difficult for my nation, I would make this prayer compulsory for them.” 13
8. Imam Sadiq (as) said:
“The dignity of a believer depends on his night prayer, and his greatness and glory depends on avoiding bothering people.” 14
9. The Prophet (S) said:
“When man gets out of his pleasant bed and while his eyes are drowsy he tries to make his Lord pleased and happy by his night prayer, Allah takes pride in him and says:
“Do not you see My servant who gets out of his pleasant bed for a prayer that I did not make it a must on him? Be witness that I forgive him.” 15
10. Imam Sadiq (as) said:
“One who does not perform night prayer is not of our Shiites.” 16 17
11. Imam Rida (as) said:
“Do perform night prayer. There is no servant who gets up at the end of night and performs 8 rak‘ats night prayer, 2 rak‘ats even prayer, one rak‘at odd prayer and asks pardon of Allah 70 times in personal prayer (qunūt), unless Allah protects him from the chastisement of grave and the chastisement of Fire, and prolongs his life and gives him his provisions generously.”
Then Imam continues:
“Verily the homes in which night prayer is performed its light illuminates before the inhabitants of the heaven as stars glow for the people of the earth.” 18
12. Imam Sadiq (as) said:
“Night prayer makes man’s face beautiful and fine, makes him morally good and agreeable and makes him smell pleasantly. It increases sustenance, causes the debt to be paid, takes sorrow away and makes man’s vision strong.” 19
Footnotes