They well know that prayer at another time than this is more excellent, for Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: The prayer of those who are penitent is observed when your weaned camels feel the heat of the sun.

Prayer during the night should consist of pairs of rak'ahs, but if one of you fears morning is near, he should pray one rak'ah which will make his prayer an odd number for him.

" Then a person asked him at the end of the year," and what follows subsequently.

Make Witr the end of your night prayer.

Witr is a rak'ah at the end of the prayer.

I asked Ibn 'Umar to tell me about the practice of the Prophet (ﷺ) in regard to two rak'ahs before the dawn prayer: Should I make lengthy recitation in them? He said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to observe, the night prayer in pairs and then made the number odd by observing one rak'ah. I said: I am not asking you about it. He said: You are a bulky man, will you not show me the patience to narrate to you the hadith completely? The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to observe the night prayer in pairs and then made the number odd by observing one rak'ah, and then he observed two rak'ahs before dawn quite close to the call for prayer (Khalaf said:" Did you see [yourself the Prophet observing] the two rak'ahs before the dawn?" and he made no mention of prayer.)

I asked Ibn 'Umar like this (as recorded in the previous hadith) and he made this addition:" And he (the Holy Prophet) made the end of the night prayer as odd number by one rak'ah." And there is also (this addition):" Stop, stop, you are bulky."

Observe Witr before morning.

The most excellent prayer is that in which the duration of standing is longer.

I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) as saying: There is an hour during the night in which no Muslim bondman will ask Allah for good in this world and the next but He will grant it to him.

Allah descends every night to the lowest heaven when one-third of the first part of the night is over and says: I am the Lord; I am the Lord: who is there to supplicate Me so that I answer him? Who is there to beg of Me so that I grant him? Who is there to beg forgiveness from Me so that I forgive him? He continues like this till the day breaks.

He who observed prayer at night during Ramadan, because of faith and seeking his reward from Allah, his previous sins would be forgiven.

He who prayed on the Lailat-ul-Qadr (the Majestic Night) knowing that it is (the same night). I (believe) that he (the Prophet also) said: (He who does) it with faith and seeking reward (from Allah), his sins would be forgiven.

I saw what you were doing, but I desisted to come to you (and lead the prayer) for I feared that this prayer might become obligatory for you. (He the narrator) said: It was the month of Ramadan.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) came out during the night and observed prayer in the mosque and some of the people prayed along with him. When it was morning the people talked about this and so a large number of people gathered there. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) went out for the second night, and they (the people) prayed along with him. When it was morning the people began to talk about it. So the mosque thronged with people on the third night. He (the Holy Prophet) came out and they prayed along with him. When it was the fourth night, the mosque was filled to its utmost capacity but the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) did not come out. Some persons among then cried:" Prayer." But the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) did not come to them till he came out for the morning prayer. When he had completed the morning prayer, he turned his face to the people and recited Tashahhud (I bear testi- mony that there is no god but Allah and I bear testimony that Muhammad is His Messen- ger) and then said: Your affair was not hidden from me in the night, but I was afraid that (my observing prayer continuously) might make the night prayer obligatory for you and you might be unable to perform it.

I heard from Ubayy b. Ka'b a statement made by 'Abdullah b. Mas'ud in which he said: He who gets up for prayer (every night) during the year will hit upon Lailat-ul-Qadr. Ubayy said: By Allah I there is no god but He, that (Lailat-ul-Qadr) is in Ramadhan (He swore without reservation: ) By Allah, I know the night; it is the night on which the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) commanded us to pray. It is that which precedes the morning of twenty-seventy and its indication is that the sun rises bright on that day without rays.

I spent the night in the house of my mother's sister, Maimuna, and observed how the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) prayed (at night). He got up and relieved himself. He then washed his face and hands and then went to sleep. He again got up and went near the water-skin and loosened its straps and then poured some water in a bowl and inclined it with his hands (towards himself). He then performed a good ablution between the two extremes and then stood up to pray. I also came and stood by his left side. He took hold of me and made me stand on his right side. It was in thirteen rak`ahs that the (night) prayer of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was completed. He then slept till he began to snore, and we knew that he had gone to sleep by his snoring. He then went out (for the dawn prayer), and said while praying or prostrating himself: "O Allah! place light in my heart, light in my hearing, light in my sight, light on my right, light on my left, light in front of me, light behind me, light above me, light below me, make light for me," or he said: "Make me light."

I met Kuraib and he reported Ibn `Abbas as saying: I was with my mother's sister Maimuna and the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) came there, and then he narrated the rest of the hadith as was narrated by Ghundar and said these words: "Make me light," beyond any doubt.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) stood near the water-skin and poured water out of it and performed ablution in which he neither used excess of water nor too little of it, and the rest of the hadith is the same, and in this mention is also made (of the fact) that on that night the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) made supplication before Allah in nineteen words. Kuraib reported: I remember twelve words out of these, but have forgotten the rest. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: "Place light in my heart, light in my tongue, light in my hearing, light in my sight, light above me, light below me, light on my right, light on my left, light in front of me, light behind me, place light in my soul, and make light abundant for me."

He spent (one night) in the house of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). He (the Holy Prophet) got up, brushed his teeth and performed ablution and said: "In the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of the night and the day, there are indeed signs for people of understanding" (al-Qur'an, iii. 190), to the end of the Surah. He then stood up and prayed two rak`ahs, standing, bowing and prostrating himself at length in them. Then he finished, went to sleep and snored. He did that three times, six rak`ahs altogether, each time cleaning his teeth, performing ablution, and reciting these verses. Then he observed three rak`ahs of Witr. The Mu'adhdhin then pronounced the Adhan and he went out for prayer and was saying: "O Allah! place light in my heart, light in my tongue, place light in my hearing, place light in my eyesight, place light behind me, and light in front of me, and place light above me, and light below me. O Allah! grant me light."