Back to search

Should the Night Vigil Prayer (Qiyam al-Layl) and the Shafa and Witr prayers be performed silently or audibly?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Qiyam al-Layl (standing in night prayer) is the honor of the believer and the practice of the righteous. It was obligatory at the beginning of Islam, then its obligation was abrogated, becoming a supererogatory act and a means of drawing closer to Allah. The Sunnah for night prayer is for the recitation to be sometimes audible (jahr) and sometimes silent (sirr), based on the hadith of Aisha: "He (the Prophet) would do all of that; sometimes he would recite silently and sometimes audibly." As for voluntary prayers during the day, they are to be recited silently, except for what has been exempted, such as Jumu'ah prayer, Fajr prayer, and the Eid prayers.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

Read the full answer on Ftawy