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Does waking up for the "Night Vigil" prayer after setting an alarm fall under the Hadith: "Whoever awakes at night and says: 'I seek forgiveness from Allah,' he will be forgiven, or if he supplicates, his supplication will be answered, and if he stands and prays, his prayer will be accepted," or does the Hadith specifically refer to someone who wakes up without prior intention?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The Hadith states: "Whoever wakes up at night and says: 'La ilaha illallah wahdahu la sharika lah, lahul mulku wa lahul hamdu, wa huwa ala kulli shayin qadir. Alhamdulillahi, wa subhanallah, wa la ilaha illallah, wallahu akbar, wa la hawla wa la quwwata illa billah' (There is no god but Allah, alone, without partner. To Him belongs sovereignty and praise, and He is over all things competent. All praise is due to Allah, and glory be to Allah, and there is no god but Allah, and Allah is the greatest, and there is no might nor power except with Allah), then says: 'Allahumma ighfir li' (O Allah, forgive me), or supplicates, his supplication will be answered. And if he performs ablution and prays, his prayer will be accepted." This was narrated by Al-Bukhari and the compilers of the Sunan. There is no difference whether one wakes up with an alarm or without, as the apparent meaning of the Hadith is the general act of waking up at night. The meaning of "ta'arra" is to wake up from sleep and become conscious. This applies to someone who has accustomed themselves to remembrance until it becomes their inner thought, and they are honored with the answering of their supplication and the acceptance of their prayer. The answering of supplication and acceptance of prayer in this instance is more hopeful than in other circumstances.

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

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