Not praying when one feels drowsy
Question I have the read the hadiths of al-bukhari in which it says that you should not pray if you feel drowsy, however I wasn’t sure how drowsy it meant, so on numerous occasions I have prayed whilst feeling drowsy. THis was because I was so tired that I would not have got up for…
Question
Praise be to Allah.
It was narrated from Anas that the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “If any one of you feels drowsy when
praying, let him sleep so that (when he gets up) he know what he is
reciting.” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari, al-Wudoo’, 206)
Ibn Hajar said: “Let him
sleep” – al-Muhallab said: this refers to prayer at night, because the
obligatory prayers do not come at times when people sleep, and they are not
so long that they will lead to a person becoming sleepy. This hadeeth is
speaking about a specific case, but because of the general meaning of the
wording, a person may also do that with regard to the obligatory prayers, if
he is sure that there will be enough time left.
Al-Nawawi said: this is general and applies to both
obligatory and to naafil prayers offered at night and during the day. This
is our view and the view of the majority. But he should not delay an
obligatory prayer until the time for it is over. Al-Qaadi said: Maalik and a
group of scholars interpreted it as referring to naafil prayers done at
night, because that is the usual time for sleep.
An explanation of this is also given in another hadeeth: “If
anyone of you becomes drowsy whilst he is praying, let him sleep until he is
refreshed, because if any one of you prays whilst he is drowsy he may not
understand what he is saying and he may to pray for forgiveness but may
insult himself by mistake instead.” (al-Bukhaari, 212; Muslim,
786).
It may be understood that the degree of drowsiness referred
to in the text is that where a person is unaware and does not understand
what he is saying.
And Allaah knows best.
