Transliteration:( kaanoo qaleelam minal laili maa yahja'oon )
16.This means they were spending the nights in offering Tahajjud and in the rememberance of Allah Almighty. Just a little of the time was set aside for sleeping. They considered even this sleeping as an error and they would spend the mornings in seeking repentance of Allah Almighty.
From this we understand that it is not good to spend the whole night in sleeping. Similarly, remaining awake for the entire night is not beneficial. The first part of the night should be spent in sleeping and the latter part should be devoted to offering Tahajjud Salaah. Thereafter, one should sleep. This is the sunnah method of spending the night. Some of the Islamic scholars have stated that the Ansaar have been praised in this verse, whose habit was to go home after offering their Esha Salaah in the mosque which was near Masjide Quba, which was three miles out of Madina Munawwarah. They would sleep for a while. then get up to offer Tahajjud Salaah. Thereafter they would offer their Fajr Salaah in congregation in Masjide Nabawi. In this way. the verse is Madinite (Tafseer Roohul Mu'ani). Their coming and going was an act of worship. just as the sleeping of the Islamic scholar, too. is an act of worship.
The tafsir of Surah Ad-Dhariyat verse 17 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer to Surah Dhariyat ayat 15 which provides the complete commentary from verse 15 through 23.
(51:17) they used to sleep but little by night,[15]
15. Some commentators have given this meaning of this verse: Seldom did it so happen that they spent the whole night sleeping and did not spend a part of it, in the beginning of the night or in the middle or in the end of it, awake in the worship of Allah. This commentary with a little variation in wording has been related from lbn Abbas, Anas bin Malik, Muhammad al-Baqir, Mutrif bin Abdullah, Abul Aliyah, Mujahid, Qatadah, Rabi bin Anas and others. According to some other commentators, it means this: They spent the major part of their nights in the worship of Allah Almighty and slept little. This meaning has been reported from Hasan Basri, Ahnaf bin Qais, and Ibn Shihab Zuhri, and the later commentators and translators have preferred this, for this appears to be in better agreement with the words of the verse and the context.
[1538]- i.e., spending a portion of the night in prayer and supplication.
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