In the name of Allah, the compassionate and merciful, and all praise is to Allah the lord of all the worlds, and peace and blessings be on the noble Prophet Muhammad.
و هو الذي جعل الليل والنهار خلفة لمن اراد ان يذكر او أراد شكورا
25:62
And He is the one who made the night and the day alternating in succession, for whoever wants to remember or wants gratefulness.
It is interesting to reflect upon the differences between night and day. Allah tells us that he could have made it so that we are in permanent light or permanent darkness, and yet he chooses to alternate. We know that the alternation of night and day keeps the temperature of our planet in balance and allows diurnal animals to rest.
The alternation is a big reminder that nothing lasts forever, and that our conditions change. It is something to hold on to in the darkest of nights, and to remember during our happy times. Allah tells us that He is the light of the heavens and the earth. Without darkness, would we even notice the existence of light? Through its absence, we understand what it is: how it illuminates so that we can see, and we are awestruck by the beauty of twinkling stars and fires viewed from a distance or firelight and candlelight sparkling on jewellery and cut glass.
The alternation of night and day have many benefits to the different aspects of the human being. The body can rest, and what a mercy it is that capitalism cannot exploit us for 24 hours a day because of our human weaknesses and needs! The nafs (lower self) can enjoy some free time. The intellect is freed for thinking and study, the heart can spend time with loved ones, and the spirit is awakened. As night falls, there is a natural shift in focus from the immediate to the more distant. At night, it is quieter, and the wind tends to drop, and sounds travel further so that we hear things from further away. At the same time, we can see what is close to us here on earth much less clearly, yet the beauty of stars high in the heavens which were veiled from us during the day become apparent, more so the further away we are from street lights. By effacing what is near, and allowing us to see what is far, it reminds us of Allah. Its darkness and quiet remind us of death, just as dawn reminds us of resurrection. The night is also a time when most babies are born. The darkness heightens our sense of fear, leading us to be more susceptible to believe in the unseen. Most of us are released from our daily schedules and all of these things encourage within us a natural state of contemplation and spirituality.
And yet we live in a time where the effects of the alteration of night and day are diminished because of the ubiquity of electricity. We scarcely notice the difference between night and day in our brightly illuminated houses, watching films and programmes about people at any time of day or night, or playing games – all of it loud, bright, distracting and immersive. There is no necessity to leave the house at all during the night, in these days of indoor bathrooms, and when we do take a short trip outside on the way to the car, or to put the rubbish out, the stars are dimmed and veiled from us by light pollution. In our bedrooms at night, the light from the street light outside means we are scarcely ever in total darkness, unable to see a hand in front of our face. If we do walk in the night, away from street lights, we switch on our torches. Reading the Brontes, who wrote in the mid-19th century, to see the subtlety we have lost, where they often speak of rooms illumined by starlight.
We all know that there is special merit in praying night prayers (tahajjud) and that in the final third of the night is a very good time for praying for forgiveness and remembering Allah. In Surah al Muzammil, Allah says something, urging prayer and slow recitation of Qur’an and dhikr and devotion to Allah at night. But he explains why in a way which is very hard to translate into English:
إن ناشئة الليل هي أشد وطءا و أقوم قيلا إن لك في النهار سبحا دويلا
Ayaats 6-7
A rough interpretation is:
Indeed what emerges at night (including worship) has a greater impression and is more impactful speech. Indeed for you during the day you have a long schedule.
A few decades ago, I went to stay with a lady in Bradford, and she had the habit of not putting the electric light on until after she had prayed maghrib, or before praying fajr. She also pointed out to me that many other Muslim houses round about her had the same habit. I don’t know whether the younger generation are still carrying on this tradition, but it seems a very good idea. Dimming the lights and using lamps at night, so that there is a clear distinction between night and day also seems helpful, as does going outside to experience the dark where possible. People in our times need to make special efforts like this to resist that modern artificial uniformity of night and day which muffles our awareness and makes us insensitive to the impact of the night. And we need to make sure that we don’t fill up our empty schedules with TV schedules. This will help us insha’allah to heighten our awareness of the contemplative nature of the night and give us the shift in focus that will can help tear us away from the bright lights of screens that have transfixed and entranced us.
فإذا فرغت فانصب وإلى ربك فارغب
Surah ash-sharH (7-8)
So when you are free then devote yourself, and to your Lord, direct your attention.
