One of the major issues of productivity that people face is how many hours should they sleep. Those who love their sleep argue that it’s important to sleep at least 6-8 hours each night for a long healthy life, whilst those on the other side believe that sleep is a waste of time and we should sleep the bare minimum to keep us going.
Recently I’ve started thinking about sleep in a different way which helped me resolve this dilemma; the answer seems to be the intention of sleep; if you’re sleeping for dunya (that is to be completely relaxed at work, home, family and to have a long healthy life), then sleeping would be very important to you and you would ensure that you sleep a minimum of 6-8 hours each night. Sleep will become sacred and the overruling factor in most of your decisions, e.g. Should I wake up for tahajjud or sleep? Sleep! Should I wake up early to work on this important piece of work or sleep? Sleep!
However, if you’re sleeping for akhirah, or sleeping for the sake of Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala), you’ll be sleeping just enough to give your due right to your body whilst not neglecting the fact that you’re here in this world for a temporary period and you’ll soon return to your Lord. You would try to minimize your sleep so that it doesn’t affect your worship – i.e. if you’re asking yourself whether you should sleep or wake up for tahajjud, you would choose to sleep less, you would choose the akhirah, where you would enjoy eternal rest. And this is the description that Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala) gives about His slaves:
They used to sleep but little by night [invoking their Lord (Allah) and praying, with fear and hope]. (Adh-Dhariyat, Chapter #51, Verse #17)
Their sides forsake their beds, to invoke their Lord in fear and hope, and they spend (in charity in Allah’s Cause) out of what We have bestowed on them. (As-Sajdah, Chapter #32, Verse #16)
Having said that, I would like to emphasize that giving due right to your body is partof the concept of sleeping for akhirah. This is evident in the hadeeth of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him): (39) Narrated ‘Abdullah bin ‘Amr bin Al-’As: Allah’s Apostle said, “O ‘Abdullah! Have I not been informed that you fast all the day and stand in prayer all night?” I said, “Yes, O Allah’s Apostle!” He said, “Do not do that! Observe the fast sometimes and also leave them (the fast) at other times; stand up for the prayer at night and also sleep at night. Your body has a right over you, your eyes have a right over you and your wife has a right over you.” (Sahih Bukhari, Book #62, Hadith #127)
Subhan Allah, how balanced and practical is a true Muslim’s way of life! So you should “listen” to your body; some days you may feel energetic and happy to sleep 3-4 hours, and you’ll be fine. However, some days your body will want you to sleep for 6-8 hours whilst not neglecting your obligatory duties such as salah or tending to your parent’s and family’s needs and that’s fine.
Here are some practical tips regarding sleep:
- Always prepare for sleep, check out ProductiveMuslim’s sleep routine.
- If you can, have a nap before or after Zhuhr prayer to reduce the amount of sleep you need at night.
- Record your sleep time over a course of a week to understand your sleep pattern and how to optimize it.
Hope this helps! Have you been thinking about this issue? How did you resolve? What’s your sleep pattern like? And how can you make your sleep for akhira?
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Very useful.
I always want to control my sleep to do my duties to ALLAH like Al-Fajir ..
I noticed that when I apply before sleep routine like Azkar and Wudauh and act like Rasoul ALLAH did before sleeping.. i found myself walk-up for El-Fajir and even “qyam el leil”!! :)
ALlhmd lillah
But, When I forget or lazy to do that routine and watching TV for late time :S I sleep alot of time and didn’t walk up for salah and my productivity in work is veryyy low !!!
I try to live to that too, but i also heard that sins are very heavy on our souls and body, i recall one of the scholars noteable ones, told another who complained about not being able to do قيام he said your sins have burdened you. -citation needed- :)
great articles in here, but like we know, we have such kind of data already in koran and sunna. But how come we don’t know this before?
I do like the easy understanding of these articles, but the heavy part is to implement them, (as the same problem with koran and sunna).
I pray my obliged prayers alhamdulilah, but yet I don”t feel like I’m there… . I do have to do more then only praying to feel I’m a muslim, to feel I’m part of a whole… .
Anyway, it’s difficult to control your sleep: you can have a great quality sleep, wake up early , for days, but if it’s weekend, we fall down very hard and we sleep more hours dan normal… . What do we think wat will happen if we do it like this?? hmmm
you can have weeks good organized sleepschedule, but it needed only a day or two two break that.
now alhamdulillah I have a good ritm, but I’m only buzzy with fighting to have a good job so Allah can provide me with food and drink, paying rent… in this economic system, we are even obliged to work with two, (where does all our time and money goes??),
When will it change? wil one man make the difference, (Did the prophet make a difference by himself or together with his followers?)?
May Allah grant us peace, sincererity, and strength.
That said, when I got the flu I slept till 8am because my body needed it. So, you’re right about giving your body its rights.