Question:
AA WR WB sidi,
May I please ask: Is it a must that one sleep first for tahajud prayer? If one goes to bed with niyat for tahajjud prayer but has extreme difficulty getting to sleep & after some time gets up (after rest but not sleep) and prays 2 rakaat with niyat of tahajjud is this valid?
As I suffer waswassah due to stressing in missing tahajjud. Not every night but often this happens. Must one inequivocally sleep for tahajjud or is some laying down rest sufficient for valid tahajjud?
JAZAKULLAH SIDI
Answer:
Salam `alaykum,
You can pray 6 rakaats of nafl with niyya of tahajjud after the post-Fard sunna of Maghrib, which is valid in the Shafi`i madhhab and counts as tahajjud; or 8 rakaats of duha with the same if you missed it the previous night.
Hajj Gibril Haddad
