What is the way of getting up for the morning (fajr) prayer? I cannot get up for the morning prayer; even if I get up, when the weather is cold, I feel lazy to make wudu and go to bed again.

Is it permissible to perform the morning prayer after I get up. I get up after the time for the morning prayer ends. Is it all right if I perform it then? Is it necessary to perform only the fard of the morning prayer at that time?

Dear Brother / Sister,

All of the five daily prayers ordered by Allah are valuable and important. One of them is not replaced by another. However, some of them are more virtuous and rewarding. The morning (fajr) prayer is one of them. Allah Almighty states the following in a verse:  

“Therefore be patient with what they say and celebrate (constantly) the praises of thy Lord before the rising of the sun, and before its setting; yea, celebrate them for part of the hours of the night, and at the sides of the day: that thou mayest have (spiritual) joy.”(Taha, 20/130)

Tafsir scholars say what is meant by “celebrate the praises” in this verse is prayer. The one before the rising of the sun indicates the morning prayer.

The importance and virtue of the morning prayer originates from the fact that it is performed during sleeping time. To interrupt sleeping, which is something very nice and desirable by the soul, and to turn toward the Creator of everything, to beg Him, to prostrate with awe, to rely on the Lord of the realms, who has endless power, wealth and strength while man is very weak and poor, and to glorify and to praise Him make man receive a sacred pleasure. Along with receiving this pleasure, the ease and peace of being accepted into the presence of Allah, being His addressee and friend and fulfilling a sacred duty will encompass the man as a whole. 

Since the morning prayer coincides with sleeping time, the soul finds it difficult to get up. Islamic scholars advise heavy sleepers to go to bed early in order to be able to get up for the morning prayer. They do not find it appropriate for those people to stay up late and miss the morning prayer. 

Missing prayers deliberately or due to negligence or not paying attention cannot be regarded as legitimate excuses. Such deeds and negligence make a person a sinner. We should always be careful and cautious since the first deed man will be questioned about is prayer and since we will be punished if we skip even one prayer deliberately and since even the smallest bad deed will be shown to us in the hereafter.

It is necessary to take all kinds of measures in order to be able to get up for the morning prayer. Once, the Prophet (pbuh) appointed Hz. Bilal as the guard for the morning prayer.
In fact, there is no difficulty in our religion. It is very easy to worship. What we need to do is to be careful and alert. It will cost us a lot if we skip a prayer due to negligence. When we perform the morning prayer, we become more active and enthusiastic on that day. When we do not perform it, we feel reluctant and things go wrong on that day along with disorders in our psychology. The otherworldly responsibility of the issue is worse.

Along with material measures like setting the alarm clock before going to bed, reading the chapters like “al-Kawthar, al-Ikhlas, al-Falaq and an-Nas, ” and the verse "Ayatul-Kursiy" as spiritual measures and saying prayers will help you wake up. For, there are angels that Allah Almighty appoints for this duty.

Besides, the main issue is to place the issue of waking up into subconscious. If we take into consideration that we stay awake for a long time for a small worldly interest and we wake up easily when we have an important thing to do, it is not difficult to think what we can do for a deed of worshipping even whose sunnah is “better than the world and what is in it” (Riyadus-Salihin, II/411). Besides, the Prophet (pbuh) uttered this word only for the sunnah of the morning prayer.

There is one more issue about the time of the morning prayer: It is what we need to do when there is a little time for the sun to rise. If there is very little time, it is necessary to make wudu at once. It is not permissible to lose time by doing things like going to toilet. For, the time for the prayer is about to end.

When there is a little time, it is permissible, and it is wajib when there is very little time, to wash only the organs that are fard to wash in wudu and to abandon the two-rak'ah sunnah in order to perform the fard prayer.

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