Ḥadīth Lesson: Virtue of Praying Nafilah at Home

As-Salāmu ‘Alaykum wa RaḥmatuLlāhi wa Barakātuh. A‘ūdhu BiLlāhi Minash-shayṭāni r-rajīm. BismiLlāhi r-Raḥmāni r-Raḥīm. Wa ṣ-Salātu wa s-Salāmu ‘alá Rasūlinā Muḥammadin Sayyidi l-Awwalīna wa l-Akhirīn. Madad yā RasūlAllāh, Madad yā Sādāti Aṣḥābi RasūliLlāh, Madad yā Mashāyikhinā, Dastūr Mawlana Sheikh Abdullāh al-Fā’iz ad-Dāghistāni, Sheikh Muḥammad Nāẓim al-Ḥaqqānī. Madad.

1Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “Pray frequently at home so that the blessings of your home will increase.” Of course, pray the sunnah prayers more frequent at home, and the obligatory prayers in congregation in the mosque. But performing the sunnah and nafilah prayers at home is a barakah and increases the barakah of your home. “If you encounter anyone from my ummah, make salam so that your rewards will be many.” As you greet people, your rewards will increase.

2Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “Value your homes by performing some of your prayers there.” If you don’t pray at home, your home loses its value; so your home gains value through prayer. Therefore, perform your nafilah prayers at home. Performing them at home, such as Tahajjud, Duha, and Awwabin, will bring even more barakah to your home. “Value them; don’t turn them into graveyards.” Because one doesn’t pray in a cemetery, a house that one doesn’t pray in is like a graveyard, meaning it’s of no barakah.

3Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “As for a man’s nafilah prayer in his house, it is light, so illuminate your houses.” Prayer increases the light of your homes, says our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam. Light comes from prayer, so perform your nafilah prayers at home so that the light of your home increases, says our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam.

4Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “The superiority of a nafilah prayer performed at home over a nafilah prayer performed in the presence of others is the same as the superiority of a prayer performed in congregation over the prayer performed alone.” A nafilah prayer performed at home is the same as a prayer performed in front of others in a mosque, and the value of a nafilah prayer performed at home is the same as a prayer performed in congregation. Performing a nafilah prayer at home is just as superior as performing an obligatory prayer in a mosque.

5Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “O people, pray in your homes. Indeed, the best of prayers, other than the obligatory prayers, is the one performed at home.” The best of prayers is the nafilah prayer performed at home. Because prayer in the mosque already carries 25-27 times more reward for the obligatory prayer, but for the nafilah prayer, performing the nafilah prayer at home is more recommended, more beneficial, and more rewarding.

6Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “Perform nafilah prayers in your homes and do not turn them into graveyards.” One cannot pray in a graveyard. Therefore, a house without prayer is like a graveyard; it is soulless and of no barakah.

7Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “Perform prayers in your homes and do not abandon performing nafilah prayers there.” Nafilah prayers such as night prayers, day prayers, ablution prayer, all of them are nafilah.

8Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying “Pray nafilah prayers in your homes and do not turn them into cemeteries.” Again, if your homes lack prayers, they resemble cemeteries. “Do not make my grave a place of celebration.” Visit the grave of the Prophet ﷺ, his ﷺ honorable grave, with respect; without using the drum and trumpet like a celebration. If one can stand in front of the maqām to visit with respect, he should do so. If he cannot, we should offer salāt and salams as we pass by. The Prophet ﷺ says, “Don’t make it like a celebration.” This place has its reverence, and we must visit it with adab. “Recite salat and salam upon me.” You should say salat and salam as you pass by, and you should say salatu salam when you stand in the presence of our Prophet ﷺ. “Wherever you are, your salāms reach me.” From anywhere in the world, whether

on a mountaintop or at the bottom of a well, if you recite salatu salam, it reaches our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam.

9Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “Performing a voluntary prayer in a place where people cannot see him is equal to performing twenty-five prayers in a place where he is seen.” It is that virtuous.

10-Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “The prayer that one of you prays at home, other than the obligatory prayers, is better than the prayer he prays in the mosque.”

11-Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “The virtue of a man’s prayer in his home over his prayer where people see him is like the virtue of the obligatory prayer over the nafilah prayer.” It is that superior.

12-Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, ““The obligatory prayer should be performed in the mosque and the nafilah prayer should be performed at home.”

13-Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “After the obligatory of Maghrib prayer, pray these two rak’ahs of nafilah prayers in your homes as part of the Sunnah.” There are Sunnah Mu’akkadah and Nafilah. Nafilah prayers are performed at home. Sunnah prayers are performed in the mosque because it’s possible that if someone leaves them in the mosque and says, “I’ll pray them at home,” he’ll then forget about them, or something might happen. Therefore, the nafilah prayers we are talking about are that are less than the Sunnah prayers, such as the Duha prayer, the ablution prayer, the Ishrāq prayer, and the night prayers, are all considered nafilah.

14-Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “Enlighten and adorn your homes with prayer and reading the Qur’an.” The homes’ adornment is prayer and reading the Qur’an.

Sadaqa RasuluLlah fi ma qal, aw kama qal. The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ says the truth in what he ﷺ said or as he ﷺ said.

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Ihda’ – Dedication:

Ziyadatan ila sharafi’ ‘n-Nabi, sallaLlahu `alayhi wa sallam wa Alihi wa Asahabihi l-kiram, wa ila arwahi jamee’i al Anbiya’i wa l-Mursalin wa Khudama’i sharai’ihim wa ila arwahi al ‘Aimmati al arba’a, wa ila arwahi Mashayyikhina fi t-Tariqati nNaqshbandiyyati l-Aliyyah, khassatan Imamu t-Tariqah wa Ghawthu l-Khaliqah Khwaja Bahauddin Muhammad al-Uwaisiyi l-Bukhari, Sayyidina Abdul Khaliq al Ghujduwani, Mawlana Shaykh Sharafuddin al Daghestani, Mawlana Shaykh Abdullah al Faiz al Daghestani, Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Adil al Haqqani, wa sai’ri Sadatina wa s-Siddiqiyun, wa man nahnu fi hadratihim wa jiwarihim, for the souls of all our past ones, for the souls of all Shaheeds. For happiness here and hereafter. Li-Llahi Ta’ala, Al-Fatiha.

[(Translation) To the honor of the Prophet, Prayers and Peace be upon Him, and his family, and his companions, and the souls of all the prophets as well as of His messengers and of those who served their Sharia, and to the souls of the four Imams. And to the souls of our Mashayikh of the Most Distinguished Naqshbandi Tariqa, in particular to the soul of the Imam of the Tariqa Ghawth al-Khaliqa (the Help of Creation), Khwaja Bahauddin Muhammad al-Uwaisiyi l-Bukhari, Sayyidina Abdul Khaliq al Ghujduwani, Mawlana Shaykh Sharafuddin al Daghestani, Mawlana Shaykh Abdullah al Faiz al Daghestani, Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Adil al Haqqani, and the rest of our masters and Siddiqiyun, and to whom we are in their presence and near them, for the souls of all our past ones, for the souls of all Shaheeds. For happiness here and hereafter. To Allah Almighty. Al Fatiha.]

Mawlana Sheikh Muhammad Adil ar-Rabbani 30 September 2025/ 08 Rabih Al-Akhir 1447 Beylerbeyi Dergah, Istanbul