The late-night prayer is amongst the acts of worship (Ibadah) which are associated with immense rewards from God. Indeed, those who wish to attain proximity to God forego a part of their sleep, and wake up in the middle of the night to communicate with their Lord. The late-night prayer is thus one of the most effective ways of achieving closeness to Allah. However, some individuals might be deprived of this great opportunity due to certain spiritual or non-spiritual impediments.
Communicating with God in solitude, particularly in the middle of the dark night is one of the distinguished attributes of devoted servants of God. They forgo their sleep and pleasure simply to gain the pleasure of God while the nonchalant ones remain heedless and the negligent ones sleep throughout the night. The Qur’an describing these special servants of Allah says:
تَتَجَافَى جُنُوبُهُمْ عَنِ الْمَضَاجِعِ يَدْعُونَ رَبَّهُمْ خَوْفًا وَطَمَعًا...
Their sides vacate their beds to supplicate their Lord in fear and hope... (Qur’an 32: 16)
Despite its highly valued merits, some people are deprived of this special and unique opportunity of communicating with their Lord at night either due to some spiritual or non-spiritual factors. According to Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him), lying is one of the sins that serve as an impediment to observing the late-night prayer. That is to say, one who is fond of telling lies shall be deprived of the divine grace of waking up for the late night prayer.
الإمام الصادق (ع): إنَّ الرَّجُلَ لَیَکذِب الکَذبَة فَیَحرم بها صلاة اللیل
Imam al-Sadiq (a.s.) said, ‘Verily a man tells a lie and he will be deprived of the night prayer as a result.’(Sheikh Sadūq, ‘Ilal al-Shara’i, p. 362, no. 2)
Similarly, in an explanations, the Commander of the faithful Ali ibn Abi-Talib (peace be upon him) declared that sinning is a serious obstacle towards attaining proximity to Allah and it is indeed a great impediment to observing the late night prayer:
الإمام علی (ع) لرجل قال له: إنّی حرمتُ الصلاة اللیل: أنتَ رجُلٌ قَد قَیَدتُک ذُنُوبُکَ
Imam Ali (a.s.) replied a man who said to him, ‘I have been deprived of [the opportunity to] pray in the night’, ‘You are a man who has been tied up by his sins.’(Kulayni, Al-Kafi, vol. 3, p. 450, Hadith No. 34)
Meanwhile, it is pertinent to say that apart from the sins, there are some other non-spiritual factors (such as overeating or eating heavy meals at night or going to bed late) which may also present obstacles to waking up for the late night prayer.
In the light of this, it is expected of every believer who truly desires to take pleasure in communicating with Allah in solitude at night to keep away from sins, avoid overeating or consuming heavy meals at night, and endeavor to have a brief sleep during daytime and go to bed early at night.