how i made my two-hour tahajjud easy: ablution and adab. Pt. 2

Now that we know what to do to wake, and stay awake, the next thing is to proceed towards doing the ablution, right? Ablution in the West is one that over the decade has got Muslims trying all sorts of body contortions to achieve, and I can sadly add myself to that mix, until recently.

Letting an ample amount of water go to waste every time I have to do ablution, because even when you hold water with one palm, and use the other to close the tap, water still finds its way to get wasted, and the reality of the water that gets wasted when one washes the legs, even if one lets it drip. Oh, and the raising of one’s feet onto sinks across airports, kitchens and baths, because one doesn’t have a plastic kettle that can hold water, and yes, water bottles can hold water too, but it really isn’t the best replacement for the good old plastic kettles. 

Anyway, after almost a decade of thinking there has to be a place where one can get plastic kettles in the west as it’s gotten in Africa, and the Middle East, I was able to discover an easy fix; the Gardening Section of any of the chain stores, really – Walmart, Home Depot, and the likes. In fact, I got these at Home Depot:

But what if I said that before you do ablution, you should brush your mouth, or even have a bath, and do as much cleanliness as is needed before you even do ablution, wouldn’t that be something?

And you might be asking why do that, as for the brushing, you understand that, because as you’ve read in one hadith or the other, the prophet pbuh always brushes his teeth when he woke up for taHajjud, and had even said that if it weren’t for the difficulty it will cause for the Muslims, he would have required it before every solat. You know all of that.

This then takes us to another word you might have been hearing in passing too, adab. Now, it’s just translated to etiquette, good manners, morals, and the likes, and so that one has a full grasp of the word, I will be going into its Classical Arabic meaning. For it is only when one understands this word at a deeper level, that one is able to make decisions that will follow suit, depending on one’s circumstances, environment, wherewithal and the likes. InshaAllah.

So, classically, adab is said of inviting someone to a banquet, or a meal at one’s place. It has a before, during and after nuance. Which is, how and what one does before inviting someone over, what one does in such person’s presence, and what one does after. We’ll go through some instances so as to have a working grasp of the word.

So, for instance, for whatever reason, Barak Hussein Obama, the 44th President of the United States, decides to move to your neighborhood, and you hear that he is honoring every home invites (selectively), and so you want to go ahead and invite him to your home for a meal, with you, and your family. 

You know there ain’t no way your house not in proper order, you know; the best air freshener be popping, food made with perfected recipes be sending aromas every which where, and the list things that will be on flick goes on and on. And when you are out to his house, you’d make sure that you’ve had your bath, brushed your teeth, worn your best cloths, scenting your best perfume, and carrying a batch of cookies that your great grandma swears by is the best cookie in the world, mmmm, mmm, mm.

Only then, do you proceed to 44’s newly minted home down the street to invite him over. Now, in his presence, you have a copy of his book, actually, now that we are here, let’s switch this person to Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela; so, you have a copy of his autobiography, that was written almost entirely in Xhosa, you could have brought on of the others that has been translated to English, but you really want him to love you, you want to show your love, you want him to know how much you’ve dedicated to this love you have for him, so, you bring along his Xhosa autobiography, just so that you can impress him, before asking him to autograph it.

You stand before him, after exchanging pleasantries, you start reading, in Xhosa, which you took time to not only understand, but now you are able to read fluently. So, you read paragraphs after paragraphs in Xhosa, he is super impressed, that an American learns Xhosa just because of him, he bumps you up the list of houses to honor their invitation. You beam, as you read, you are cognizant of the fact that every word is his word, he wrote the book, so it’s like he is talking; so you stand attention, like a soldier at a military parade that stands still as long as the General requires them to, whether in blistering sun, or chilling cold. You stand still, you read his words, you hear his words, it moves you, he loves you, he promises you that after having had the meal in your home, he will also host you in his home, you are elated, you have a friend in this new neighbor of yours. 🥰

The things that you learned during the meet sticks with you, they move you, you tell everyone about the visit, what you’ve learned, you try to convince them it’s the best experience ever, that they should definitely go visit General Oba-Mandela, that they should learn Xhosa, that they should read this particular book to him, that he loves it, and you go on and on so that the people know you as the guy in love with General Obamandela, and his book. 

I guess you are having an idea of what I’m getting at with this allegorical expression of ‘adab’ as it relates to perhaps not just the night prayer, but each and every prayer we stand for. It is this manner, this etiquette, that was in full force before, during, and after meeting that’s called adab. And there are adabs one learns for different things, but we’ll just be focusing on that of the night prayer here.

Now, imagine the sort of adab one has to have with the one that created the General, Obama, and Mandela. Like, and not just them, but also 7 billion plus other humans, and not just that, the trillions and trillions of other creations that exists now, before, and will ever exist. 🤯 This planet that holds us, the other planets we dream to visit, the sun, the stars, the skies, the universes, every. thing. that. exists. 😳🤔

No pressure, no pressure at all. And just to reduce the pressure, I’ll state this, I’m able to brush my teeth before the ablution, easy, that will be my brushing for the day 🤦🏿‍♂️😁, it’s the bathing I haven’t gotten a hang of, off and on, but I won’t despair, keep brushing, when brushing before ablution becomes a habit, it will be easy to add another thing to it. Perfume is also easy, I have an oil based perfume ready to roll on my nice cloths every now and then. And at times that I did have my bath before taHajjud, I add armpit roll-on to the mix, cream my body, beards and head, and comb them too. Before I don my nice and best cloths that I have designated for the night prayer.

So that before you even start your night prayer, even you are pleased, and so is Allah, InshaAllah, and the angels too. It’s you, alone, with your Maker, in your best cloths, best perfume, clean body, and ready to recite the words of the Greatest. 

There’s also the adab of the recitation which we will get into when we get to the part on the Quran. But as you recite, you are into it, you aren’t distracted, you aren’t looking here and there, you are still, like a soldier at a military parade, you are at attention, waiting for the next command, it’s an expression of love, enamored, hoping that all of these makes the Creator pleased with you. The night is over, you learned something new, you put it to practice, Allah sees that, Allah sees that your adab for Gẹs words goes beyond the night, but it extends into every facet of your life, you do that every night and day, so that you become a living expression of the Quran, Allah loves you, even now, every thing that exists is an expression of that love, every leaf, every breath, the least of our appreciation of Gẹs love for us is to strive – as much as we are able to, preferably with practices we are able to sustain – towards knowing Gẹs words, and letting them fill one up, let them overwhelm one, letting them be one.

I should state that other than the ablution mentioned above, nothing that I have mentioned in this piece is compulsory before you start enjoying your taHajjud, but I find that perhaps, doing them, the joy that I feel, has somehow made it easy for me to wake up every night for taHajjud, hence why it’s being mentioned here. Some of them are things that I do now, and some, I’m still aspiring to do, hopefully, they give you even more joy than I feel doing them. Amin. 🤲🏿