Page:A Moslem seeker after God - showing Islam at its best in the life and teaching of al-Ghazali, mystic and theologian of the eleventh century (IA moslemseekeraft00zwem).pdf/134



wird: this is from the darkness of the last Isha to the time when people retire to sleep. This con sists of three things: (1) the obligatory Isha prayer; ten raka s, viz., four before it and six after it; (2) performing a prayer of thirteen raka s, the last of which is the witr prayer. In this about three hundred verses of the Koran are to be re cited. (3) The witr prayer before going to sleep, unless one is accustomed to rise in the night, when it may be performed later on, which is more merito rious. Third night wird: this consists of sleep, and sleep may well be considered a devotional act, if enjoyed in the proper way. Fourth night wird: this is from the time when the first half of the night is spent to when only one-sixth of it still remains. At this time the believer ought to rise from sleep and perform the prayer of tahajjud. This prayer is also called the hujud. Mohammed mostly made it a prayer of thirteen raka s. Fifth night wird: this begins with the last sixth of the night, called the Sahar, the early morning before dawn to the appearing of dawn." To these devo tional exercises, described in the Ihya, it was con sidered meritorious to add four additional good actions: fasting, almsgiving, visiting the sick, at tending funerals; and finally all this punctilious re membrance of God through prayer was supple mented by what is called dhikr the special method of worship used by the Sufi saints.

Al-Ghazali describes the method and effects of