Abu Salamah bin Abdur Rahman says: I asked Sayyidah Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her), "When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) would stand for prayer at night, with which supplication would he begin the prayer?" She said: When he (peace and blessings be upon him) would stand, he would say Allahu Akbar and recite this supplication: "O Allah! Lord of Jibreel, Mika'il, and Israfil, Creator of the heavens and the earth, Knower of the unseen and the seen, You judge between Your servants concerning that in which they differ. Guide me, by Your permission, to the truth concerning that in which they differ. Surely, You guide whom You will to a straight path." (O Allah! O Lord of Jibreel, Mika'il, and Israfil! Creator of the heavens and the earth! Knower of the unseen and the seen! You alone judge between Your servants regarding that in which they differ. Guide me, by Your command, to the truth concerning that in which there is disagreement. Surely, You guide whom You will to the straight path.)

Yahya says: Sayyiduna Abu Salamah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) would stand for prayer at night, he would say: "O Allah! I seek refuge in You from the accursed devil, from his madness, arrogance, and poetry." Furthermore, he (peace and blessings be upon him) used to say: "Seek refuge with Allah from the accursed devil's madness (hamz), arrogance (nafh), and poetry (nafth)." The people asked: "O Messenger of Allah! What is meant by his hamz, nafh, and nafth?" He replied: "Hamz refers to epilepsy that afflicts people, nafh refers to arrogance, and nafth refers to poetry."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) that when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) would stand for prayer at night, he would recite this supplication: O Allah! All praise is for You, You are the Light of the heavens and the earth, and all praise is for You. You are the Sustainer of the heavens and the earth, and all praise is for You. You are the Lord of the heavens and the earth and whoever is in them. You are the Truth, Your word is the truth, Your promise is the truth, meeting You is the truth, Paradise is the truth, Hell is the truth, and the Hour is the truth. O Allah! I have submitted to You, I have believed in You, I have placed my trust in You, I have turned to You, by Your help I have argued, and to You I have referred for judgment. So forgive me for what I have sent forth and what I have delayed, what I have done secretly and what I have done openly. You are the One, there is no deity except You. (O Allah! All praise is for You, You are the Creator of the heavens and the earth, all praise is for You alone, You are the Lord of the heavens and the earth and all that is in them, You are the Truth, Your word is the truth, Your promise is the truth, meeting You is the truth, Paradise is the truth, Hell is the truth, and the Resurrection is the truth. O Allah, I have submitted to You, I have believed in You, I have placed my trust in You, I have turned to You, by Your help I have argued, and to You I have brought my case for judgment. So forgive me my sins, those I committed earlier and those I committed later, those I committed secretly and those I committed openly. There is no deity worthy of worship except You.)

It is narrated from a Companion (may Allah be pleased with him) that he saw the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) praying, and during the prayer he was supplicating: "O Allah! Forgive my sin, and expand my house for me, and bless for me in what You have provided me."

Abdullah bin Abi Qais says: I asked Sayyida Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) how the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) would sleep in a state of major ritual impurity (janabah)? Would he perform ghusl before sleeping? She said: He would sometimes perform ghusl and then sleep, and sometimes he would perform wudu and then sleep. I then asked her: How was the recitation of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) at night? Would he recite in a loud voice or in a low voice? She said: He would do both; sometimes he would recite in a loud voice and sometimes in a low voice.

Sayyidah Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) says that when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) became old and heavy, he would recite (the Qur'an) sitting as much as Allah willed, and when thirty or forty verses of the surah remained, he would stand up, recite them, and then perform sajdah (prostration).

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: When any one of you stands for prayer at night, but (due to the dominance of sleep) the Qur'an becomes difficult on his tongue and he does not even understand what he is reciting, then he should lie down.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) that he spent the night at the house of the wife of the Messenger, Sayyida Maymunah (may Allah be pleased with her), who was his maternal aunt. He says: I lay down across the width of the pillow, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and his wife lay down along its length, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) slept. When half the night had passed, or a little before or after it, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) woke up and sat, and wiped his face with his hand to remove the effects of sleep. Then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) recited the last ten verses of Surah Al-Imran. After that, he went to a hanging water-skin and performed ablution from it in a very good manner. Then he stood up and began to pray. Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) says: I also stood up, performed ablution as the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did, and stood on his side. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) placed his hand on my head and took hold of my right ear and twisted it. Then he prayed two rak‘ahs, then two rak‘ahs, then two rak‘ahs, then two rak‘ahs, then two rak‘ahs, then two rak‘ahs, and then prayed witr and lay down until the muezzin came to him. At that time, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) got up, prayed two light rak‘ahs, and then went out and led the morning prayer.

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) says: I spent the night at the house of the wife of the Messenger, Sayyidah Maymunah (may Allah be pleased with her), who is my maternal aunt. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) performed the ‘Isha prayer, then came home and offered four rak‘ahs, and then slept. Then he got up and prayed four rak‘ahs and asked: "Has the little boy slept?" or said something similar. So I came and stood on his left side, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) made me stand on his right side. Then he (peace and blessings be upon him) offered five rak‘ahs, after that he performed two rak‘ahs of prayer and then slept, and he slept so much that I heard the sound of his snoring. Then he went out for the Fajr prayer.

It is also narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him), he says: I spent the night at the house of my maternal aunt, Sayyida Maymunah (may Allah be pleased with her). The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) woke up during the night, relieved himself, then (for cleanliness and freshness) washed his face and hands, then got up and came to the water-skin, untied its strap, and performed a moderate ablution, but in any case, the ablution was complete. Then he stood up and began to pray. I also got up and stretched (and pretended to be asleep), so that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) would not realize that I was watching him (to observe his actions and movements). In any case, I performed ablution, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was standing and praying. I also came and stood on his left side. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) took hold of my ear and turned me to his right side. That night, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed thirteen rak‘ahs. Then he lay down and slept until his snoring could be heard. Usually, whenever he slept, the sound of snoring would be heard. Meanwhile, Sayyiduna Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him) came to him and informed him about the prayer. So the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) got up and prayed without performing ablution. In his supplication, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was saying:“O Allah! Place light in my heart, light in my sight, light in my hearing, light on my right, light on my left, light above me, light beneath me, light in front of me, and light behind me, and make the light great for me.”Qareeb says: There were seven things in the chest (but now I have forgotten them). I met one of the children of Sayyiduna Abbas, and he mentioned those things to me as follows:“In my sinews, my flesh, my blood, my hair, and my skin (place light),”and he also mentioned two other qualities.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him), he says: I came to my maternal aunt, Sayyida Maymunah bint Harith (may Allah be pleased with her), and spent the night with her. That night, it was the turn of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) to stay at her house. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) performed the Isha prayer, then entered his house and rested his head on a leather pillow filled with palm leaves and slept. I came and placed my head on the edge of that pillow and slept. When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) woke up, he saw that a large part of the night still remained, so he continued to say "Subhan Allah" and "Allahu Akbar" while sleeping. Then he woke up again; it was the time when half or two-thirds of the night had passed. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) got up, relieved himself, then came to a water-skin hanging on some wood, in which there was water. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) rinsed his mouth three times, put water into his nose three times, washed his face three times, washed his arms three times each, wiped his head and ears, then washed his feet three times each. Then he came to his prayer mat. I also got up and did as the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) had done. Then I came and stood on his left side, intending to pray with him. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) waited for a while, but when he realized that I wanted to pray with him, he bent his right hand, took hold of my ear, and turned me to stand on his right side. Then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) continued to pray two rak‘ahs as long as he thought the night remained. When he thought that Fajr was near, he got up and performed six rak‘ahs and then the seventh as Witr. When Fajr became bright, he got up and prayed two rak‘ahs, then lay down on his side until I began to hear the sound of his snoring. Meanwhile, Sayyiduna Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him) came and informed the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) about the Fajr prayer. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) went for the prayer and performed it, but did not touch water (i.e., did not perform ablution again). Upon hearing this, Ikrimah said to Sa‘id bin Jubair: This is a very good thing (that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, did not perform ablution after sleeping). But Sa‘id bin Jubair (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Beware! By Allah, I said the same thing to Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him), but he said: Leave this matter; this concession is neither for you nor for your companions. It was only for the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), because he was protected.