Abu Huraira reported God’s Messenger as saying,“When one of you gets up at night; he should begin the prayer with two short rak'as.”Muslim transmitted it.

Ibn ‘Abbas said:I spent a night with my maternal aunt Maimuna when the Prophet was with her. After talking to his family for a time he had a sleep, then when the last third of the night came, or a little later, he sat up, looked at the sky, and recited,“In the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of night and day there are indeed signs for people of understanding,"(Al-Qur’an; 3:190) to the end of the sura. Then getting up and going to the bucket, he loosened its cord and poured some water into a bowl, then performed a good ablution between the two extremes, not going to great length, and when he had done it fully he stood up and prayed. I got up, and when I had performed ablution I stood at his left side, whereupon he took me by the ear and made me go round to his right side. His prayer was altogether thirteen rak'as. Then he lay down and slept, and he snored as was his custom. When Bilal made the call to prayer for him he prayed without performing ablution, and his supplication included these words,“O God, place light in my heart, light in my eyesight, light in my hearing, light on my right hand, light on my left hand, light above me, light below me, light in front of me, light behind me, and grant me light." Some added,“and light in my tongue," and mentioned,“my joints, my flesh, my blood, my hair, my skin." (Bukhari and Muslim.) In a version by both of them he said,“Place light in my soul, and give me abundant light." In another by Muslim he said,“O God, give me light."

He said that once when he slept in the house of God’s Messenger, he awoke, cleaned his teeth and performed ablution, saying meanwhile,“In the creation of the heavens and the earth," to the end of the sura. He then stood up and prayed two rak'as, standing, bowing and prostrating himself at length in them. Then he finished, went to sleep and snored. He did that three times, six rak'as altogether, each time cleaning his teeth, performing ablution and reciting these verses. Then he performed a witr of three rak'as. Muslim transmitted it.

Zaid b. Khalid al-Juhani decided to watch one night what prayers God’s Messenger said. He prayed two short rak'as, then two long, long, long rak'as, then he prayed two rak'as which were less than the two preceding, then he prayed two rak'as which were less then the two preceding, then he prayed two rak'as which were less than the two preceding, then he prayed two rak'as which were less than the two preceding, then he prayed a single one, making a total of thirteen. Muslim transmitted it. The words“then he prayed two rak'as which were less than the two preceding”, mentioned four times, occur thus in Muslim’s Sahih and among those peculiar or him in Humaidi’s book, also in Malik’s Muwatta’, Abu Dawud’s Sunan, and Jami’ al-Usul.

‘A’isha said,“When God’s Messenger grew old and was ill, he mostly prayed sitting.”(Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abdallah b. Mas'ud said,“I know the comparable suras which the Prophet used to join together; ”and he mentioned twenty suras at the beginning of al-Mufassal,1 according to Ibn Mas'ud’s arrangement, two in a rak'a, the last of them being H. M. ad-Dukhan,2 and“About what do they ask one another?”3 1. A title given to the suras from 49 to the end, but several other suras are also mentioned:37, 45, 47, 48, 50, 61, 67, 87, and 93. The name is most appropriately explained ay meaning that this is the section of the Qur’an which contains many shorter suras. 2. Al-Qur’an; 94. As this is included as one of the suras in al Mufassal, it suggests that this section begins earlier than the first number mentioned in the note referred to above. 3. Al-Qur'an; 78. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Hudhaifa said he saw the Prophet praying at night, and he was saying,“God is most great (three times), Possessor of the kingdom, might, pomp and greatness.”Thereafter he began and recited al-Baqara (Al-Qur’an; 2) then bowed, his bowing lasting about the same length of time as his standing, and he was saying while bowing,“Glory be to my mighty Lord.”He then raised his head after bowing and stood about the same length of time as he bad spent in bowing, saying,“To my Lord be the praise.”Then he prostrated himself for about the same length of time as he had stood, and he was saying while prostrating himself,“Glory be to my Lord most high.”He then raised his head after the prostration and sat between the two prostrations about the same length of time as he had spent in his prostration, and he was saying,“My Lord, forgive me; my Lord, forgive me.”He then prayed four rak'as in which he recited al-Baqara, Al 'Imran, an-Nisa’, and al-Ma'idaor al-An‘am (Al-Qur’an; 2, 3, 4 and 5 and 6) Shu‘ba was doubtful which it was. Abu Dawud transmitted it.

‘Abdallah b. ‘Amr b. al-‘As reported God’s Messenger as saying,“If anyone makes proper use of ten verses he will not be recorded among the negligent; if anyone makes proper use of a hundred verses he will be recorded among those who are obedient to God:and if anyone makes proper use of a thousand verses he will be recorded among those who receive huge rewards.”Abu Dawud transmitted it.

Abu Huraira said that the Prophet’s recitation at night was partly in a loud voice and partly in a low voice. Abu Dawud transmitted it.

Ibn ‘Abbas said the Prophet’s recitation was loud enough for one who was in the inner chamber to hear it when he was in the house. Abu Dawud transmitted it.