Praying at night – the Qur’an and the Bible

 

The Qur'an, in Sura 73, encourages praying at night.  
How does this compare with what's in the Bible?

We'll look at the New Testament to see how the two compare and contrast.

And then look at what the differences mean.

 

The first thing I thought of when I read this was the verses in the Bible that relate darkness to evil and light to good.  Of course, that thought was quickly replaced with a stronger one that said - No, that can't be what this is about.  After looking into it more, I think the second thought is correct.  

Let's look at what this Sura has to say.  

[73:0] In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
[73:1] O you cloaked one.
[73:2] Meditate during the night, except rarely.
[73:3] Half of it, or a little less.
[73:4] Or a little more. And read the Quran from cover to cover.
[73:5] We will give you a heavy message.
[73:6] The meditation at night is more effective, and more righteous.
[73:7] You have a lot of time during the day for other matters.
[73:8] You shall commemorate the name of your Lord, to come ever closer and closer to Him.
[73:9] Lord of the east and the west; there is no other god besides Him. You should choose Him as your advocate.

If you've read the introduction for this Sura, you've seen I labeled this part 1a.  That's because there is another verse - [73:20] at the end.  As pointed out in the into, this verse was likely added later.  Keeping this in mind, let's look at just the first part above to start this off.

Another thing to be aware of up front is that [73:5] may have been abrogated about 4 years later and 92nd in order of revelation, by this verse -

[4:32] You shall not covet the qualities bestowed upon each other by GOD; the men enjoy certain qualities, and the women enjoy certain qualities. You may implore GOD to shower you with His grace. GOD is fully aware of all things.

According to wikiislam.net, the intent of the abrogation was to replace the thought of the "heavy" or "weighty" message with a lighter one -

Allah doth wish to lighten your (difficulties): For man was created Weak (in flesh).

The thing is, Sura 4 is predominantly related to the rights of men and the rights of women.  One can see why this particular abrogation could be disputed.  However - in the interest of full disclosure - I'm including it here.

Meditating at night - Qur'an

So what we see is encouragement to spend about half the night in prayer.

[73:2] Meditate during the night, except rarely.
[73:3] Half of it, or a little less.
[73:4] Or a little more. And read the Quran from cover to cover.
[73:5] We will give you a heavy message.
[73:6] The meditation at night is more effective, and more righteous.

Obviously, sleep and rest are needed, so one cannot spend the entire night in prayer.  At least not on a regular basis.

As I said, the heavy message versus the lighter one is questioned in the Qur'an commentaries.  In these initial revelations, there were certainly some pretty heavy messages.  Things certainly were not going easily at all.  There was a lot of push-back at this point in time.  Surprisingly, bit from Jews and Christians, but from other Arabs.  See previous posts for more info.

Where this starts to get more interesting is the part about prayer at night being more effective and more righteous.

Daytime is for other matters - Qur'an

[73:7] You have a lot of time during the day for other matters.

The verse above is from a translation by Dr Rashad Khalifa, which is the one I've been using throughout the series.

The CAIR version of the Qur'an attempts to modify this verse somewhat, by including a parenthetical addition to verse [73:8] that says -

[whether by night or by day]

However, another translation by Dr Muhammad Muhsin Khan says for verse 7 - 

7. Verily, there is for you by day prolonged occupation with ordinary duties

Neither Khalifa nor Khan attempts any modification of this verse by adding notes or parenthetical inclusions to verse 8.

Naturally, I wonder why the CAIR version has the modification of [whether by night or by day] 

When to pray - New Testament

There are a number of times in the New Testament where references are made to praying.  Here are some of them -

Eph 6:18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

1Th 3:10 Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith.

1Th 5:16 Be joyful always; 17 pray continually; 18 give thanks in all circumstances,