Is Waking Up Family for Prayer a Virtue or Is the Adhān Sufficient?
Written by: Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Amaanpuri
❓ Question:
Is it sufficient to rely on the adhān for prayer, or is it an act of virtue to wake up family members for prayer?
✅ Answer:
Waking up one’s family for prayer is a virtuous act, part of cooperation in righteousness and piety. At times, it may even be obligatory, as it falls under amr bil-maʿrūf wa-nahy ʿan al-munkar (enjoining good and forbidding evil).
✦ Qurʾānic Evidence:
Allah ﷻ says:
﴿وَتَعَاوَنُوا عَلَى الْبِرِّ وَالتَّقْوَى وَلَا تَعَاوَنُوا عَلَى الْإِثْمِ وَالْعُدْوَانِ﴾ (al-Māʾidah: 2)
“And cooperate with one another in righteousness and piety, but do not cooperate in sin and aggression.”
✦ Prophetic Ḥadīth:
Abū Hurayrah رضي الله عنه narrated:
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“May Allah have mercy on a man who wakes up at night, prays, and awakens his wife, so she prays; and if she refuses, he sprinkles water on her face. And may Allah have mercy on a woman who wakes up at night, prays, and awakens her husband, so he prays; and if he refuses, she sprinkles water on his face.”
📚 Musnad Aḥmad (2/251, 436), Sunan Abī Dāwūd (1450), Sunan al-Nasāʾī (1611), Sunan Ibn Mājah (1336) — chain ḥasan
This ḥadīth has been graded ṣaḥīḥ by Imām Ibn Khuzaymah (1148), Imām Ibn Ḥibbān (2567), and Imām al-Ḥākim (1/309) on the condition of Muslim, with al-Dhahabī agreeing. Imām al-Nawawī also declared its chain ṣaḥīḥ.
✦ Scholarly Insight:
If waking one’s spouse for tahajjud (a voluntary night prayer) brings Allah’s mercy, then waking family members for the obligatory prayers is even more virtuous and necessary.
📌 Conclusion:
- Waking up family members for prayer is an act of piety and mercy, not limited to optional prayers but more emphatically for obligatory prayers.
- Relying solely on the adhān is not sufficient; family members should be encouraged and awakened for prayer.
