Performing prayer in the dark

9-4-2006 | IslamWeb

Question:

Is it allowed to perform Salah without light i.e. in the dark, as far as my knowledge goes there is no single Hadeeth which stresses on this matter. This was questioned to me by a friend when I prayed in the dark.

---

Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.

 

There is no harm in performing the prayer in the dark. Rather, there are authentic narrations which prove that the Prophet used to pray in the dark. For instance, 'Aa'ishah narrated: "I used to sleep with the Prophet and my legs were in the direction of the Qiblah, and when he wanted to prostrate, he would tab me (on the leg) and I would remove my legs, and when he would stand up, I would stretch them again. [Then she said] the homes at that time had no lights."

We have not heard of any scholar who disliked performing the prayer in the dark, rather when one performs the prayer in the dark, he would be more humble and concentrated in his prayer as he will not be distracted by things around him. 

Allaah Knows best.