Revive a Sunnah

In the name of Allah

Revive a Sunnah: Lying down after Praying 2 Sunnah Rak'ah of Fajr

A’ishah (radi Allahu anha) narrated that the Messenger of Allaah (sallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) used to lie down on his right side, after offering two Rakah (sunnah) of the Fajr Salah." 

A’ishah (radi Allahu anha) narrated that the Messenger of Allaah (sallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) used to pray eleven raka'at at night and that was his night prayer and each of his prostrations lasted for a period enough for one of you to recite fifty verses before the Messenger of Allaah (sallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) raised his head. He also used to pray two Rakah (sunnah) before the (fard) Fajr prayer and then lie down on his right side till the muezzin came (to him to recite the iqaamah)."

Recorded in Saheeh al-Bukhari (21/257 and 16/108)

1. Imam An-Nawawi (rahimahullah) said in his commentary on Saheeh Muslim: "What is correct is that he lay down after the Sunnah of Fajr, because of the hadeeth of Abu Hurayrah (radi Allahu anhu) who said: The Messenger of Allaah (sallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) said: “When any one of you has prayed two rak’ahs of Fajr, let him lie down on his right side.” (Narrated by Abu Dawood and al-Tirmidhi with an isnaad which is saheeh according to the conditions of al-Bukhaari and Muslim. Al-Tirmidhi said it is a saheeh hasan hadeeth). This saheeh hadeeth is clear about the matter of his lying down. With regard to the hadeeth of ‘Aa’ishah (radi Allahu anha) which says that he lay down before and after Fajr, and the hadeeth of Ibn ‘Abbaas (radi Allahu anhu) which says that he lay down before, there is no contradiction, because the fact that he lay down before does not mean that he did not lie down afterwards as well. There are some reports which say that on some occasions he (sallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) did not lie down afterwards, which could be taken to demonstrate that it is permissible not to do it. That would apply if it were proven that he did not do it but it was not proven. Perhaps he used to lie down both before and after. If the ahaadeeth say that he told them to lie down after praying and that he himself did that, this proves the point. If it is possible to reconcile the ahaadeeth, it is not permissible to reject any of them, and it is possible to reconcile them in two ways, one of which we have mentioned, which is that he lay down both before and afterwards. The second is that he did not lie down afterwards on some occasions, to demonstrate that it is permissible not to do so. And Allaah knows best." 

2. Al-Haafiz (rahimahullah) said: "Some of the salaf were of the view that this is permissible at home but not in the masjid. This was narrated from Ibn ‘Umar (radi Allahu anhu) and was regarded as a strong opinion by some of our shaykhs, because it is not narrated that the Prophet (sallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) did this in the masjid. It was narrated that Ibn ‘Umar (radi Allahu anhu) used to throw pebbles at those who did this in the masjid; this was narrated by Ibn Abi Shaybah." 

3. Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (rahimahullah) said, after discussing the differences of scholarly opinion concerning this lying down: "The correct view is that which was expressed by Shaykh al-Islam [Ibn Taymiyah], (rahimahullah) that if a person is tired after his tahajjud (prayers at night), he may rest by lying down on his right side. This is on condition that there is no fear of his being overtaken by sleep that will make him miss the prayer. If there is such a fear then he should not sleep." [Sharh Riyaadh al-Saaliheen, 3/287]

The reason for this lying down is to rest if one is tired after praying qiyaam al-layl (naafil prayers at night), so that one's energy will be renewed for Fajr prayer. Based on this, what some people do by lying down for less than a minute, as mentioned in the question, do not achieve the purpose, and it goes against the Sunnah because the Prophet (sallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) used to lie down until the muezzin came to him to say the iqaamah just before the prayer.