that is all.” He ﷺ said, “Then help me to help you by performing abundant prostrations.” (1)

The best time for it is the third of the night after its halfway point.

His statement, “The best time for it,” means: the best time for night prayer.

His statement, “A third of the night after its halfway point,” means that you divide the night into halves, then rise for prayer during a third of the second half, and sleep at the end of the night.

The evidence for this is the Prophet’s ﷺ statement: “The best prayer is the prayer of David: he would sleep for half the night, stand in prayer for a third of it, and sleep for a sixth of it.” (2) In Sahih al-Bukhari, ‘Aishah ﷺ said: “I never found him—meaning the Prophet ﷺ—at dawn except asleep.” (3) That is, the Prophet ﷺ would sleep during the pre-dawn hours at the end of the night.

There is also a reason for this: sleeping after standing in prayer restores the body’s strength and energy, so that one rises for the Fajr prayer refreshed.

Moreover, if he sleeps during the final sixth of the night, that sleep removes the effects of his staying awake, and in the morning he appears before people as though he had not spent the night in prayer. This further distances him from showing off.

Thus, the best time is a third of the night after its halfway point, so that one may sleep at the end of the night.

If someone were to ask: Why do you not regard the final third of the night as best, since that is the time of the divine descent?

The answer is that the one who rises for prayer during a third of the night after its halfway point will catch