"…or ‘tuṭayyaru’ or ‘tūṭāraru lahu,’ but among My servants are those who believe and place their trust in Me." And Imam Aḥmad said: “Ibrāhīm ibn Khālid told us, Rābbāḥ told us, from Ja‘far ibn Muḥammad, from al-Taymī, from Wahb, who said: “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a sewing needle than for the rich to enter Paradise.” (Abū Nu‘aym, al-Ḥilya, 4:57). I say (this addition appears in the printed Ḳ version): “This is only on account of the severity of the Reckoning and the prolonged suffering of the wealthy in their trials, for similitudes are used to illustrate afflictions. And Allah (glorified and exalted) knows best.” And Imam Aḥmad said: “‘Abd al-Razzāq told us, al-Bakkār told us: I heard Wahb say: ‘Omission of due recompense is a form of fraudulent tampering.’” (Abū Bakr ibn Abī al-Dunyā, Makārim al-Akhlāq, p.111 [365]; Abū Nu‘aym, al-Ḥilya, 4:58). And Imam Aḥmad said: “Al-Ḥajjāj and Abū al-Naḍr reported: Muḥammad ibn Ṭalḥa told us, from Muḥammad ibn Juḥāda, from Wahb, who said: ‘Whoever devotes himself to worship gains strength, and whoever grows negligent grows weaker.’” (Abū Nu‘aym, al-Ḥilya, 4:58). Another related: A ḥūrāʾ appeared to him in a dream on a cold night and said, “Rise for your prayer, for it is better for you than sleep, which enfeebles your body.” I recall another report but lack it now. This is well attested by experience: worship enlivens and softens the body, whereas sleep makes it lax and hardens it. Some of the salaf said: When Ṣīlaʾ ibn Ashyam and his companion Zayd al-‘Abdī entered that valley, and Ṣīlaʾ stood the entire night until dawn, he said: “By morning I felt as if I had spent the night lying upon my entrails, and a fatigue and indifference overcame me that only Allah truly knows.” (See the story in al-Shu‘ab al-Īmān, al-Bayhaqī, 3:160–161 [3211]). It was asked of al-Ḥasan: “Why are devout worshippers the most radiant of people in visage?” He replied: “Because they have drawn near to the Exalted, and He has clothed them in a light from His own light.” (Al-Ghazālī, Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn, 4:412). Yahyā ibn Abī Kathīr said: “By Allah, no man when he withdraws with his family into intimate seclusion finds his soul more at ease or his heart more joyful than they (the worshippers) are when they are alone with their Lord, privately communing with Him.” ‘Aṭāʾ al-Khurrāsānī said: “Standing in night prayer revives the body, lights the heart, brightens the face, and strengthens vision and all the limbs. A man who prays at night awakens joyful and pleased, whereas if he sleeps through its portion, he awakens sorrowful and brokenhearted, as though he has lost something—indeed, he has lost the greatest good that benefits him most.” Ibn Abī al-Dunyā narrated: Abū Jaʿfar Aḥmad ibn Manīʿ told us, Hāshim ibn al-Qāsim Abū al-Naḍr told us, Bakr ibn Ḥabīsh told us, from Muḥammad al-Qurashī, from Rabīʿa ibn Yazīd, from Abū Idrīs al-Khawlānī, from Bilāl, who said that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Observe the night prayer, for it was the practice of the righteous before you; indeed, night prayer draws one near to Allah, prevents sin, expiates misdeeds, and repels Satan from the body.” (Al-Bayhaqī, Shu‘ab al-Īmān, 3:127 [3087]; Ibn Rajab, Jāmi‘ ʿUlūm wa-Ḥikam, p.272—chain weak.) It was also narrated by al-Tirmidhī (no.3549) in the Book of Supplications from the Prophet (peace be upon him), chapter “On the Prophet’s Invocation,” from Abū Idrīs al-Khawlānī via Abū Umāma with the wording: “Observe the night prayer, for it was the practice of the righteous before you; it draws you near to your Lord, expiates sins, and prevents wrongdoing.” This is a ḥasan ḥadīth by its transmission and parallels (see Iḥyāʾ). Suffice it here to recall what is narrated in the Ṣaḥīḥ collections and the Musnads from Abū Hurayra: “The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ‘When one of you sleeps, Satan ties three knots at the back of his head, at each knot saying, ‘The night is long for you, so sleep.’ If he wakes and mentions Allah, one knot is undone…’”