Intention for tahajjud prayers   

Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

I have already searched the sunnipath archives regarding the topic of tahajjud and could not find the answer to my question. I wanted to know that when one prays tahajjud, when making neea, is tahajjud the waqt (time) of the salah or the name? For example, would saying “2 rakah nafl, at the time of tahajjud…” be valid? Secondly, How would this compare to making neea for witr salah at tahajjud, would tahajjud qualify as being the time for praying these witr, or would they still need to fall under the time of Isha?? I hope I make sense, please could you clarify this for me?

Answer:

In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful & Compassionate

The place of the intention is the heart, and has two aspects:

1. To intend what you are doing (such as praying tahajjud);
    
2. To intend why you are doing this (such as ‘for the sake of Allah).

Minimally, it is enough for all sunna and nafl prayers to simply intend to pray, though it is best to specify that you are performing the particular sunna prayer you are intending (such as tahajjud or duha).

Faraz Rabbani

Please see the following link in answer to your question:

Intentions in Voluntary Prayers

Wassalam,
Sunni Path Fiqh Team