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If anyone of you becomes drowsy, let him sleep until he feels refreshed
It was narrated that ‘Aishah, may Allah be pleased with her, said:
“The Prophet ( may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him ) said: ‘If anyone of you becomes drowsy, let him sleep until he feels refreshed, for he does not know, if he prays when he feels drowsy, he may want to say words seeking forgiveness but (instead) he ends up cursing himself.’”
Jami` at-Tirmidh
The spirit of the prayer is the reverence.
The reverence is achieved through the perfect attention and vigilance, it decreases if the worshiper is distracted during performing the prayer or is preoccupied with any of the world's concerns or is sleepy for any reason. Then what should he do? Should he continue the prayer or that he should sleep and then return to the prayer afterwards.
Considering this commandment reveals the tolerance of Islam, its easiness, removing the hardship, and spreading mercy among its followers.
If the worshiper feels mild sleepiness, he shall continue what he intends to pray and then sleeps.
If he had intended to pray two rak'ahs and was overcome with drowsiness after he had knelt down for the first rak'ah, then he should not invalidate his righteous deed, but he should complete it.
It is taken from this Hadeeth - above what we have mentioned - that it is obligatory to take precautionary measures in prayer, because the Prophet ( may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him ) has explained the matter with a possible reason that happens often; The drowsy person does not know exactly what he is saying in his prayer.
We learn from this Hadith to urge achieving reverence and the presence of the heart in prayer so that the Muslim performs the prayer as complete as possible.
It is also taken from this Hadeeth that a Muslim should perform his duties with all his mental and psychological powers - especially - in prayer as it is the close bond between the slave and his Lord, and as it is the pillar of Islam. The presence of the heart is one of the necessities to have the prayer accepted by Allah the Almighty. The prayer requires the heart to pay attention to the remembrance of Allah whereas drowsiness is inattention, it makes no sense to combine the two oppsites in the act of worship that depends on the worshipper`s full awareness of what he does and says.
In order to avoid sleeping during the prayer, the worshipper should not eat too much. He who eats a lot, will sleep a lot, he who sleeps a lot, will miss many good things.
It is recommended for the Muslim - if he wants to pray a great deal - especially at night - to activate himself if he felt lazy, and to pray in an enlightened place, because darkness brings sleep and laziness - mostly.
