Sleep during Ramadan

Ibn al-Qayyim devoted a chapter to sleep and wakefulness in the book "Prophetic Medicine," in which he encourages us to reflect on the sleep of the Prophet ﷺ, which he describes as the most balanced and the most beneficial for the body, the organs, and the body's faculties.

Indeed, the Prophet ﷺ would sleep at the beginning of the night, then at the start of the second half of the night he would get up, clean his teeth with the siwak, perform his ablutions, and pray for as long as he was able. In this way, the body, the limbs, and the faculties receive their share of sleep and rest, as well as their share of exertion, earning a great reward—and this is the sleep of soundness of heart and body, of this life and the next.

The Prophet ﷺ slept only as much as was necessary. Indeed, the month of Ramadan is a month of worship during which a Muslim should take advantage of the opportunity to gather and race toward good deeds, whether by reading the Qur'an, multiplying supplications, prayers, or acts of charity. Therefore, reducing sleep time is very important, and it is essential to occupy oneself with worship as the Prophet ﷺ did.

We must strive to limit our sleep time and sleep only for the purpose of rest, so that we may better worship our Lord. It is true that fasting weakens the body and brings on drowsiness, but we must fight against it. No ideal sleep duration can be given, since many factors come into play, such as age, sex, country, or climate, but as a general rule, we should remember to sleep only as much as is necessary.

The Prophet ﷺ would sleep on his right side, remembering Allah until his eyes closed, without his body being full of food and drink, and without his bedding being a thick mattress, and he would sometimes lie down placing his hand under his cheek.

Normal sleep consists of holding back the functioning of the physiological forms that are the faculties of movement and will. When these faculties refrain from moving, the body relaxes. The purpose of sleep is to relax, not to waste time or to save time in the sense of trying to avoid fasting by sleeping all morning, then until Asr, so that only the time between Asr and Maghrib remains of the fasting day. But what is the point of fasting, when Allah gives us the opportunity to race toward good? It is true that when a person sleeps seeking to worship Allah by staying up at night, this becomes an act of worship; however, there are other acts of worship better than this one, such as reading the Qur'an, thinking of one's brother, giving charity, or making supplications.

So when the faculties refrain from moving the body, it relaxes and sleep comes. The humors and vapors that break down and disperse as a result of movement and wakefulness accumulate in the brain, which is the seat of these faculties, and thus it becomes numbed and relaxes: this is normal sleep, whose purpose is rest.

Can I give you a precise path to follow regarding sleep? No. Each person knows their own body, knows the moments when they need to rest. Of course, there is abnormal sleep, caused by an illness or an event, such that the humors dominate the brain in a way that does not allow wakefulness to disperse, or when abundant moist vapors rise, as in the case of being full of food and drink—as happens in Ramadan, when one is tempted to sleep more. However, one must be very careful to sleep only in order to rest, and not sleep in order to avoid the fasting day.