I recall very well, my night time suffering, being awoken suddenly in the darkness at almost the same time. At first, I would instinctively reach my hand and pull my phone towards me and foolishly act as though knowing the time would somehow lessen the discomfort. Longing for 10 p.m. or 11 p.m. a night still young enough to enjoy and drift off again, I was annoyed and disappointed. I always dreaded the unsettling moment when my eyes would witness the hour and the minute, 3 a.m. sometimes, 3:12 a.m. others, 3:30 a.m. often, 3:16 a.m. occasionally.
It dragged on for quite a while as my little fetus grew inside me. My second pregnancy was quite unusual in many ways. As I continued to stir in the silence of every night, I did not care to look at the time anymore, not the menacing minutes nor the witching hour. I just tried to disregard the eerie unfolding and did.
The concept of the “witching hour” varies across cultures, with differing interpretations not only of its meaning, but also of the specific time or period during which it is believed to occur.
In Islam, as soon as the sun sets and the night conceals us with darkness engulfing us and spreading all around us, we are instructed by the prophet Muhammad (s) to take action:
It is narrated from Jaabir ibn ‘Abd-Allah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:
“When the wings of the night spread – or when evening comes – keep your children in, for the devils come out at that time. Then when part of the night has passed, let them go. And close the doors and mention the name of Allah, for the shaytaan (devil) does not open a closed door. And tie up your waterskins and mention the name of Allah, and cover your vessels and mention the name of Allah, even if you only put something over them, and extinguish your lamps. “1
We are also asked to keep our children close to us too.
Muslim (2013) also narrated from Jaabir (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:
“Do not let your animals and children go out when the sun has set, until the first part of the night is over, for the devils come out when the sun sets, until the first part of the night is over.” 2
The first part of the night is feared the most as the spreading of the night facilitates the movement of the devils. It is an enticing time for them as the welcomed darkness creeps. The first part of the night also coincides with the fourth prayer of the day “the Maghrib prayer”. Usually when the call for prayer is made, the “Athaan” , the devils flee the area frantically.3 Regardless of the time of the day, it is advised to avoid running around during the call for prayer. It is also recommended to wait and listen to the call for prayer as opposed to rushing to the bathroom to perform the ablution (wuduu) which is washing yourself before prayer as the devils are in motion at that time.
With that being said, one can understand that the arrival of dark and the call for Maghrib prayer would be somewhat of a double threat.
Growing up in a muslim household, we were taught during the early night to cease any active play until well after the Isha prayer (last prayer of the day) was called. We were warned to avoid running and asked to relax and cool down. Islam treats that time with caution and it may coincide (depending on season and location) with the “witching hour” that also affects babies and results in eternal never-ending crying spells.
In literary tradition, the “witching hour” denotes a period of intensified supernatural presence, most often in the deepest hours of the night—or according to later folklore, around three in the morning. It is understood as a threshold in which the boundary between the visible world and the unseen grows fragile, permitting forces beyond ordinary human perception to emerge and make themselves felt.
In other words, it is a time when the occult, the supernatural, the unseen, the ghosts and the spirits are at their peak performance.
Shakespeare also referred to it in his play “Hamlet” but for him, it started at midnight.
Tis now the very witching time of night, (380) When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out. Contagion to this world: 4
Christian tradition views 3 a.m. as the witching hour because it is believed that Christ died at 3 p.m. The inverse of that is 3 a.m. and it is believed that the devil is mocking the Holy Trinity and Christ at this hour. It is said that many rituals and blasphemous acts are comitted during this time as a form of a favour to Satan to please him.
Science views this hour as a fragile one as the body is shifting from the deepest stages of sleep where most bodily functions stop, heart rate lowers and limbs stop moving to a lighter stage of sleep. This shift makes you susceptible to waking up, and if you do, you are likely to feel extremely unsettled and anxious. 5
These essays will frequently quote Einstein’s third law of motion “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction” to shed light on the cause-effect relationship between Allah and Satan and his evil forces. The essays will prove how Allah opposes Satan and Satan attempts to oppose Allah. A classic example of how Allah opposes Satan is with the witching hour.
Ironically, in Islam, the dreaded hour is actually a very blessed time where Allah is closest to the world. The following hadeeth explains how.
Abu Huraira narrated that Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) (p.b.u.h) said,
“Our Lord, the Blessed, the Superior, comes every night down on the nearest Heaven to us when the last third of the night remains, saying: “Is there anyone to invoke Me, so that I may respond to invocation? Is there anyone to ask Me, so that I may grant him his request? Is there anyone seeking My forgiveness, so that I may forgive him?”
This time of night is superior to other times and is believed to begin approximately from 2 a.m. until the dawn prayer is called and that could be as early as 3:30 a.m. depending on the season and location. The main point is that it overlaps with the “devil’s hour”.
The beauty of Islam is that Allah meets the evil forces of malice and mockery with an equal and opposite force of mercy, grace and peace. The advent of Islam and the revelation of the Qur’an may have certainly been of course as a guidance for humanity, but also as an opposing force for the evil that was spreading.
The Qur’an says in Surah Al Anbiya, verse 107,
“And We have not sent you, [O Muhammad], except as a mercy to the worlds.” 6
It should be noted that “worlds” in the plural form is addressing all of his creation. It is a universal mercy that encompasses all and everything.
It goes without saying that Allah the almighty may have communicated with the devils using inversions too. With his descent at that hour he was actually communicating ascent to the world of inversions (that Issa (as) was saved). He may have been mocking the devil and his offsprings as an equal and opposite reaction. However, only Allah himself knows the true wisdom and meaning behind everything He does. We do not know if Allah began descending to the lowest heaven with Islam and prophet Muhammad (s) or if he always did that before Islam.
I believe there is a huge amount of communication occuring where Allah addresses Satan and his offsprings and responds to them implicitely. You just have to know how to read between the lines.
The beauty of Allah’s descent to the lowest heaven during the “Devil’s hour” means he has met that hour with opposition and opportunity (to pray and ask him for anything) and might mean he is sending us glad-tidings that Issa was saved. W Allahu A’lam.
With that, I was able to let go of my disturbed nights and feel blessed rather than cursed.
- https://islamqa.info/en/answers/125922/when-the-wings-of-the-night-spread-keep-your-children-in-for-the-devils-come-out-at-that-time ↩︎
- https://sunnah.com/muslim:2013a ↩︎
- https://sunnah.com/bukhari:608#:~:text=Allah’s%20Messenger%20(%EF%B7%BA)%20said%2C,not%20to%20hear%20the%20Adhan. ↩︎
- https://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/hamlet/soliloquies/witchingtime.html ↩︎
- https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/12148-sleep-basics ↩︎
- https://myislam.org/surah-al-anbiya/ayat-107/ ↩︎
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