Is It Sinful To Stay Up Late?
Question:
Is it sinful to stay up late?
Answer:
Assalamu alaykum,
Thank you for your question.
Disobeying Parents
When one wants to understand if one’s parents should be obeyed, it is good to learn when they do not need to be obeyed. Parents do not need to be obeyed when their demands are in contravention of the shari`ah, extreme or abusive. Please see the details here:
https://seekers.flywheelstaging.com/answers/general-counsel/maintaining-family-ties-obeying-parents/
https://seekers.flywheelstaging.com/answers/hanafi-fiqh/when-may-parents-be-disobeyed-and-how/
Staying Up Late
Considering that staying up late is a bad habit, harmful, and contrary to the Prophetic Sunna, I would say that it could easily be counted as a sin to do this against one’s parents’ wishes. Well-meaning parents compromise with their children when they see how much they want to stay up. They might agree to a later bedtime, but if a child was to transgress that as well, it is just plain wrong. May we seek refuge in Allah from the evil or our own selves.
The Rank of Parents
Please see the link below and consider this hadith: Ibn Mas’ud narrated that a man asked the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, “What deeds are the best?“ The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: “1) To perform the (daily compulsory) prayers at their (early) stated fixed times, (2) to be good and dutiful to one’s own parents, (3) and to participate in Jihad in Allah’s Cause.” [Bukhari]
May Allah give you the best of this world and the next and make you a coolness for your parents’ eyes.
[Ustadha] Shazia Ahmad
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Ustadha Shazia Ahmad lived in Damascus, Syria for two years where she studied aqidah, fiqh, tajweed, tafseer, and Arabic. She then attended the University of Texas at Austin, where she completed her Masters in Arabic. Afterward, she moved to Amman, Jordan where she studied fiqh, Arabic, and other sciences. She recently moved back to Mississauga, Canada, where she lives with her family.
