The night prayer of our Salaf

Jaabir, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that he heard the Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, say: “There is an hour during the night in which no Muslim individual will ask Allah for good in this world and the next without His giving it to him - and this applies to every night.” [Muslim]
A servant of Abu Rayhaan, may Allah be pleased with him, who was one of the companions of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, said: “Once Abu Rayhaan, may Allah be pleased with him, returned from a battle and had dinner with his family and then requested water so that he could perform ablution. He then entered his praying area and started praying the optional night prayer (Qiyaam) and continued to pray until the call for the Fajr prayer was made. His wife then came to him and said: ‘You were exhausted fighting and immediately after that you spent the entire night praying. Do I not have any rights over you?’ He, may Allah be pleased with him, replied: ‘Indeed you do, but I was so overwhelmed that I did not realise that the night had finished.’ She asked: ‘What was it that preoccupied your mind all night long?’ He, may Allah be pleased with him, replied: ‘I was thinking about the pleasures of Paradise and its description until I heard the call for the Fajr prayer.’”
Is’haaq ibn Ibraheem At-Tabari, may Allah have mercy upon him, said: “I never saw anyone fearing for himself the punishment (of the Hereafter) or having the hope of being amongst those who would be rewarded more than Al-Fudhayl, may Allah have mercy upon him. His recitation during the prayer was slow and he sounded gloomy - as if he was conversing with someone by his recitation. Whenever he read a verse that mentioned Paradise, he would repeat it and supplicate to Allah to admit him into it. His night prayer was very long and he had a mat in the mosque to sleep on whenever he felt sleepy. He would begin praying and whenever he felt sleepy he would lie down for a while, then wake up and resume praying. If he again felt drained, he would lie down again. This continued all night long until it was time for the Fajr prayer.”
Rajaa’ ibn Muslim Al-‘Abdi, may Allah have mercy upon him, said: “We used to spend the night in the house of ‘Ajradah Al-‘Amiyyah, may Allah have mercy upon her, and she would pray all night long. In the last part of the night, we would hear her say (aloud) in an extremely heartrending tone: ‘O Allah! The devout worshippers have spent all night praying to please You in the hope of being  worthy of Your Mercy and Forgiveness, so I ask You to make me among those who rush towards You in obedience and to make my rank (in the Hereafter) among those who are near to You, and to make me among your righteous slaves. Indeed, You are the Greatest, the Most Merciful, and You are indeed the Most Generous.’ She would then prostrate and cry and supplicate until it was time to pray the Fajr prayer. She did this for thirty consecutive years.”
Moosa ibn Tareef, may Allah have mercy upon him, said: “The servant of ‘Ali ibn Bakkaar, may Allah have mercy upon him, would lay down a mat for him to sleep on, touch it with his hand, and say: ‘I swear by Allah that you are soft and comfortable, but also I swear by Allah that I will not sleep on you tonight!’ Having prayed all night long, he would pray the Fajr prayer with the same ablution as that of his ‘Ishaa’ Prayer.”
Ibn Sa’d, may Allah have mercy upon him, said describing Sulaymaan At-Taymi, may Allah have mercy upon him: “He was one of the most devout worshippers. He was a scholar in the science of Hadith and was a trustworthy and honest man. He would pray all night long with the same ablution of the ‘Ishaa’ prayer. He and his son would go around to the different mosques praying in each one of them until it was time to pray the Fajr prayer.”
Al-Hasan Al-Karaabeesi, may Allah have mercy upon him, said: “I spent many nights at the house of Imaam Ash-Shaafi’i, may Allah have mercy upon him, and he would pray one third of the night. However, he never recited more than 50 verses during his prayer, because whenever he would recite a verse that mentions the Mercy of Allah, he would ask Allah to be merciful with him, and whenever he would recite a verse that mentions the punishment of Allah, he would ask Allah to protect him from such punishment.”
Umm Sa’eed, may Allah have mercy upon her, said: “We had a short fence separating our house from that of Daawood At-Taa’i’s, and I used to hear a constant droning all night long. At times he would sit to recite parts of the Qur’an just before the time of the Fajr prayer, and I felt as if he enjoyed all the pleasures of the world by his recitation.”
Sa’eed ibn ‘Aamir, may Allah have mercy upon him, said: “Ayyoob As-Sikhtiyaani, may Allah have mercy upon him, used to pray all night long and would conceal this from people. When it was close to the time of the Fajr prayer, he would raise his voice as if he had just woken up.”
Ibn Shubrumah, may Allah have mercy upon him, said: “Zubayd, may Allah have mercy upon him, used to divide the night into three parts between him and his two sons. He would pray the first third of the night and then wake his first son up to pray, and if his son was sluggish or sleepy and could not wake up, he would pray his share. When it was time for his second son to pray, he would wake him up, and if he was sluggish or sleepy and could not wake up, he would pray his share as well.”
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The supplications of our pious predecessors
Ubaadah ibn As-Saamit, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that he heard the Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, say: “Whenever a Muslim supplicates to Allah, He accepts his supplication, or averts any affliction from him, or saves its equivalent in reward for him until the Day of Account – as long as he does not supplicate for something that is sinful or something that may break the ties of kinship.” [At-Tirmithi]
Jaabir, may Allah be pleased with him, said: “Some of the residents of Koofah complained to (the Caliph) ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, about (his governor of ‘Iraq) Sa’d, may Allah be pleased with him, claiming that he did not know how to lead his people in prayer properly. In response to this, Sa’d, may Allah be pleased with him, said: ‘I pray in the exact manner I saw the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, pray. I make the first two Rak’ahs longer than the last two in the ‘Ishaa’ prayer’. Upon hearing this, ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, said: ‘This is what I thought your practice would be.’ After that ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, sent some people to Koofah to inquire about the situation. Whenever they entered a mosque and asked the congregation there, they would praise Sa’d, may Allah be pleased with him. When they reached a mosque where the tribe of Banu ‘Abs lived, one man said: ‘As you have asked us about Sa’d, we will tell you the truth: he is unfair when judging between people and does not justly distribute (war booty) and never participates in battles.’ Upon hearing this, Sa’d, may Allah be pleased with him, supplicated to Allah saying: ‘O Allah! If this man is lying, make him go blind, make him live to an old age and expose him to temptations.’ Some Muslims later narrated that: ‘Indeed we saw this man running after young girls in the streets, harassing them. He would say: ‘Indeed the supplication of Sa’d against me has been realised.’”
Ibn al-Munkadir, may Allah be pleased with him, said: “Once, I was sitting in the mosque next to the pulpit supplicating in the middle of the night. There was a man standing next to one of the pillars of the mosque covering his face with a mask. I overheard him saying whilst supplicating: ‘O my Lord! Drought has severely affected Your slaves, and I adjure You to bring down rain upon us!’ It was not but a short while that a cloud came with rain.”
Ibn al-Munkadir was keen to know all the righteous people and thus decided to try to find out who this man was. He said: “I said to myself: ‘There is a pious man in the city who I do not know’, so when he concluded his prayer, I followed him until he reached the house of Anas, and entered it. I went back, and after I prayed the Fajr prayer I went to his house and knocked his door. When he opened the door, I asked him: ‘I overheard you last night supplicating and I saw what resulted from your supplication. Would you allow me to provide your sustenance so that you can concentrate on your worship?’ He replied: ‘No, but I have a favor to ask of you. Please do not mention what you saw to anyone until I die, and do not come back again, because people would notice and my matter would become publicly known’ I said to him: ‘But where can I meet you?’ He replied: ‘In the mosque’” Ibn al-Munkadir, may Allah be pleased with him, never mentioned what he saw to anyone until the man died.
Ibn Wahb, may Allah be pleased with him,  said: “I was told that the man moved out of the house he was living in to another location which no one knew about, so the owners of the house from whom he was renting the house said: ‘May Allah forgive Ibn al-Munkadir who forced this righteous man to leave our house.’”
‘Abbaas Ad-Doori, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that ‘Ali ibn Abu Fazaarah, may Allah be pleased with him, said: “My mother was handicapped for twenty years. One day she said to me: ‘Go to Ahmad ibn Hanbal and request him to supplicate for me to be cured.’ I went to him, may Allah have mercy upon him, and knocked on his door, so he asked me what my need was. I told him that my mother was requesting that he supplicates for her to be cured. He replied in an angry tone: ‘I am in greater need for someone to supplicate for me.’ As I was about to head back home, an old lady came out and said: ‘He started supplicating for your mother after you had left.’ When I reached home, my mother was at my reception (i.e., Allah had cured her).”
Sulaym ibn ‘Aamir, may Allah be pleased with him, stated: “I entered upon Al-Jarraah (before a battle) and he raised his hands up and started supplicating, and the leaders of the army did likewise, so I did the same. He supplicated for a long time, and then said to me: ‘Do you know what we were doing?’ I said: ‘No, but I saw you supplicating earnestly, so I raised my hands with you.’ He then said: ‘We were supplicating to Allah to grant us martyrdom.’” Sulaym ibn ‘Aamir, may Allah be pleased with him, then said: “I swear by Allah that every single one of them was martyred during this battle.”
Bilaal ibn Ka’b, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that some young men said to Abu Muslim al-Khawlaani, may Allah be pleased with him: “Supplicate to Allah to enable us to catch this antelope.” He, may Allah be pleased with him, supplicated to Allah and they were able to catch it immediately.
Article source: http://www.islamweb.net/emainpage/