1061/1 - Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Anyone of you remains in prayer as long as he is detained by prayer, and nothing prevents him from returning to his family but prayer.” [Narrated by Al-Bukhāri and Muslim]
1062/2 - He also reported that the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The angels invoke Allah’s blessings upon anyone of you as long as he remains in the place where he has prayed, unless he makes Hadath (sins or breaks his ablution). They say: O Allah, forgive him; O Allah, have mercy upon him.” [Narrated by Al-Bukhāri]
“Makes Hadath”: to commit a sin or to break his ablution.
1) They point out the merit of waiting for the next prayer after offering the present one. This falls under the Ribāt (stationing) for goodness. Indeed, waiting for an act of worship is in itself worship.
2) They give glad tidings that the angels invoke Allah’s forgiveness and mercy upon the one who prays and sits in the place where he has prayed while in a state of ablution. This is out of Allah’s mercy towards the believers.
What a pity on those who deprive themselves of the ways of goodness and rewards!
1063/3 - Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: “One night, the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) delayed the ‘Ishā’ (night) prayer till the middle of the night and then turned to face us after he had prayed and said: ‘Some people prayed and lay down, and you have been in prayer since you started waiting for it.’” [Narrated by Al-Bukhāri]
1) It shows the merit of delaying the ‘Ishā’ prayer, unless this is difficult for people.
2) It gives glad tidings to the believers by virtue of their worship, as they continue to perform it actively.
3) The time of the ‘Ishā’ prayer extends to the middle of the night and not beyond that. The period from the middle of the night to dawn is not a time for an obligatory prayer; rather, it is a time for Qiyām al-Layl and Tahajjud (voluntary night prayer), which is supererogatory. So, we should be careful not to delay the ‘Ishā’ prayer beyond the middle of the night, as some people commonly do.
We can know the time of the middle of the night by calculating the time from sunset (when the call to the Maghrib prayer is announced) to dawn (when the call to Fajr prayer is announced) and dividing it by two. When we add the result to the time of the Maghrib prayer, we get the middle of the night. For example:
If the Maghrib prayer becomes due at 7 pm and the Fajr prayer at 4 am; so the time between them is 9 hours. When we divide 9 by two, we get 4.5 hours. Then, we add the 4.5 hours to the 7 pm, and thus the middle of the night occurs at 11:30 pm.
Hence, the middle of the night is not necessarily at 12:00 am, as some people believe.