During [every] day and night, Ibn ‘Ataa would [only] sleep for two hours.
Category: Words of Wisdom
In prayer and supplication until the morning
Every day, my father would read a seventh [of the Qur.aan], and he would take a very light sleep after ‘Ishaa. He would then [awake and] stand [the night] in prayer and supplicate until the morning.
Divide the night into thirds
Abu Bakr al-Anbaaree said that al-Imaam, al-Haafith Abu ‘Ubayd would divide the night into thirds; so he would pray a third of it, and sleep a third of it, and author books [during] a third of it.
Making the most of your time
I never thought anyone could [still] be asleep at daybreak.
The love of money
No-one honours the dirham (money), except that Allaah humiliates him.
Poverty and hardship
So ‘Abdur-Razzaaq asked about him, and was told he had not eaten anything for the last three days.
Honouring the guest
I have not eaten my fill for thirty years, except for when I had a guest.
Just two or three almonds
[Regarding the Imaam], Abu ‘Abdillaah al-Bukhaaree, a day would come and quite possibly he would not [even] eat a piece of flat bread, and instead sometimes [just] eat two or three almonds.
A daily diet of bread
The diet of al-’Alaa ibn Ziyaad every day was [just] a loaf of bread.
In control of one’s hunger
[When] I left Koofah for Makkah, I ate [some] food in Koofah, and the next [time I had something to eat was] in Makkah.