I was just reading about sleep patterns and cycles and how we can improve them. One of the things that can impact us falling asleep nicely are social factors such as anger with family members, jealousy with colleagues, anxiety with neighbours and of course many more every day life factors. “The solution to sleep, therefore is to sleep with a clean heart”. Which is obviously easily said than done, but if we attach the reward of Jannah to this very difficult task of forgiving others before we fall asleep, we maybe able to achieve this.

The Prophet ﷺ said: “Whoever does not argue when he is in the wrong will have a home built for him on the edge of Jannah. Whoever avoids it when he is in the right will have a home built for him in the middle of Jannah. And whoever improves his own character, a home will be built for him in the highest part of Jannah”. (Tirmidhi)

I really like this Hadith because I struggle with letting things go sometimes. So I may not say anything when someone has upset me or said the wrong thing, but it will stay with me for days, and I’ll keep thinking about it. I love this Hadith because of the last part, the part the Prophet ﷺ mentions “whoever improves his own character” – this is for people like me, who need to stop thinking about the wrong of others and think about the right I can do. I shouldn’t let the meanness of someone else bring out the worst in me, but work towards coming out of such experiences with a better heart.

This very famous story is a prime example of how this kind of daily practice can get us Jannah (and with Allah’s Mercy):

The Prophet ﷺ was sitting with a group of his companions in the Masjid and said “A man will now enter who is from the people of Jannah”, and a companion walked in. Abdullah Ibn Amr Ibn al-As (ra) wanted to find out what was so special about this man, so he asked the man if he could stay at his house for three days. The man allowed him to stay. Abdullah noticed that the man didn’t do anything out of the ordinary: he didn’t fast all the time; he slept some of the night and prayed some of the night and so on. So after the three days, Abdullah told him the real reason why he requested to stay with him, and he asked how it was that he could be from the people of Jannah. The man couldn’t think of anything, but after a bit he said “every night, before I go to sleep, I forgive whoever has wronged me. I remove any bad feelings towards anyone from my heart”. (Musnad Aḥmad)

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