• 8 rakats divided into 4 prayers of 2 raka'ats each like morning prayer.
This is related by at-Tabarani and al-Bazzar. Anas quoted Allah’s Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), as saying:
• "Prayer in my mosque is equal to ten thousand prayers [elsewhere]. And prayer in the Sacred Mosque is equivalent to one hundred thousand prayers [elsewhere]. And prayer in the battlefield is equivalent to one million prayers [elsewhere]. And what is more than all of that is two rak`ahs performed by a servant [of Allah] during the middle of the night." .
It is best to delay this prayer to the last third portion of the night. Abu Hurairah quoted that the Messenger of Allah, as saying:
• "Our Lord descends to the lowest heaven during the last third of the night, inquiring: 'Who will call on Me so that I may respond to him? Who is asking something of Me so I may give it to him? Who is asking for My forgiveness so I may forgive him?"
Abu Hurairah quoted the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), as saying:
• "May Allah bless the man who gets up during the night to pray and wakes up his wife and who, if she refuses to get up, sprinkles water on her face. And may Allah bless the woman who gets up during the night to pray and wakes up her husband and who, if he refuses, sprinkles water on his face."
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said:
• "If a man wakes his wife and prays during the night or they pray two rak`ahs together, they will be recorded among those (men and women) who (constantly) make remembrance of Allah."
Abu ad-Darda' quoted the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) as saying:
• "Whoever goes to his bed with the intention of getting up and praying during the night, but, being overcome by sleep, fails to do that, he will have recorded for him what he has intended, and his sleep will be reckoned as a charity (an act of mercy) for him from his Lord."
Salman al-Farsi quoted the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) as saying:
• "Observe the night prayer, it was the practice of the righteous before you and it brings you closer to your Lord and it is penance for evil deeds and erases the sins and repels disease from the body."
Abu Hurayra (Allah be pleased with him) reports that the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace be upon him, his family, and companions) said,
• “The best prayer after the obligatory prayers is the night prayer.”[Muslim]
It is reported from Hazrat Anas R.A. that he heard our Beloved Nabee Sallallahoo Alayhi Wasallam say:
• "Two Raka'ats of prayer performed in the middle of the night are dearer to me than the entire world and everything therein."