In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum
Dear Friends
I pray that you are well.
The secret of the last 10 nights of Ramadhan is the hope of finding Laylatul Qadr, a night of a tremendous rank with Allah, a night which is better than a 1000 months. This is equivalent to about 83 years of worship. Unlike the previous nations, we don't have a long life span to perform this amount of worship. Allah, through His kindness to the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, and his Ummah, the last nation which Allah called the best nation raised to mankind, gives this night.
كُنتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ تَأْمُرُونَ بِٱلْمَعْرُوفِ وَتَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ ٱلْمُنكَرِ وَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِٱللَّـهِTruly impoverish is the one who does not have the desire to find this night.
"You are the best Ummah singled out for mankind: you enjoin what is right (ma'ruf), forbid what is wrong (munkar), and believe in Allah..." Qur'an AleImran 3:110
Allah has honored a particular time, certain people and certain places. Allah made Makkah unlike other places. As soon as you enter the city your good deeds are multiplied. Allah has made certain people unlike other people, like the ulama', the prophets and the awliya' (the friends of Allah). Part of being a slave of Allah is to honor what Allah has honored and considered great what Allah has made great.
Slavehood has a meaning of extreme neediness--extreme neediness to please Allah and to be close to Allah, extreme neediness for His forgiveness and mercy. Somebody who feels very needy for Allah's forgiveness and mercy pounds on the door of opportunity that Allah opens for them and looks for every opportunity to please Allah. Such a person deems them special and he honors them and give them their due out of his desire of winning Allah's pleasure and out of his neediness to be close to Allah.
So the first thing we should do is to honor this time and feel tremendous awe of this time. Whoever venerates and exalts the special symbols of Allah verily that is from the taqwa of the heart.
This night is not like any other night. The angels, throng upon throng, and the Spirit (angel Jibril alayhissalaam) descend on this night with the leave by their Lord from every command. So it is a tremendous night when the heavenly beings all coming down to earth. With them barakah and with them the blessings of Allah. If one was to see these beings one would see something tremendous. The angels and the mankind have close relationship. The angels pray for people's forgiveness, greet people in heaven when they enter Paradise.
The angels have a special love for people of iman and places of worship. They search for places of worship. The people, if they have love for the angels, they seek not to annoy them by praying with garlic and foul smelling substances or quarelling and arguing with each other. When the angels descend and the believers are in worship, without a doubt the angels pray for the people of iman.
This night is nothing but peace, a deliverance from evil and harm. Peace is the greeting of the angels in Paradise. It is the angels' greetings when they come to earth. This peace continues all the way through until the rising of dawn.
Allah revealed the entire surah (Qur'an Al-Qadr 97) about this night. Why? So we would do something about it. It is very special that we search for it earnestly in these last 10 nights. It means we worship in many nights hoping to find it. Allah has hidden this night. It is sunnah of Allah that He hides tremendous matters so that people will search for it.
Allah has hidden His friends around people. If we see people around us on the street, we don't know the friends of Allah, and if you are bad to them, hit them for example, you are in big trouble. Allah hides them so we would respect all people that perhaps we will respect those who are close to Allah also.
Allah has hidden His pleasure among the good deeds. We don't know which of our deeds is the most pleasing to Allah so we earnestly continue to do as many good deeds as possible.
He has hidden a blessed hour on Friday in which duas are answered. Why? So we can spend all or much of Friday in du'a hoping to find this hour when our du'as are answered.
He has hidden the middle prayer among the 5 prayers which is among the best of prayer, so we pray all 5 prayers hoping to find that special prayer.
He has hidden His Supreme Name among His Names which if called by He answers so we will call on Him with all His beautiful Names.
The Last Hour among the hours is hidden so we will constantly on the look out for that Hour and never be relaxed.
Things that are very precious aren't given away for cheap. They are sought after. This is the kindness of Allah to the believers. Imagine if we knew when laylatul qadr was, we won't be worshiping the same way as we do as we don't know. When we don't know when it is, we worship all the last 10 nights. We have many nights of prayer, reciting Qur'an, asking Allah, and crying. When it finishes we don't have the pride of saying, "Well I found it" because we don't know. We have the humility of asking, "O Allah, please accept my worship and let my worship be in laylatul qadr." Our deeds and earnestness increase by not knowing this night. Our extreme desire of this night and awe of this night increases when the matter is hidden.
The ulama' said, on this night sins are forgiven except the sins of people who have grudges against other people. So part of the worship of this night is forgiving people, not taking people to task even in the heart. Ramadhan is the month of generosity, not just with money, but also with the heart, overlooking people's faults, praying to Allah to forgive them and honor them. We enter this night with our hearts clean with regards to the creation of Allah. There is nobody who is free of need of forgiveness in this night. If we hope to be forgiven, we should forgive others and not hold grudges against people. If the thought of so-and-so comes in a negative light, we ask Allah to protect us from these thoughts and we pray for them for Allah to forgive them and to honor them.
The ihya of laylatul qadr means to bring the night to life. Ulama' says ihya means spending the night in worship. It is not a condition to not sleep but the goal is to spend most of the night in worship. No male should miss praying 'Isha and Fajr with the group, i.e. in the mosque. If you pray Fajr and 'Isha in a group, you have the reward of praying the entire night spending in worship. Have ritual bath and wear clean clothes is part of honoring the night.
The main worship is the prayer, reciting the Qur'an and making du'as. You pray as much as you are able at night. Do the maximum, push yourself and tax your body, but not tax it to the extent that it burns out. Everyone knows their own circumstance. Quality and quantity is the sunnah. The best thing to ask Allah is what He is asking from you--become firm in our slavehood, firm in acknowledging His Lordhood and rights of His Lordhood.
Aisha, Allah be pleased with her, said:
I asked the Messenger of Allah: 'O Messenger of Allah, if I know what night is the night of Qadr, what should I say during it?' He said: 'Say: O Allah, You are pardoning and You love to pardon, so pardon me.' (Allahumma innaka 'afuwwun tuhibbul 'afwa fa'fu 'annee). (Ahmad, ibn Majah, Tirmidhi).
This du'a brings the spirit what we are feeling on these last nights, the feeling that we are sinful. We need Allah's mercy and we are begging at His doors for His forgiveness. He is All Generous and Oft Forgiving. We have nothing more than having tremendous hope that Allah will forgive us. This is the spirit that we should have in our worship.
Another special worship is the worship of i'tikaf (spiritual retreat). The sunnah i'tikaf is to spend the last 10 days in mosque continuously. This is a tremendous act of worship. Every moment counts as worship. Ideal place for a woman to do i'tikaf is in her home. She can designate an area which she will stay in for that period and she doesn't leave the place other than using bathroom. Married woman should get the permission of her husband to perform the i'tikaf only because sexual intercourse is not allowed during i'tikaf. If one cannot do the continuous 10 days, one can intend and do i'tikaf for part of it or for some short intervals according to one's ability and circumstance.
May Allah give us tawfiq, forgive all our sins and help us find Laylatul Qadr. Ameen. Please don't forget us in all your du'as. Jazakallahu khairan.
And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam
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