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I have heard it said that on this night one should ask, and ask for Allah’s bounties to one’s heart’s content, but, above all, one should ask for forgiveness of all past sins
By Rakhshanda Jalil
While the entire period of Ramzan is a time of fasting and praying (ibadat), there is one night that is especially special for Muslims. For, it is believed that there is one night when Allah first revealed the first verses of the Holy Quran to Muhammad through the angel Gabriel. Muhammad was then 40 years old and unlettered.
This most blessed of all nights falls on a night that no one can pinpoint with any certainty. Yet, the faithful who have prayed through the dark watches of the night seeking communion with Allah, say that the heart always knows when communion has been reached.
Shab-e-Qadr or Lailat ul-Qadr, understood variously to mean the Night of Honour and Dignity, the Night of Destiny or the Night of Power and Majesty, can fall on any of the odd nights in the last ten days of the month of Ramzan, i.e. on 21st, 23rd, 25th and 27th of Ramzan. Since no one knows which of these four days is the night, one prays and meditates on all of these alternate nights, a bit like shooting in the dark and hoping to hit the target!
Unlike other anniversaries, Shab-e-Qadr is a solemn occasion – a time to reflect and pray, to celebrate the arrival of the Message from Allah — not through a feast for the senses but through abstinence and worship.
Some go into retreat (i’tikaf), spending all their time in a mosque for the last ten days of Ramzan; others take as much time out as possible on these special nights for prayer and the study of the Quran. For this special night, the Quran tells its readers: ‘The Night of Majesty is better than a thousand months.’ (Chapter 97, Al-Qadr).
Dinner is usually early all through Ramzan and during Shab-e-Qadr especially, so as the faithful want to be well prepared for a long night of prayer. An elaborate late dinner tends to sit heavily in the stomach so during these few days of Ramzan people tend to go easy on the feasting that follows the fasting of other days.
The idea is to have a light meal and stay up as late as one can. Some don’t sleep at all, preferring to offer late-night prayers, reciting verses from the Pansura, reading from the Quran and Hadith till it is time to eat sehri, offer the pre-dawn fajir prayers. By then the night has slipped away and a new day is ready to dawn.
I have heard it said that on this night one should ask, and ask for Allah’s bounties to one’s heart’s content, but, above all, one should ask for forgiveness of all past sins.
The Prophet’s wife, Aisha, is said to have asked him: “O Messenger of Allah! If I knew which night is Lailat ul-Qadr, what should I say during it?”
The Prophet instructed her to say, Allahumma innaka Tuhibbul Afwa Fa’fu A’nne. (“O Allah! You are forgiving, and you love forgiveness. So forgive me.”)ShabeQadr… ShabeQadar Mubarak…