We thank Allah the Almighty for guiding us as Muslims and made it possible for us to be able to observe the Ramadan Fasting up to this day. Now that we have entered the last ten days of the Holy month, serious Muslims worldwide have already laced their boots to embark on vigorous prayer and worship in all the remaining ten days; one of which is the Night of Qadr i.e. The Night of Decree or The Power Night.
Allah the Almighty says:
"Verily, We have sent it (this Quran) down in the night of Al Qadr (Decree). And what will make you know what the night of Al Qadr ( Decree) is? The night of Al Qadr (Decree) is better than a thousand months ( i.e. worshipping Allah in that night is better than worshipping Him a thousand months, i.e. 83 years and 4 months). Therein descend the angels and the Ruh (Angel Gabriel) by Allah's Permission with all Decrees. (All that night), there is peace (and Goodness from Allah to His believing slaves) until the appearance of dawn. [Quran - 97]
The quranic citation above clearly informs us without any ambiguity the importance of worshipping Allah on the night of Qadr. It is a night that every living Muslim wishes to stand before his maker, supplicates Him, and seeks for better days ahead. Since Allah decrees whatever is ahead of his servants on that night, it is therefore apparent that whoever is fortunate to be alive on that night and be in prayers crying to Allah in submissiveness with sincere heart, and being repentant as well as remorseful of his sins, Allah would surly listen to him and decrees better life for him. Because of the special nature and importance of this night, Allah has intentionally concealed the exact day from Muslims. This is because Allah in his inestimable wisdom wants people to strive in achieving something better in life. Had Allah the Almighty made the Qadr night specifically known to Muslims, many of them would just have spent their times on worldly lives and busying themselves on other things which may even be against the doctrines of Islam and just rush to the mosque on the Qadr night and worship Allah in an effort to get Allah's mercy and all the good things that He bestows on the rightful believers on that night as mentioned in the above quotation. If Allah had made the Qadr night known, then the truthful, serious and God-fearing believer as well as the easy-going Muslim and hypocritical ones who do not worship Allah properly or at all would have gotten the same decree blessings from Allah on the Qadr night just as the former would have achieved. By concealing the exact day on which the Qadr night will fall, Allah in his infinite wisdom wants His unimaginable blessings and mercy on the night of Qadr to be bestowed onto only the truthful, obedient and deserving believers since they are those who would forgo sleep, business and other worldly pleasures, entertainments and enjoyments and strive in all the last ten days of the Ramadan month praying to Allah and searching for the Qadr night.
It seems Allah has concealed many things from us because He really wants us to be on our toes as far as worshiping Him is concerned. For example He conceals His pleasure from us in all our good deeds so that we will strive in all of them. He also conceals His most beloved servants (awliyaa) so that we respect all believers. He conceals the time of His acceptance of our supplications so that we will strive in all our supplications. Further, He conceals his greatest names so that we mention all of them. Again, he conceals the time of death so that we will be conscious of Him all the time. He has concealed the exact day of the Qadr night so that we would double our efforts in the whole month of Ramadan or at least in the last ten days. He has concealed the Qadr night so that He could test the seriousness of the non- serious Muslims. The seriously interested believer will search for the night of Qadr at late night and in the early hours until he or she attains it, regardless of the hardship.
This "concealing methodology" adopted by Allah the Almighty in awarding the deserving Muslims on the Qadr night is indeed the best way of giving something worthwhile to the deserving person and denying the hypocritical and lackadaisical ones. We all know that before universities and other institutions award degrees and PhD honours to deserving students, well designed examinations are conducted with strict supervision and invigilation, and it is only the serious minded students who were able to spend much time to study and prepare for such examinations very well come out successful and are awarded their respective credentials and accreditations. In other words, if various educational institutions do not conceal their examination questions from students, every nincompoop and pig headed student would be able to pass and take home valuable degrees and honours which they do not really deserve. In the same way Allah does not want to shower his special mercy, forgiveness and rewards onto the undeserving Muslims, thus his decision to conceal the Qadr night from us.
In an effort to know or fish out the exact day of the Qadr night which Allah in His immeasurable wisdom has concealed, some scholars have conjectured the day. While some scholars say the Qadr night falls on the first day of Ramadan, others say it is on the seventh day, and some postulate that it falls on the nineteenth day. All these opinions are not based on any sound proof. The most popular consensus among scholars who support their claims with sound hadiths i.e. sayings of Prophet Muhammad ( May Peace be Upon Him) argue that the Qadr night falls on the last ten days of Ramadan, specifically on the odd-numbered nights.
In a report by Al Bukhari, the Messenger of Allah; Prophet Muhammad (May Peace be Upon Him) said; "Seek it (the Qadr Night) on the odd nights of the last ten days of Ramadan". In another hadith, the Prophet (May Peace be Upon Him) said," Seek the night in the last ten days, and if any of you is weak, or cannot observe it, he should not miss the remaining seven days.(Muslim). In fact, there are other authentic hadiths on the Qadr night, and one basic point in all of them is that, the night is found in the last ten days of Ramadan. Though many Muslims have strong feeling that the night falls on the twenty seventh day but since that is not for sure, Muslims should just have to attach extra attention to all the last ten days without being selective so that they would be very convinced that the day is not missed out. It is recommended to seek the night and spend it diligently in devotion including night Sunnah prayers (Tahajjud), recitation of the Holy Quran and supplication. In a hadith narrated by Abu Huraira, Prophet Muhammad (May Peace be Upon Him) said; "He who spends the night praying on the Qadr night i.e. Night of Power, as a sign of faith in Allah and seeking rewards from Allah, all his previous sins will be forgiven"( Al Bukhari and Muslim).
Having known all the above bounties regarding the Qadr night, the million dollar question is "how prepared are we as Muslims in striving to find this night?". Unfortunately, some Muslims do not live up to expectation during the last ten days of Ramadan. They consider them as just ordinary nights without making any efforts to maximize their acts of worship during this divine period. Some Muslims are found during the last ten days of Ramadan loitering around and spending the nights by indulging in unproductive activities and excessive socialization. Some of the womenfolk are made to spend too much of their precious time in the kitchen cooking varieties of food instead of making them reserve energy and fully participate in prayer and worship. Also because Eid'l Fitr (i.e. the Festival to mark the end of fasting) is near, some Muslims are busily found shopping for the festival while Muslim tradesmen and women like tailors, seamstresses, hairdressers just to mention a few, spend the whole nights working for money which is just a transient worldly pleasure without having time to supplicate Allah, ask for His bounties, mercy, and forgiveness which would be of benefit to them in this ephemeral world and more importantly in the hereafter. Other Muslims who want to show off spend the very last days and nights of Ramadan renovating their homes for the impending Eid Festival forgetting that death can deny them the opportunity of staying in those houses before the Eid.
In an effort to remind and motivate Muslims who are not serious with the acts of devotion and prayer during the last ten days of Ramadan, I would like to repeat the analogy I cited in my previous article about how businessmen, students and other professionals prepare themselves when they are in their respective bumper seasons and how Muslims should comport themselves during the blessed month of Ramadan.
We all know the fact that businessmen, vendors, grocers, and all sales professionals have a specific season that they prepare and work hard for. When their season for sales arrives, they set themselves aside, excuse themselves from all non-essential engagements and focus solely on the season at hand. Moreover, they pay less attention to eating and sleeping properly because they remain so absorbed in their trade and stay focused on how to take advantage of their particular season in the best manner. These people value this time and embrace hard work because their chance to make huge profits comes only once a year, after which they know they can afford to relax a little.
The same can be said about students when examination season arrives. We see a drastic change in the lives of serious students when examination time sets in. Some of them are seen totally cut off from nearly all habitual or social activities and acquaintances. During examination seasons, serious students adopt lots of strategies like drinking coffee, submerging their feet in buckets of water, chewing cola nuts, etc just to prevent them from sleeping so that they could have much time to focus on their books and make sure that they pass their impending exams with distinction.
Just like how businessmen, students and other professionals maximize their preparation and become more focused, vigilant and committed before and during their seasons as above analogized, Muslims are expected to endeavour and put in more effort in the act of worship and prayer in all the days of the Ramadan month and more particularly in the last ten days during which the Qadr night falls, and when Allah the Almighty bestows on the believers tremendous rewards, mercy forgiveness and issues out His decrees on all humans.
I would like to conclude by asking that if we put in much efforts and pay serious attention on worldly achievements and pursuits which we may not live long to enjoy them, is it not more mandatory and befitting on ourselves as mortals who can leave this world anytime soon or later to focus on deeds that Allah has commanded us to do and which will be of everlasting benefit and pleasure for us in the next world where we would die no more?. Dear Muslims, do not these blessed last ten days of Ramadan pass by when you have not found yourself standing before Allah on the Qadr Night.
May Allah have mercy on us and open his doors of forgiveness for us. May He make it possible for us to be alive in all the last ten days of Ramadan and may He decree goodness for us. We pray to Allah to give us long lives so that we would be among those who would be observing hundreds of Ramadans to come. Ameen.
The author; ALHAJI IBRAHIM YAHAYA – YABRE, is a senior English Lecturer at Academic British Centre, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He was formerly the Headmaster of Nana Khadijah Islamic Girls' Secondary School, In Agona Swedru, Ghana.
Email – alhaji0709@yahoo.com
