From seconds to years to millennia, time is a fluid concept in Islam that I often puzzle over. During the final 10 days of Ramadan falls a night that the Quran describes as being 'better than 1,000 months', which would translate into 83.3 years in modern time measurement.
Laylat al-Qadr, the Night of Power or Destiny, is the climax of the Islamic month of fasting, commemorating the night when Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, received his first divine revelation through the Archangel Gabriel in 610 AD. These revelations continued for more than two decades and form the Quran, meaning 'Recitation' in English, which is a composition of God's message to humanity.
Many Muslims around the world will spend Laylat al-Qadr in prayer and quiet reflection, some secluding themselves in mosques in devotion to God, hoping to seek the unparalleled benefit of a night when sincere worshippers are forgiven all sins and angels descend on earth.
Last year, while visiting Cairo, I strived for the first time to participate in Laylat al-Qadr, most-widely believed to fall on the 27th night of Ramadan, although many scholars concur it could fall on one of the odd-numbered nights of the final 10 days.
Determined not to have the night pass me by, I spent these five odd-numbered nights awake until the break of dawn, in prayer, reading passages from the Quran, offering duaa (supplications) for loved ones, and trying to grasp how one night could hold such immense power. After all, 83.3 years is more than the average human life expectancy for citizens of most countries in the world. How could one night be greater than an entire lifetime?
To begin to comprehend this idea, I turned to the Quran, in which God continually calls on us to regard our perception of time as relative and flexible rather than linear and constant. For instance, the word for 'day' in Arabic is 'youm', which in everyday usage refers to the 24-hour period of a day. But in the Quran, the explanation of youm is broad, referring to long periods of time, eras or epochs of indefinite lengths, rather than a single day measured by the rotation of the earth on its axis.
"A Day with your Lord is like a thousand years of your reckoning," the Quran says in one reference to how humans would grasp the length of a day in the Hereafter. (Quran, 22:47) When God says He "created the heavens and the earth in six days" (7:54), He is referring to six stages of development, rather than six 24-hour days.
Setting aside the ideas of time we have grown comfortable with in everyday life re-arranges how we evaluate the passage of time and helps us begin to grasp the concept of eternity. We realize that while daily living on earth may seem to us to be long, in the end when we reflect back, our time here will appear momentary. Once all is said and done, people will perceive that they had stayed on earth for "a day or part of a day" (23: 112-114) or "not longer than an hour of a day" (10:45), according to the holy book.
Knowing that the journey of life is brief when compared with eternity, spiritually aware Muslims -- those who live in Islam, the Arabic word meaning 'submission' to God -- become more attentive to our actions, seeking to pray, fast, give charity and treat those around us with kindness, respect and justice.
Trying to catch Laylat al-Qadr sincerely is, I presume, about attaining a spiritual connection with God that transcends units of time. For an evening, we have a chance to traverse the world's limitations to where time is incalculable -- where the value in a moment of connection is so unfathomably rich that it surpasses the length of a person's worldly existence.
According to one Hadith, or saying of the last prophet, "whoever establishes prayers on the Night of Power out of sincere faith and hoping to attain God's rewards, then all his past sins will be forgiven". It was on this night that Angel Gabriel asked Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) to 'read'. Being illiterate, Muhammad responded that he could not. After repeating the request and receiving the same response, Angel Gabriel revealed to Muhammad the following verse:
Read! In the name of the Lord, who created: Created man out of a clot [of blood]. Read! Your Lord is the Most-Bountiful One Who taught by the pen Taught man what he did not know. (Quran 96: 1-5)
What I love about this verse is the emphasis God places on acquiring knowledge in order to understand His miracles. Sometimes this demands that we challenge pre-conceived notions of reality in order to become more receptive to the possibilities of living in submission.
After spending most of my life sleeping through Laylat al-Qadr, last year I tried my best to witness it. In the few months prior, I had made a conscious effort to deepen my connection with God. I discovered that prayer in the early morning prior to fajr, the first of Islam's five daily prayers that takes place before sunrise, can be particularly tranquil and comforting.
In the dark of night before most people are asleep, I am able to clear my thoughts, focus and meditate more than at other times of the day. My daily spiritual routine would be incomplete if I am not awake to hear the call to fajr prayer, which ends with the simple-yet-captivating line, "prayer is better than sleep".
On Laylat al-Qadr, this energy and nearness to God that I get a glimpse of just before fajr is magnified and stretched over an entire night. This is why each year, Muslims will seek the night where worship carries the weight of 1,000 months. Even if we can't fully grasp how this is possible, we have a chance to nurture a formidable connection with God.
Follow Daliah Merzaban on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Desert_Dals
Imam Khalid Latif: As Ramadan Ends, Reflecting on a Month of Reflection
The concept of Laylat-al-Qadi is very similar to that of Yom Kippur in Judaism and Good Friday In Christianity, All stress the importance of reflection and resolve to mend the errors of the past. These similarities are one of many indications that the Word of God is there for all to receive if only our hearts and minds are open to it. While there will always be differences as to who has the most accurate revelation, the substance all religions is at the core very similar. While differences - some of them significant- remain, the similarities in core beliefs, such as the perfection of our creator, his desire that we treat one another with love and compassion and the requirement to forgive each other for our trespasses are far more dominant.
I am so pleased to receive your comment! Indeed, the core of the three faiths is similar because they share common roots. I always strive with my friends of different faiths to highlight the similarities rather than the differences – we come to appreciate one another with compassion and tolerance when we do so. In Islam, we believe to Word of God was revealed in steps through His great messengers, beginning with Abraham.
Muslims regard the Quran as the precise, unaltered word of the Almighty God, known as Allah in Arabic. The term Quran itself means ‘Recitation’ and is a word-for-word recitation of God’s message to the last prophet, via archangel Gabriel. This does not mean that there is not room for dynamic interpretation. On the contrary, ‘tafsir’ (interpretation) of the Quran is widespread. Tafsir is the science by which the Quran is understood and its meanings are explained. You will often find short Quranic verses with pages of ‘tafsir’ commentary.
Best regards,
Daliah
Further example of this can be seen in Surah 32:5 where it connotes the theory of relativity of space and time and this agrees with Einstein’s theory of special relativity, which says that a faster moving object appears to experience slower time.
" (Allah) Rules the cosmic affair from the heavens to the Earth. Then this affair travels to Him a distance in one day, at a measure of one thousand years of what you count."
Also, theory of general relativity says that time should pass slower near an object more massive than Earth (clocks run slower in stronger gravitational fields). So according to general relativity, time should pass in Paradise/Hell much slower than on Earth. Moslems say that this is what Allah says. It is stated in the Quran that 1 day in Paradise/Hell measures a 1000 years on Earth:
"They challenge you to bring forth that torture [in Hell] and Allah will not break His promise; a day of your Lord [Paradise/Hell promise] is like a thousand years of what you count." (Quran :22:47)
http://www.speed-light.info/angels_speed_of_light.htm
Once Aishah (RA) asked the Prophet (peace be upon him), “if I were to come upon Laylatul Qadr what should I say in it?”
He said “Say: Allahumma innaka ‘afuwwun tuhibul ‘afwa fa’fu ‘anni
(O Allah indeed You are the Pardoner, You love to Pardon, so Pardon me).”
Al’afuw is one of the names of Allah, subhana wa ta’ala, by which He overlooks the sins of his servants and by which He effaces its traces from them.
He loves to forgive and He loves to forgive his servants.
He loves that his servants should forgive one another, and when they do so He forgives them.
His forgiveness is more beloved to Him than his punishment.
8 or 9 is totally a misconception.
Best regards,
Daliah
People who say, ''In Christianity'' or ''In Hinduism'', or In Islam'' are expressing opinions, personal interpretations. But they like to sound as if they are pronouncing eternal truths. They are not. Just opinions. Nothing more.
For example, Laylat al-Qadr could not possibly refer to the revelation of the first verses in the month of Ramadan. There was no month of Ramadan in the year 610 A.D when the first verses in chapter 96 were received.
At the time Muhammad was meditating in a cave on a mountain near Mecca. What he experienced was so unbelievable and shocking to him that he thought he had gone mad and it was his wife who comforted him and encouraged him to believe in what had taken place.
It is believed that the whole of Qur'an numbering about 6,000 were all revealed in one complete edition on the night of Qadr. How is this possible? Was Muhammad aware of what the whole of Qur'an contained before many historical events it refers to took place?
The Quran should be subjected to the same kind of scholarly research the Bible has recently been subjected to.
I also do not believe it is necessary to add expressions such as “peace be upon him” anytime we use the Prophet’s name.
"I also do not believe it is necessary to add expressions such as “peace be upon him” anytime we use the Prophet’s name. "
The reason that many Muslims use the phrases "pbuh" or "saws" when writing the name of Prophet Muhammad is as a reminder of the Hadith that Allah curses those who do not say "Salallahu 'alayhi wa salam" when hearing the name of Muhammad.
Regarding the phrase, "Peace be upon him," I do not believe what we say or do not say about Muhammad will affect God's blessings upon him one iota.
I would then question the God that would curse me for not saying that. Muhammad was among the most privileged human beings in the history of mankind. He doesn't need my praise.
On the other hand, the most precious commodity in the Universe for us is Oxygen that we inhale. We cannot live without it but for a few minutes. What we exhale and say something in the process should thus have at least some positive effect or our lives or it would be just adding more Carbon Dioxide to the atmosphere and the global warming!
Now, consider the amount of time wasted when the phrase "PBUH" is repeated hundreds of millions of times a day! It surely has not done any good for the predominantly dictatorial governments that plague the so call world of Islam.
Who believes this? The verses were revealed to the Prophet Mohammed over many years.
For me the revelation of the entire Qur'an which contains precise historically accurate events taking place during more than two decades would mean our existence as predetermined and the freedom to choose meaningless. This is unacceptable.
In response to your question, however, you might find the following websites helpful:
• THE FIRST REVELATION - Al-Islam
www.al-islam.org/message/13.htm -
One of those revelations is the gradual revelation of the Qur'an to the ... 'Book') that it was revealed in its entirety during the Glorious Night (falling in the month of ...
• Laylat al-Qadr - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laylat_al-Qadr - CachedSimilar
Jump to Revelation to Prophet Muhammad: Muslims believe that revelation of the Qur'an ... first phase being the revelation in its entirety on Lailatul Qadr' ...
"O My servants who have transgressed against their souls, despair not of the Mercy of God..." Quran
Daliah
Daliah
Reading the Quran at this hour, you feel the presence of Almighty right next to you, in the vien that starts to beat in your temple, with every breath you draw. You feel there is you and there is Him, The Al-Wāsi('The Vast, The All-Embracing, The Omnipresent, The Boundless) The Al-Walīy (The Friend, Patron and Helper) The Al- Haleem (The Forbearing, The Indulgent) and also The Aḍ-Ḍārr (The Distressor, The Afflictor) you go through feelings of intense love and intense fear but you always end at The Ar-Raḥmān (The Compassionate,The Beneficent,) & Ar-Raḥīm (The Exceedingly Merciful) the two names/attibutes by which He is called the most in the holy book.
Once agin thanks for your beautiful thoughts.
I have found in my experience the following Hadith on our ability as individuals to have an intimate relationship with God to be very true: "Take one step towards me, I will take ten steps towards you. Walk towards me, I will run towards you."
Ramadan Kareem and Eid Mubarak, insha'Allah,
Daliah
This was a generic photo, not chosen by myself, I do not think it is necessarily a depiction of Laylat al-Qadr.
I have to choice to go to a mosque for quiet prayer and reflection, or I can do this at home. It is more of a personal than a collective experience, although many Muslims do attend a voluntary night prayer at mosques as part of the experience.
Hope that answers your question.
Best regards,
Daliah
religion is a male ego phenomena and most women go right along with it. interesting.
very nice article about your journey thank you for that.
no need to submit to god you are an expression of that that is. we are the divine expressions of the absolute, just wish the male ego could get over his idea he must also take the leadership role. be less wars that way. :-)
be interesting to see if this gets posted.
The greatest source of inspiration for my faith has always been my mother so I haven't been as exposed to this male leadership phenomenon. I believe God gives each human soul, regardless of gender, a chance to forge an individual connection with Him. Women and men are mentinoed an equal number of times in the Quran.
This particular photo was not my choice, you can see ones I included on my blog: http://bit.ly/mYzaTt
Best regards,
Daliah