Lailatul Qadr: Is It Tonight?

Science will never explain this phenomena. A phenomena witnessed by the writer in Africa and in Malaysia altogether. Indeed it is said in some traditions of the Prophet of Islam (Hadith in Arabic), that the Sun will be covered by the Angels who are leaving Earth on the morning of the night of power. Is tonight the Night of Power (Lailatul Qadr). Read more to know...

To witness the ring surrounding the Sun is a Ramadan Feast

One of the scientific dilemma is to explain the signs that the Holy Al-Quraan says is from Allah, the Creator of Mankind. Though it is obvious a rising sun every day at the same place without fail for millions of years is hard to explain scientifically, mankind is hard to satisfy. Hence the Quraan tells us about the signs that are apparent and the signs that are hidden. In this feature, we talk about the signs given by Allah and seen only by a few.

The last ten days of the Holy Month of Ramadan is full of importance to those who wish to have their bad deeds revoked and their hearts at peace. The world is changing, the beliefs are also changing. It is hard to make people understand the 'mystic' behind the last ten days of a month that is also loosing its meaning to the consumerism that the Muslims are imbued with.

However, as always, there is still the few who follows the 'sunnah' – guidance and lifestyle – of Rasulullah (May Peace be Upon Him) and this is enough to keep the traditions alive.

One such traditions accepted and practiced by ancient Muslims – if we can say that Muslims who lived in the 1940's are ancient Muslims – is the 'signs of the night of power'. What can really make a man or a woman feel that the long hours of prayers and submission spent for the Creator, bowed to HIM in repentance and in shame for the sins and bad deeds committed during the course of a year that is passing by, is fruitful and has been well received by the Angels?

In Islam there are very few cases where the supernatural interludes with the living in broad day light yet there are a some inter-locution and here we reveal one or two of them. These are connected to the night of power or the Lailatul Qadr in Arabic. It is considered a night that equals a thousand nights of prayers and wisdom or patience. It is also said to be the night that makes things happen, that can shape things, given a paradigm shift in the life of the one who will pray hard during that specific night.

Which night is the night of salvation, the night of power, when the doors of forgiveness is opened and the light of pardon is shed on the soul of the crying believer?

Muslims tend to argue much about this night. Some says it is fixed at the 27^th night of the holy month of Ramadan but others say it would be too easy to get salvation if the night of power was fixed. They add that some people would commit all kinds of sins and will then pray hard on the 27^th of the Ramadan to receive the solemn forgiveness from their Creator.

It is not a simple matter to discuss indeed. Yet there are traditions, well entrenched traditions that tells us more on how to find this night and how to feel the goodness of being salvaged on such a night.

Telling the modern Muslim on the 'mysticism' of Islam is yet another hard thing to do. Modern day Muslims, educated in Western universities or educated at home but still under the influence of modernism and western thinking – which is said to be rational and not emotional – can be tough to accept traditions they do not understand.

The Messenger of Allah said the night of power is to be found in the last 10 days of the Holy Month and he added that the night of power could fall in between the odd days starting from the night of 19^th Ramadan. That clearly means 19^th, 21^st, 23^rd, 25^th, 27^th, 29^th while it is not discounted that the night might fall on any of the even nights. Following the indications given by the Messenger (Peace Be Upon Him), it would be wise to concentrate on the last 10 days of the month in one's search for the night of power.

Some modern Muslims, scholars and learned individuals argues that it may be futile to wait for 10 nights to seek the night of power. They argued that Islam is science and mathematic is part of the Islamic plan for mankind. Hence it was possible to set a date for the people of Islam to celebrate the 'finding' of the night of power. They have chosen the 27^th but the few who still want the challenge – they are probably a large minority of the 1.5 billion Muslims on earth – are not going to follow the newest of trends.

Even trees and animals bows on this night of power

The best advise given in this challenge is to sacrifice. Islam in Ramadan is about sacrifices and also about learning and striving. Learn how those in hardship are living their normal daily lives while those living in ease and at times in opulence have it easy. The thirst and the hunger that a Muslim feel during the days of fasting is to remind them of the hard life of others, of those who are less fortunate.

The patience of praying daily in search for the night of power is part of this learning and discovering process. Learn who oneself is by sacrificing time and family and the usual joy of living by seeking the night of power and this is the message we learn from the ancients. The grand fathers and grand mothers who lived in the yonder years of the 1950's and 1960's whom the writer witnessed have left behind beautiful stories that mesmerize the mind.

Is it not worthy to go on a search for the night of power by staying awake after midnight, looking into the sky and feeling if there is any sudden breeze and light rain that may fall as a given sign of the night of power? Is it not tempting to sail the seas and taste the salty water at the strike of mid-night to know if the water is sweet as indication that this particular night is the night of power? Is it not spectacular to be awake and to prostate to the Creator in the desire to be forgiven for sins known and unknown while the mass of the Muslim world, of the world for that matter is sleeping, unaware that the particular night might be the night of power?

More questions arise. Would it not be wonderful if the entire Muslim communities in the world would observe prayers, discussions, debates on the life of the Messenger of Allah and recitations while seeking the forgiveness of the Creator in the august night of power – which may be any of the 5 odd nights in the last 10 nights of the holy month of Ramadan?

After 15 days of fasting, the modern Muslim find it hard to continue with additional prayers and feels the absence of the normal daily life that is practiced outside the month of Ramadan. The saying goes that there is 11 months of fun and one month of pain for the Muslims but in the world of today, it look like there is only 30 days of pain and 30 nights of sleep for many.

Nevertheless, the best sign that would indicate the night of power is the patience of the follower who strives during the last 10 nights in prayers and recitations. The chances are the one who is prostrating to the Creator in one of these nights may be rewarded with the night that equals 1000 months of prayers subliminal.

A grand father story that I would like to share here goes like this. The young man in his 30's set off in his dinghy – a small fisherman's boat – on the Island of Mauritius. He sails the boat far enough from the shores and wait patiently until his wrist watch hits midnight. He then taste the sea water which is salty. He quickly roves back to shore and goes to sleep. He does this exercise every night during the last ten days of Ramadan and it so happens that on one of these nights, he tasted the salty water which so happens to be sweet. He tasted it again and with his heart racing he shouted 'Allah o Akbar' and made it to the shores. He then rushed to the 'baitka' which was the name given to the home of the 'coolies' and shouted to everyone that it was the night of Lailatul Qadr.

Another grand mother's story happens to start with a rogue Muslim fellow who did not believe in the might of the night of power. He was walking home at midnight on a 21^st of Ramadan and was shell shocked to see a tree half bent on the road. That same tree was standing straight a few hours ago and to his shock again, he saw the tree rising from the bowing position to its original straight position. The poor fellow rushed home in scream, met his mother in the living room and told her the story. Breathless as he was.

His mother told him that he would do better to go and spend the entire night in prayers for forgiveness of his sins and bad doings for what he saw was a sign of the night of power.

There are many stories from Africa, India and Pakistan as well as the Middle East. Most of these stories are now forgotten or simply put aside since the modern Muslims does not want to get involved in grand ma's stories.

In our modern time, we often hear people say that the night of power make itself known to us simply by making us feel cool and calm. This is how one knows it is the night of power, said a night merchant in the streets of Ampang, Malaysia. He believes that in one of the nights of Ramadan, he will surely feel that cool calm thing and he will know it is the night of power. And the night might be any nights during the last 10 nights of Ramadan.

According to a religious scholar, the night can be any nights and it is not easy to know when it would fall exactly. He added that he find it difficult to know when is the night since it is always too bright with a hot sun in the mornings of the last 10 days of Ramadan in Malaysia.

The last of the signs of the night of power is the rising sun on the next morning. The sun will be eclipsed with the 70,000 angels that are leaving Earth after a fruitful mission in the houses of the Muslim believers. And the Sun will be visible to man (men and women) with bare eyes and a dark ring will be seen surrounding the Sun. This dark circle is the sign of the angels leaving and this marks the end of the night of power.

Science will never explain this phenomena. A phenomena witnessed by the writer in Africa and in Malaysia altogether. It has not been easy during the past few years to wake up to find the Sun sporting its dark circle that looks like a ring surrounding the Sun. This is because it is getting harder to find the Sun with its ring around it. Indeed it is said in some traditions of the Prophet of Islam (Hadith in Arabic), that the Sun will be covered by the Angels who are leaving Earth on the morning of the night of power.

This it is said, is the ultimate proof of the passing of the night of power. This is such a powerful statement from the Creator and science or reasoning will never be able to explain why such an event occurs. It is not expected though that the scientific world would have witnessed such a happening. This event is bound to happen during the last 10 days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan as it happens once a year during the holy Month. The night of power is said to have existed since the beginning of time and will exist until the end of time.

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