Ramadhan Articles

The Night of Power

It is related by Aisha that the Apostle of God said, ‘Seek the night of power in the odd nights of the last ten days of Ramadhan. Bukhari.

Commentary : It shows that, generally, Laylatul-Qadr falls on one of the odd nights of the last ten days of Ramadhan i. e., the 21st, 23rd, 25th, 27th, and 29th. Had it been indicated precisely about the Night of Power that it was that particular night, people, on the whole, would have specially devoted themselves to prayer and worship on it alone. God kept it vague and unidentified by telling, at one place, in the Quran that it was revealed in the Night of Power, and, at another, that it was revealed during the month of Ramadhan which indirectly suggested that the Night of Power fell during Ramadhan. The Prophet made it more explicit when he said that there was a greater possibility of the Night of Power occurring during the odd nights of the last ten days of Ramadhan. One should, therefore, take special care to keep vigil during them.

Besides Hazrat Ayesha, Traditions of a like meaning have been related by other Companions as well while some Companions believe that the 27th night of Ramadhan is the Night of Power as the Tradition reproduced below shows.any case (i.e., Laylatul-Qadr, after all, is one of the nights of the year ; so, whoever may be solicitous of its blessings should fill every night of the year with prayer and he will naturally, attain his object one night or the other). Ubbi bin Ka’ab, thereupon, observed : "May God bless brother Abdullah bin Masud. His aim in saying it was that people did not rest content (with the prayers of a single night) otherwise he knew for certain that Laylatul-Qadr occurred exclusively in the

month of Ramadhan, and, that, too during the last ten days of it (from the 21st to the 29th of the month), and, definitely, on the 27th night." He, then, said firmly (and) on oath that "without doubt, it is the 27th night (and in order to show his certitude) he did not even say Insha Allah (with the oath)." Zirra bin Hubaish relates that I said to him: "O Abul Munzir (alias of Ubbi) on what ground do you say it ?" He replied: "I say it on the strength of the portent the Prophet had revealed to us and it was that when the sun rose on the morning of Laylatul-Qadr, it was without the bean."

Muslim

Commentary: From Hazrat Ubbi bin Ka’ab’s reply it is evident that the knowledge of what he had said with such assurance about Laylatul-Qadr - that it was positively the 27th night of the month of Ramadhan - had not been imparted to him by the Prophet. But since his general observation was that the special sigh the Prophet had mentioned became visible on the morning of the 27th night he had concluded that it could be no other night.

The Prophet, sometimes, said that one should seek Laylatul-Qadr in the last days of Ramadhan, and, sometimes, that it should be searched for the odd nights of the last ten days, and, sometimes, that it fell on one of the three or four of the five odd nights of that period. He never fixed a particular night. But the experience of many men of spiritual vision and comprehension is that, mostly, it is the 27th night of Ramadhan. The great wisdom of keeping it vague is that the eager bondsmen spent all the nights of the last ten days of Ramadhan in prayer and supplication. The gaining of Laylatul-Qadr, in that case, was certain.

It is related by Anas that the Apostle of God said: "When Laylatul-Qadr comes, Gabriel descends in the company of angels and prays for mercy for the bondsmen who is engaged in the worship and remembrance of God, standing or sitting."

Baihaqi

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