Ramadan and the “Lay-latul-Qadr”

“The month of Ramadan is that which the Quran was revealed.” (2: 186). The holy month of Ramadan carries with it the Divine promise of a thousand blessings for the believers. Believers seek to attain nearness to Allah the Most High in this holy month by engaging in a lot of Zikr, Tilawat Quran and Salaat / Namaz (both Farz and Nawafil). In his Friday Sermon of 10 August 2012, the Khalifatullah Hadhrat Munir Ahmad Azim Sahib (atba)of Mauritius explained the special blessings of Ramadan by linking it with Surah Al- Qadr, the 97^th Chapter of the Holy Qur’an. The Khalifatullah, then, explains the Holy Prophet’s practice of offering Tarawih prayers in Ramadan and clarifies its relation with the Tahajjud prayers and also the number of Rakaat in Tarawih prayers by describing the historical/special circumstances in which Hadhrat Umar (ra) asked for additional prayers to be offered in Ramadan.    

Read the Extracts from the Friday Sermon:

“In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful. Surely We revealed it on the Night of Majesty; And what will make you understand what the Night of Majesty is? The Night of Majesty is better than a thousand months. The angels and the Spirit descend therein by the permission of their Lord for every matter. Peace it is until the emergence of dawn.” (97: 1-6)

In this Qur’anic chapter Al-Qadr (97), it is stated that the period when the Holy Quran was being revealed was a time of great blessings and the reward for worship, righteous actions and other efforts for the sake of religion that could have been attained at that time cannot be paralleled in any other age. The pronoun “hu” (it) in anzalnahu (we revealed it) refers to the revelation of the Holy Quran on the Night of Majesty.

Elsewhere in the Holy Quran it is mentioned: “The month of Ramadan is that which the Quran was revealed.” (2: 186). This tells us that the Night of Majesty is in the month of Ramadan. According to the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him), it is one of the odd nights of the last ten days of Ramadan, that is, it is either the 21^st, 23^rd, 25^th, 27^th or 29^th night. It has been called the Night of Majesty because it is a great grandeur and honour and which man should value with total respect and reverence. There is no doubt that the night in which the Holy Quran was revealed – an extraordinary gift and an incomparable Book of guidance to mankind – should be regarded with the highest honour and respect.