How to Reap the Rewards of Lailatul Qadr
The Reward for Lailatul Qadr
وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا لَيْلَةُ الْقَدْرِ . لَيْلَةُ الْقَدْرِ خَيْرٌ مِنْ أَلْفِ شَهْرٍ
And what will make you know what the Night of Al-Qadr (Decree) is? The Night of the Decree is better than a thousand months (i.e. worshipping Allah in that night is better than worshipping Him a thousand months). [97: 2-3]
This blessed night was given to our ummah as a special gift upon the concern of the Prophet for the short lives of his people in comparison with those who lived before. Thus whatever is done on this blessed night will be recorded for the sincere Muslim as if he had done the same deeds without sinning for one thousand months, which is the equivalent of 83 years and four months! This was among the reasons why the Prophet (saas) said that whoever was deprived of the good of this night was truly deprived:
Abu Hurairah (ra) who said: The Messenger of Allah (saas) said: “There has come to you Ramadan, a blessed month which Allah has enjoined you to fast … In it there is a night which is better than a thousand months, and whoever is deprived of its goodness is indeed deprived.” (Sahih – Nasaa’i, Ahmad)
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فعن أبي هريرة رضي الله عنه عن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم أنه قال
من قام ليلة القدر إيماناً واحتساباً غفر له ما تقدم من ذنبه
It was narrated from Abu Hurairah (ra) that the Prophet (saas) said: “Whoever spends the night of Lailatul Qadr in prayer out of faith and in the hope of reward, will be forgiven his previous sins.”
In this authentic hadith, special care must be paid to his statement (saas) “out of faith and in hope of the reward”. This shows us the importance of purifying both the intention and our sincerity, praying to Allah with full belief in Him and seeking His great reward.
What to Do on this Blessed Night
Remember to also work hard in the daylight hours of these nights. This helps to prepare the heart and the soul for the efforts of the night, and this was the manner of Imam ash-Shaafi’ee.
Be cautious of over-eating in these days. Allah says in the Quran:
وكُلُواْ وَاشْرَبُواْ وَلاَ تُسْرِفُواْ إِنَّهُ لاَ يُحِبُّ الْمُسْرِفِينَ
And eat and drink: But waste not by excess, for Allah does not love those who waste. [7:31]
ما ملأ آدمي وعاء شرا من بطنه
And the Prophet (saas) said on the authority of Miqdaam, “A person will not fill a pot worse for himself than his stomach.” (Sahih – Jami’ as-Sagheer)
And in one of the stories narrated from Bani Isra’eel, the Prophet Yayha (as) once asked Iblees if he had ever succeeded in deceiving him. Iblees stated that on only one occasion had he been able to deceive this noble Prophet and that had been when he had encouraged him to eat a lot of one of his favorite dishes to the extent that when he slept that night he didn’t awaken for the night prayer.
Putting on your best clothes for this night. Have you not considered Allah’s statement in the Quran:
يَا بَنِي آدَمَ خُذُواْ زِينَتَكُمْ عِندَ كُلِّ مَسْجِدٍ
O Children of Adam! Wear your beautiful apparel to every Masjid. [7:31]
قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ الْبَسُوا مِنْ ثِيَابِكُمْ الْبَيَاضَ فَإِنَّهَا مِنْ خَيْرِ ثِيَابِكُم
Ibn ‘Abbaas (ra) reports from the Messenger of Allah (saas) that he said, “Wear your white garments for they are among the best of your clothes.” (Sahih – Abu Dawood)
And it has been narrated authentically that Anas ibn Maalik (ra) used to have a garment that he would wear only once in the year and that was the night that he expected lailatul Qadr.
And it has been reported from a number of the predecessors that they used to take showers and perfume themselves especially for the last ten nights.
What is the wisdom behind this? In order to best purify our souls and hearts, it helps to start from the outside by wearing that which is clean, pure and beautifies us, and Allah knows best.
Let us not forget though the words of Allah:
يَا بَنِي آدَمَ قَدْ أَنزَلْنَا عَلَيْكُمْ لِبَاسًا يُوَارِي سَوْءَاتِكُمْ وَرِيشًا وَلِبَاسُ التَّقْوَىَ ذَلِكَ خَيْرٌ
O’ Children of Adam! We have bestowed libaas and reesh upon you to cover your privates, as well as to be an adornment to you. But the adornment of taqwa – that is the best. [7:26]
Regarding this noble ayah, `Abdur-Rahman ibnu Zayd ibnu Aslam commented, “When one fears Allah, Allah covers his errors”.
To make i’tikaaf – even if it be for a limited number of hours. The benefit of it is that one is recorded as being in prayer the whole time so long as he makes this intention (of remaining until the next obligatory prayer), and it was the confirmed Sunnah of our Prophet (saas) and even that of his wives after his death (saas).
To be sincere for the sake of Allah and to be on the lookout for the destroyers of sincerity to Allah – and they are showing off (al-riyaa’) and arrogance (kibr), amongst others. Allah has said in regards to sincerity:
وَأَقِيمُواْ وُجُوهَكُمْ عِندَ كُلِّ مَسْجِدٍ وَادْعُوهُ مُخْلِصِينَ لَهُ الدِّينَ
… And that you should face Him only, in every Masjid, and invoke Him only making your religion sincere to Him …. [7: 29]
And in the Hadith Qudsi:
أَنَا أَغْنَى الشُّرَكَاءِ عَنْ الشِّرْكِ مَنْ عَمِلَ عَمَلًا أَشْرَكَ فِيهِ مَعِي غَيْرِي تَرَكْتُهُ وَشِرْكَهُ
Abu Hurairah narrates that the Prophet (saas) said: “Allah, may He be blessed and exalted, says: ‘I am so self-sufficient that I am in no need of having an associate. Thus he who does an action for someone else’s sake as well as Mine will have that action renounced by Me to him whom he associated with Me.’” (Muslim)
Thus, we have to make sure that our efforts on this night, especially if there are others around us, that they are solely for the pleasure of Allah. This can be greatly alleviated if you have a certain plan in mind before you go to the Masjid regarding what you will do. We also take lessons from the lives of the early generations who used to be very cautious in this regards particularly in regards to weeping from the fear of Allah. They controlled it so well that a man could stand next to another and wet his beard with tears without his companion being aware that he was crying. This was all so that they would not draw attention to themselves.
And the great scholar Sufyaan ath-Thawri once said, “It has reached me that a servant does a good deed secretly causing Shaytaan to come at him until he overcomes him, upon which the servant makes his good deeds public (but still maintaining a measure of sincerity). Shaytaan then continues with him further until the servant wishes that his good deeds be praised by others, upon which his name is removed from those who deeds in public and he is listed among those who show-off (commit the grievous sin of riyaa’).”
That is why the Prophet said we must spend this night in hope for His reward – in other words, not in hopes of others praising us and so forth.
Furthermore, some people commit another sin in arrogance by looking down upon the deeds of others. Maybe Allah gave you the strength to pray ten voluntary rak’aahs but another only had the strength to do four. Although you may have bested the other in terms of quantity, only Allah knows the quality and so his onerakah might be better and more virtuous than all of what you have done. So let us be wary of falling into this pit of destruction – may Allah protect us!
To push yourself in calling upon Allah and not be lazy in this matter. Allah states in the Quran:
وَقَالَ رَبُّكُمُ ادْعُونِي أَسْتَجِبْ لَكُمْإِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَسْتَكْبِرُونَ عَنْ عِبَادَتِي سَيَدْخُلُونَ جَهَنَّمَ دَاخِرِينَ
And your Lord has said: “Call upon Me, I will answer you. Verily, those who scorn My worship they will surely enter Hell in humiliation.” [40:60]
قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ إِنَّ الدُّعَاءَ هُوَ الْعِبَادَةُ ثُمَّ قَرَأَ
And an-Nu’maan ibn Bashir (ra) relates from the Messenger of Allah (saas) that he said, “Indeed the supplication is the worship; and then he recited the ayah ….” (Sahih – IM)
And it is recorded that Sufyaan ath-Thawri said, “Indeed to call upon Allah in this night (al-Qadr) is more beloved to me than praying in it.” And our example always is RasulAllah and let us remember that when he recited the Quran in the night prayer that he used to do so slowly – whenever a verse called for seeking forgiveness he did so, whenever it called for seeking Allah’s protection from His punishment he did so, whenever it called for asking Allah for His bounty and for Jannah, he did so …. Thus the Prophet (saas) gathered four acts of worship in one: prayer, recitation of Quran, supplication and pondering over the words of Allah!
And ‘A’ishah said: “I said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, if I know which night is Laylat al-Qadr, what should I say on that night?’ He said, ‘Say: Allahumma innaka ‘afuwwun tuhibb al-‘afwa fa’affu ‘anni (O Allah, You are forgiving and You love forgiveness, so forgive me).”
So what then is the difference between calling upon Allah by his name of al-‘Afuww instead of al-Ghafur? They both indicate forgiveness, but maghfirah means to be protected from the consequences of the sin whereas al-‘afw means that it is wiped away completely.
And how can we pour more sincerity into our supplication and asking Allah for His forgiveness? As you stand there in these blessed nights then remember the condition of our Ummah today and that if you were better, if your sins were not so much then we would not be in this condition: our mothers like Dr. ‘Afiyyah would not have their modesty abused, our young brothers and sisters in places like Palestine would not be gunned down or abused in the manner that they are – this is the result of our sins collectively. And it was narrated regarding one of the great scholars of the early generations that he used to say whenever any strong storm would come, “O’ people, when I die then you will be removed of these trials.”
Make this a night that you repent of your sins, a night that you change your life forever. Remember that the sign that our fasting has been accepted is that we are better afterwards. Ibnul Qayyim states in his excellent book,Madaarij as-Salikeen: “among the signs of a repentance that has not been accepted are a lack of tears and no new good deeds in your life that were not being practiced before.
And indeed Allah has commanded us to repent in many places, for example:
O you who believe! Turn to Allah with sincere repentance! It may be that your Lord will remit from you your sins, and admit you into Gardens under which rivers flow. [66: 8]
إن الله يحب التوابين ويحب المتطهرين
Truly, Allah loves those who turn unto Him in repentance and loves those who purify themselves. [2: 222]
May Allah help us to reach the night of Qadr and bless us to reap its rewards in full, forgiving us our sins and releasing us from the Hellfire – ameen.
Announcements2 weeks ago
Ali Shehata
September 26, 2008 at 7:09 PM
One day i will figure out the formatting for this site insha’Allah. My apologies to anyone who had been following the tafseer series as I got busy with what we should all be doing atthe end of this noble month and haven’t had the time to get online. Insha’Allah I plan to finish the series after Ramadan bi ithnillah. Please remember me and my family in your du’as, was-salaam alaikum
Abû Mûsâ Al-Ḥabashî
September 26, 2008 at 7:46 PM
According to Tawfique Chowdhury, tonight is definitely Laylatul-Qadr.
Amad
September 26, 2008 at 8:01 PM
Sh. Tawfique confirmed this
————————
Assalamualaikum everyone,
Good dreams are from Allah and they are a part of Prophethood that isstill left for us as in the authentic hadeeth. It doesn’t change theShariah, but confirms it and is a glad tiding for believers. If someonesees a good dream, then we should tell others that we love and areclose to us so that they may benefit from its message.
Just thought I would let all my beloved friends know that no less than6 dreams from 6 different righteous people who have confided in me thatthey saw the night of Power this year to be in the 27th night,including my Sheikh’s wife as well. In one of them, one of the myfriends and a student from medina university said that on twoconsecutive nights, he was told in his dream – the 27th, the 27th.
So please do your best to NOT miss this night this Ramadan. Don’t sleep- pray, make dua and read the Quran. Remember every second of the nightequals days – so keep your tongue moist with Allah’s remembrance andremember me and all Muslims in your dua.
If you need, you can post this message on other boards for theirbenefit and send it out to those who may benefit from it and those whomyou love. May Allah forgive you and I in this blessed night. Ameen.
Jazakallahulkhair.
Tawfique Chowdhury
Friday 26th Ramadan, 26th September 2008
ilmsummitee
September 26, 2008 at 11:25 PM
Asalamu Alaykum-
Yes, walhamdulilah, no doubt that dreams of the righteous are one of the signs of the ‘nubuwa’ and a gift from Allah(swt) for us after the prophethood and revelation has ceased.
One thing though, we cannot say 100% that tonight will be Layatul Qadr. I am not discrediting the ru’yaas, but waAllahu truly A’laam when the night will be. Of course, we should pray and strive our hardest to take advantage of the 27th night and we should continue to do this until the end of Ramadan.
May Allah accept from us all our ibadaat and allow us to complete them with ihsaan and taqwa; and honor us as witnesses of the Night of Power. Ameen thuma ameen.
IbnAbbas
September 27, 2008 at 1:58 AM
subhaanallah, I was desperate to look at the sun early morning but its so foggy today here in London.
ilmsummitee
September 27, 2008 at 6:40 AM
The sun has yet to come out. We still have around an hour to go here in the Midwest. InshaAllah we will see and report then.
I was looking at the night sky; even then the visibility was not as high as the previous nights. However, I did finally catch a glimpse of the crescent which was a smoky red but crisp clear……a beautiful sight, SubhanAllah.
ilmsummitee
September 27, 2008 at 7:22 AM
Still waiting for the sun to rise………half an hour, inshallah we will be able to see it here in the US, or more spec. Midwest
sister
September 27, 2008 at 7:23 AM
subhanAllah it’s foggy here (east coast USA) too! was raining all night mashaAllah.
Hassan
September 27, 2008 at 7:51 AM
Salaam. It is very clear in Houston, and sun is about to rise, the horizon is just very beautiful and light red through out. What are we looking for to make sure it was laylat-ul-qadar?
Hassan
September 27, 2008 at 8:17 AM
Ok, I found out what we are looking for. Sun rises without any visible rays. The weather is very cool and clear. I can see complete horizon with light but no rays, very soothing to eyes. Wallahu a’alam,
ilmsummitee
September 27, 2008 at 8:35 AM
JazakAllahu khairan brother Hasan.
I also saw the sun rising, however due to some clouds and trees blocking my view it was a bit after ……. but I did see the beautiful red colors seeping through and the weather was indeed nice. The sun could be seen as a sphere by the time I saw it but the brigtness and intensity had increased.
InshaAllah it was Layatul Qadr, and if it was may Allah accept all our ibadaat and worship. Ameen.
Lets keep up the work for the remaining nights! And keep MM in your duaas, not to mention Al-Maghrib too :D And of course the Muslim Ummah, our fellow bros/sis everywhere.
nikhat mansoori
September 27, 2008 at 8:49 AM
Assalam-o-Alaiku,
we are missing th e tafseer seres a lot.Didn’t c it 4 a long tym so we thought u must be busy in ibadah
No probs.May Allah HElp u.
May He make all of us witness lailatul Qadr.AMEEN!!!!!!!
Lisa
November 12, 2008 at 3:31 AM
Hello Dr. Shehata. I came across your name as a matter of coincidence. I am at a crossroads in my life. I am getting ready to graduate nursing school in a month. Then comes the task of having to make a decision on where to work and live. In addition to this I am living in an interesting situation as a Christian young woman. I am an open minded person. I have been judged severly, and wrongfully in my life and have experienced the pain it brings. I want to understand your faith as it pertains to my future. I met a young muslim man online that shares your last name. I am trying to go about this with wisdom and thought I would do some research on this young man’s name. That is how I came across your name and the work you are doing to promote that Islam is a peaceful way of life. The young man I am seeing is very sweet, and kind. Even with our differences in our views of Jesus we have found much in common. I fear it will upset my family, but we are becoming serious very quickly. I have lived my life trying my best to make others love me, to please the authority figures in my life; however, I was never quite good enough. I didn’t measure up. I guess I’m tired of living up to what other people’s standards are for my life. I just want to love God, and enjoy my life. Is this too much to ask? I can honestly say that I will never renouce my belief that Jesus is the Son of God. I have had too many miraculous and revelatory experiences to dismiss this truth. But, I will NEVER throw out hatred, accusation, and sptifullness like some so called “christians” do towards anyone whether they be Muslim, Jew, Christan, Straight, Gay ect. They seem to forget the part of the Bible that says to “speak the truth in love.” I have been taught and bombarded with so much negative aspects of Islam that I am afraid to follow my heart which tells me I’ve found the love of my life. Is a Muslim allowed to marry a Christain? Why do the muslim women cover their hair? I have so many questions, and some I have begun to ask the young man I am dating. He trys very hard to explain what he believes and I am learning. He seems a truly good man. However, my Aunt told me to watch this movie called “Not without my son” i think is what she called it. She said it is a movie based on a true story about a women who married a muslim man and then went back to Iran with him. The man in this movie changed and began to beat her and this women had to smuggle herself and her son out of Iran and back to America. Why would a muslim man marry an American women and then take her back to Iran, just to miss treat her? I know that this movie is a dramatization and therefore isn’t a perfect portayal of what happened. I am wanting advice from a third party. Would you be willing to respond to my questions even though they don’t have anything to do with the blogs you’ve posted. I looked and looked for a way to contact you and this is what I found. Is it right for me to go against my family and live for love? Or should I remain true to what my family wants of me? Not that they don’t want me to have love, it’s just they want me to have love within their own ideals and ideas of who I should and should not date (i.e. only someone who is a chrisitian). Well, I hope I’m not being silly by asking a complete stranger to give advice on my love life…lol. Thank you for your time, Lisa T.
Ali Shehata
November 12, 2008 at 11:02 PM
Hello Lisa T.
Alhamdulillah. Thank you for your post and for trusting in me to answer these questions that you have in this difficult cross roads in your life. I believe that you are making the right decision in a number of the issues you have presented and I will be happy to try my best to help you better understand what Islam is all about and what it can mean for you and for your future. As a medical doctor and an Islamic speaker, I have often been in the position to give advice on similar matters and so this won’t be the first time :-) You may contact me at my email [dr.ali.do@gmail.com] and I will be able to send you detailed answers to your questions God-willing. For now, I will only say that a number of Americans have been scared to death by over dramatized stories like Not Without My Daughter and so forth. On this website currently for example, there is a story about 8 KKK members who killed a woman and threw her behind some bushes in Louisiana because she didn’t want to join their club. Recently, two neo-Nazi’s were arrested for wanting to kill blacks and other non-white people and top it all off by killing Obama. I am sure that you are your family would never say that these people represent America or American values. It is dangerous to judge a whole religion of nearly one and a half billion people because of one movie or one person’s actions, and if your friend fears God then you can be reasonably certain that he will not mistreat you or abuse you because he will know that God will punish him for it. That would be my biggest priority – to determine if he really is devout – because then you can have some of these fears resolved to a degree. I will be happy to elaborate when you write and I ask God to make these difficult decisions easy for you and to guide you to His path. Dr. Shehata
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Zia-e-Taiba
October 18, 2016 at 7:18 AM
Nice to see an articleSigns of Lailatul Qadr Night