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Friday, September 26, 2008

Weekly Wisdom - 9/26 : Lailatul Qadr


We have indeed revealed this (Message) in the Night of Power: And what will explain to thee what the night of power is?  The Night of Power is better than a thousand months.  Therein come down the angels and the Spirit by Allah's permission, on every errand; Peace!...This until the rise of morn!  (Holy Qur'an, 97:1-5)

Imam WD Mohammed on Lailatul Qadr (The Night of Power):

" And the light came down with him,. Now the " him" is the spiritual man;the social man, but in the spiritual condition, at that time. So " the light came down with him " The way it's communicated in the Arabic language tells us that this state then was spiritual. So, he had emptied the vessel -( his skull, his mind). There was nothing in it but air or his spiritual influence or his spiritual make up at that time. " and the light came down with him " In the chapter Lailatul Qadar it addresses that exactly. The night of power is better than a thousand months. There descends therein the angels and the spirit obeying every command of G'd. Peace it is until the break of dawn/fajr That Qadr there is the Prophet's Qadr. So it's symbolic of, represents all of our Qadr that we have in common. It is the Qadr.
 
That's why the Prophets tradition is that we strain on the last ten days of the month of Ramadan. We strain for more and more obedience to G'd, spiritual devotion, reading Qur'an, thinking on Qur'an, asking G'd for guidance, etc. So that we realize more of our Qadr. You see? And if you do that in the month Ramadan, if you fasted with the right attitude or disposition you don't even have to do all this straining, you're going to be blessed. if you're sincere, you're going to be blessed in this month.

So,the Prophet has his Qadr that is in the focus there, and it says that the Night of Qadr is better than a thousand months, meaning it's better than a lifetime, the scholars says. It's better than a life time in man's world, in your world of reality. it's better than a whole lifetime. So in other words it is better than this life! That's why the call, the adhan says. " hayyah alas salat!" it says " come to life". Hayyah means " come to life " Come to the prayer to be established in life. Hayyah alas salat."   - IWDM Ramadan 1995


and if that wasn't enough food for you...here is more from Imam Mohammed: 

Eid Mubarak means returning, coming back, it's a return and the holiday, the Eid is our celebration days after the fast is complete for this month.

Eid is a return, it returns every year, that's what it means, it keeps returning every year, every year it returns and that's exactly what life is a return, and we have to return to G'd with the whole life, the whole life has to return to G'd who made it.

So when we say Eid Mubarak what we are saying means Blessed Holiday, it means may you have a Blessed Holiday, may you have a blessed return.

Eid AL Fitra a new birth, Allah's swt blessing of light.

A celebration of our original nature.

There is no iqamah during the Eids because on these days we are already standing, nobody has to signal us to stand and people have gotten disgusted with all of the darkness and the mystery, and they are standing.

Five Takbirs before 7 ".. So 5 goes before 7 and we know seven is spiritual realm and if you get in there you better go with your five senses."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

As-Salaamu `Alaykum,

Thanks for posting this as a reminder. This made me reflect on how the Imam's language was visionary as well as evolutionary.

His language and explanations of the Qur'an and concepts evolved as his own mind expanded.

For instance, he pointed out a few years ago that many people misread the last ayah of Suratul Qadr, "Peace until the rise of the dawn" as to say that peace leaves at fajr or peace left the Prophet ar fajr.

Salaamun (peace) is masculine, but hiya (she is) is feminie in Arabic. Thus hiya is not making reference to salaamun.

Hiya in its connection to fajr is relating to fujoor according to one later explanation from the Imam.

On a more simple reading hiya could be referring back to Laytul Qadr, in which Laylah (night) is feminine.

WALLAHU `Alim.

Wassalaam

thelegacymaker said...

Wa Alaikum Asalaam,

Shukran for your comments brother Dawud! Imam also pointed out once the connection between the Prophet's Night Journey/ the ascension, the Hijra (migration to Medina), and the Lailatal Qadr.

He said that when G-d showed the Prophet (saw) that progression during the Night Jouney, G-d opened the way for him to go to Medina and there he established the government order. Allah, swt, showed the Prophet how man's life in it's original form created by G-d for progression moves from nature to expression in the society and when he saw the elevation, the graduation for achieving government order, he made the migration to Medina.

The Imam said that the "Peace... until the rise of dawn" represents the Hijra! When Prophet Mohammed (saw) went to Medina and started building the Ummah, the Islamic order for society, THAT was the rising of the dawn.

He said, "even the Jews who had earlier been applauding his development said, " Oh we got to stop this guy," then came wars, the beginning of war. Peace it was, a blessed night, peaceful until the rising of the dawn. It was beautiful coming to the soul as revelation for mankind, but when he had to establish it on earth for man, the people felt threatened and they began persecuting and began warring to destroy it."

I thought this was such a beautiful and logical tafsir! May Allah increase us in beneficial knowledge!

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