Kamal El-Mekki – JUmmah Khutbah 29-03-2024
AI: Summary ©
The importance of the last 10 nights of the year, specifically the night of Layretion Al Qadr, is highlighted as the most important night of the year. The title of Layretion Al Qadr is because of its position and rank, and it is a night of great weight and measure with Islam. The importance of balancing work and other activities to achieve weight and measure goals is emphasized, along with the need to find out what people want to pursue in their schedules.
AI: Summary ©
Brothers and sisters
in Islam,
after this many days of Ramadan
have passed, it is only natural that we
speak about the last 10 nights of Ramadan
and more specifically,
speak about
Laylat al Qadr.
And
from the importance
of the last 10, the prophet salallahu alaihi
wasalam was described when the last
3rd of the night or the last 3rd
of the month of Ramadan comes in. The
prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam, the expression is
that he would tighten his belt
and he would wake his family up for
his prayer and he would increase and intensify
in acts of worship.
So we have this opportunity. The first thing
is some of us maybe we're not too
pleased with how the month has gone and
we had a higher standard for our acts
of worship and we're not very pleased with
what we've done so far.
So the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said,
Whoever stands the night of Ramadan
seeking full reward and with full iman, he
will have his past sins forgiven. So maybe
I'm not too proud of my.
The prophet said,
Whoever
fast the month of Ramadan, seeking the reward
with Allah and with full iman belief, he
will have his past sins forgiven. And maybe
I'm not too pleased with my work there.
There is still another opportunity, and Nabi Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam said,
Whoever
stands
Yeah. And he stands in it means he's
praying.
Whoever stands because
the scholar said when an act of worship
is mostly comprised
of one action
like standing for example,
then it will be expressed in terms of
that same action. And there are many examples
of this in the Quran where Allah mentions
standing, and hereby standing it means salah. So
the prophet said whoever stands the the night
of Al Qadr,
he will have his past sins forgiven.
And the prophet
from the importance
of laylatul Qadr, he was trying to figure
out when it was so the Ummah can
benefit benefit from it. So in this Ramadan,
the prophet, sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
he made a Mu'takafya,
and he stayed at tikaf in the masjid,
which would be usually in the last 10.
But the prophet did it in the last
20 just hoping to look for and identify
And then when the middle 10 days of
Ramadan passed, so now it's the 20th day
and we enter the last 10,
then it was revealed to him that what
you seek is ahead of you. So we
know that it is in the last ten
nights of
Ramadan. Allah
says in the Quran,
Indeed, we have sent it down
in this night of Al Qadr.
And why was it given this name? And
there are various number of explanations.
So the
one of them says that it's called Laylat
al Qadr, the night of Al Qadr,
because because of its position, its rank, its
position,
and it's the great honor of this night,
so it was called Lirat al Qadr.
Another
explanation is that the earth becomes
tight and packed with angels.
Like a number of things. The first thing
is, what is the value and how do
I benefit if the earth is filled with
angels?
In one hadith, the prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam, said the number of angels on earth
is equal to the number of pebbles on
earth. You know, there are millions and millions
and millions of angels, but what does that
have to do with me?
All these angels are making dua for the
believers on this night. Millions upon millions of
angels making dua for you to be forgiven
to for you for your deeds to be
accepted. That is an amazing advantage.
So that's another reason.
Tightening, when something is tightened, and we have
many examples of that in the Quran. Allah
says or
So Al Qadr is from the tightness and
constriction.
So the earth is tight and constricted,
loaded with angels who are there to make
dua for you. Or that because of the
weight of that night, it's called liratulqadr.
Or because
the scholar said
and that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
That Allah subhanahu ta'ala revealed
this book of heavyweight
upon a prophet that that has high rank,
upon an ummah that has high position.
And
and there's another famous explanation that it's Laylatul
Qadr because
on that night,
the Qadr, the decree of Allah for the
next year is revealed during that night as
well.
And Allah
says,
this is in Surat Duqan.
Indeed, we sent it down in a blessed
night.
Indicating that the decrees also come down on
that night,
and the scholars say that
all these are can all be correct at
the same time. Okay? And it is a
night of great weight and measure with Allah
azza wa Jal, and that's also because the
angels are many on that night and it's
also a night when the decree is sent
down.
So
so we have then,
Indeed, we have sent it down. And what
was sent down? The Quran. And one of
the famous explanations is that the Quran was
sent from the heavens to the earthly heavens,
to the worldly heavens on that special night.
As you know, this is common in the
Quran. When something is of great weight and
measure, Allah
will ask you again and what would make
you know. How would you know how great
that night is?
The night of Al Qadr is better than
a 1000 months. It is not just equal
to a 1000 months or 84 years. Allah
Azzawal said,
It is far better than a 1000 regular
months.
And,
It is better than a 1000 months. So
the scholars said if you are worshiping Allah
Subha Ta'ala on this night, if Allah gives
you tawfiq and you're doing acts of worship,
it will be better than doing that act
of worship continuously for a 1000 months
or for 84 years. Better than that.
The angels ascend descend
descend on this day, and that's similar to
what we were saying. The earth is packed
full with angels.
And the Ruuh is Jibril alayhi salam. And
one of the amazing things is that Jibril
alayhis salam, since the passing of the Prophet
salallahu alayhi salam,
he doesn't have any reason to come down
to earth. He doesn't come down to earth
because there's no revelation
to to bring down upon anyone.
So they said, this is such a great
night that Jibril alayhi salam, Arruh Shadid al
Khoa, the leader of the angels,
the most powerful of the angels, he comes
down on this night. Only on this night.
They come down by the command and the
permission of their lord.
As that it is,
a a night of peace and a peaceful
night, which also entails that there is also
the best behavior and peace amongst the believers
until the fajr comes. And Nabi salallahu alaihi
wasalam was once told by Jibril
when the latest Al Qadr is, and he
said he was coming to tell the believers
and on the way he saw 2 people
having,
2 2 men fighting with each other. He
said, so I was caused to forget it.
And the scholar said it's not befitting that
the the night that is supposed to be
a night of peace and peaceful has any
type of fighting or or that kind of
indication in it.
So now the the important question becomes,
when is Laylatul Qadr? And then the other
thing we want to answer is, what do
I do
for these 10 nights and what do I
do if it is laylatul Qadr?
We have
so much evidence, all of it authentic,
and
for the most part you can say conflicting.
We have
Abu Sa'id al Khudr narrating that the prophet,
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, mentioned that
aft when it's late to Khadr, the fajr
of that night, he's going to be making
sujud
on water and mud. It
rained that night,
and when the prophet got up from sujud
after fajr, they saw some,
like the signs of mud that he had
made sujud on mud and there was some
water. So So Abu Sa'id al Khudawi mentions
this and that happened to be the 21st
of Ramadan.
And then there's another narration about him saying
the same thing about happening on the 23rd
of Ramadan.
Then we have Ubayb Nukab radiAllahu anhu swearing
that it was on 27th. He swore by
Allah that it's on 27th of Ramadan. Then
we have Abdul Abnu Amar saying that it's
on 24th
of Ramadan. Then we have the majority opinion
that it is,
on,
the the it shifts every year. Yeah. And
last year it was on 21st, this year
it's on 25th, next year 27th, and so
on and so forth. And then others, so
minority opinion, say that it's the same night
every single year.
The whole point
is that,
the prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam also indicated in
Samadhi that it is more likely to be
on the,
odd,
or odd nights. And then another narration mentions
it's more likely to be on the 7th
on the last 7th. So it could be
before that. That
you
seek it in the last 7.
The whole point
is for
the servants of Allah azzuajal
to put effort in the last 10.
Because if you try to to use math
and pinpoint where it's gonna be, you're not
gonna you're not going to settle upon anything
that is certain. So the whole point is
for people to put effort
in all the 10,
trying to seek it out.
So there are a number of things. So
then, what should we do and how do
we seek it and how do we balance
that with work and other things?
And the point is to put whatever effort
you're able to do, whatever you're capable of
doing. Yeah. And no one is asking anyone
to break their neck and to stay up
all night and to go to work and
to come back and stay another night and
things of that sort. Everybody knows their schedule.
Everybody knows what they can bear.
And you are able to make put a
combination of different acts of worship.
So you're going to pray, you're going to
make dikr of Allah azza wa Jal, You're
going to recite Quran. You're going to make
dua to Allah azza wa Jal. Aisha
when she asked
the Prophet
if it is Leil al Qadr, and if
I know it's Leil al Qadr. And so
the scholar said something
that you might also get a sense when
it's Leil al Qadr, because Aisha said, if
I figure out that it's little Qadr, if
I know,
you know, through a a feeling of peace
or what have you, what should I say?
And the prophet tells her to say,
In this place and this time, if you
feel and if you know and if even
if you don't know, it's,
you're asking Allah
for
to be pardoned.
And the scholar said there is nothing that
is heavier on the believer
than their sins.
And so we're badly in need of our
sins to be forgiven and to be removed.
So in this place here,
An Nabi salallahu alaihi wasalam is telling Aisha
to ask for the highest level, not just
for forgiveness
where your
the sin
is
pardoned,
but it's still in your records. But for
the highest level, al-'Afu, where it's not even
mentioned in your records.
So but that doesn't mean that Aisha
meant that she's just going to sit all
day or all night and just make that
dua
because we said that the qiyam, which is
means the salah. So you're between salah and
dhikr and du'a
and Quran
and making this specific du'a that the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam said, and everyone just do
does whatever they can.
And what if my work schedule is so
difficult, it doesn't allow me to do all
ten play. In this case, if you are
given the option between the odd nights and
the even nights, what would you do? Play.
Someone is so busy, then focus on your
your odd nights.
And then to throw some further confusion,
What if one country fasts a day before
another country?
And then that year, 27th Ramadan,
is
For the other country, it will be on
26th.
So the scholars say it could even be
on uneven. So the whole point is for
us to put effort.
Ask Allah for His forgiveness. Indeed, those who
ask for His forgiveness shall prosper.
One of the last things I wanna mention
in the in the case of sisters, if
it's,
if they've just given birth postpartum or if
they if if it's
their time of menses,
a lot of them also start to panic.
Like, what do I do if it's that
time for me? And the answer is, as
we mentioned, it is a combination of different
acts of worship. Prayer is not the only
thing that you're able to do on that
night, You are able to stay up
and make dua to Allah, azzawajal.
So there are other things you can do,
but the whole point is that Allah Azza
wa Jal wants to see efforts from His
servants. He wants to see you try. And
if you,
even if you
you try
and you don't necessarily
break records with your qiyam and break records
with the amount of aza that you recited,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala also understands your situation,
your schedule,
and Allah azzawajal is a shakir and a
shakuram. That's such an important description of Allah
azzawajal
because it means he appreciates whatever you do.
He even if you put little forward, Allah
appreciates it. And Allah, if we didn't understand
this about Allah Azzawal,
we would belittle everything we would do. We
would feel why why would Allah appreciate this
for me? This is nothing. But Allah is
a shakr and shakur. He appreciates
whatever you do. And that's why you do
a good deed instead of writing it as
1, he multiplies it by 10, then multiplies
it by 7, then multiplies it by 10,
then multiplies it by
with that, we ask Allah
to make us of those who recognize the
truth as clear truth and follow the best
of it, and to make us of those
who recognize falsehood as clear falsehood and abstain
from it.