Mufti Menk – Ramadan & Beyond – Itikaf & Laylatul Qadr

			Assalamu Aleikum my brothers and sisters lay little cuddle is the Night of Decree it falls within
the last 10 nights of Ramadan. Did you know there was a time when the Prophet peace be upon him used
to spend his time in the masjid? The first 10 nights of Ramadan. With the idea of witnessing Laila
to cuddle, then he spent the second 10 nights of Ramadan in the masjid, known as a decaf, a decaf is
to confine yourself to the masjid. And to become free in order to worship Allah, meaning I've got no
other commitments. I'm just worshiping Allah, my prayer, my fasting, and my Quran, my vicar, and I'm
just in the house of Allah. If I interact, it's all good interactions, nothing negative about it.
		

			I'm cutting myself off from worldly items, to the best of my ability, obviously, you have to attend
to the call of nature and you have to eat and so on, but only for necessity would I leave and
quickly come back. Besides that, no leaving, I'm just sitting in this house of Allah Almighty. And
I'm going to reflect and ponder and worship Allah. So it happened the first 10 nights The idea was
to search for a little further, it happened the second 10 nights, the idea was to search for a
little other, it happened the third 10 Nights. Now that narration shows us that little cuddle could
be any night of Ramadan, but more likely in the last 10.
		

			And it shows us that it could be any one of the last 10 but more likely the odd nights.
		

			And then we learn that the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him was told what day it was. But because
of some people arguing that knowledge was lifted, so thereafter, he told us, it's one of the odd
nights. So perhaps it's more likely, more likely to be one of the odd nights of the last 10 nights
of Ramadan, and more likely to be the second half of those. So we're looking at 2527 29, more likely
2729 and some of the scholars say the 27th. But still, there is no certainty in that regard. The
idea is to search for the knight, the hero to look for Laila to incarnate to help the hero lay
little cadre, you search for this knight of decree fill with remedial action shouldn't our hearing
		

			Ramadan in the odd nights from the last 10 nights of Ramadan, so it is a sunnah to actually seclude
yourself in the masjid, in what is known as a decaf. So you have held yourself back in the masjid.
And like I said earlier for acts of worship, your prayer, your voluntary prayer, your vicar and
remembrance of Allah, the tilava and recitation of the Quran expanding your Islamic knowledge, doing
a lot of goodness from there, making sure you're fasting making sure you're seeking Allah's
forgiveness, spending the nights crying to Allah Almighty, and so on, reflecting over your ways and
habits with the idea of improving the good and decreasing the bad. That's the idea. And we're not
		

			supposed to backbite and slander not supposed to gossip not supposed to engage in anything futile or
anything that will earn the anger of Allah Almighty. So, this is known as a decaf. It is Sunnah and
it is sunnah upon the community that someone in the community would actually be in the masjid, for
at cough, try to make sure that in your communities someone is in that Masjid at least, so that we
can revive that beautiful sunnah. If it is to three people Alhamdulillah if it is more even better.
But remember, the idea again, is to seek the forgiveness of Allah. So there would be no point in
seeking the forgiveness of Allah if you continue in your sin and your bad ways. We need to become
		

			people who are conscious of what we're doing. That's where meditation comes in, to think and to
ponder over my own condition, how can I improve myself, you want to talk to someone they can help
you perhaps someone who has knowledge, someone who knows they could assist you to understand how you
could improve from the Hadith of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him and from the Quran. And in
that way, when you exit
		

			the aitikaf once the moon is sighted, you exit immediately, meaning it's over. You start off the
21st Night In some countries, it's already started and in some countries, it may be tonight, but you
end where the moon is sighted. So it's
		

			either nine or 10 My brothers and sisters, by the time we get out of a decaf Our lives should have
changed. May Allah Almighty help us to do this at least a few times in our lives, or at least just
once in our lives? It is something amazing many times in our masajid we see the same uncle's in the
masjid, doing this as decaf. And they should be people who join they should be younger blood as
well. May Allah grant us the acceptance, to engage in this and to be able to help and assist when it
comes to this aitikaf the ummah of Nabi Muhammad Sallallahu Sallam May Allah grant us every good and
forgiveness I mean, as salam aleikum wa rahmatullah.