The Importance of the Last Ten Days of Ramadan
Amr Khaled
Translated by www.daralislaamlive.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In this lecture we will discuss the most important ten days of the year. It is very important that we mentally prepare ourselves for these coming days. How are you going to receive these ten days? What are your intentions? What are you planning on doing? We will be talking about the Night of Al-Qadr (Night of Power) and what we should do. Let's start about talking about how Laylat Al Qadr came about. It is the night that our prophet Muhammad received the Qur'an.
Let's go back to the past and see what the first laylat Qadr was like. The prophet Muhammad said that it happened while he was in a cave praying to God and remembering Him by looking at God's creations. This was perhaps one of the nights where the Prophet was closest to God. That night the angel Gabriel approached him and covered the entire sky. Wherever the Prophet looked he found Gabriel filling the sky. Gabriel said to him, read. The Prophet replied and said that he did not know how to read. Gabriel then took Muhammad (P.B.U.H.) and hugged and pressed on him so hard the Prophet thought he was going to die, and then finally Gabriel let him go. Gabriel repeated himself and told our prophet Muhammad to read. Muhammad (P.B.U.H.) gave him the same answer and said that he could not read. Gabriel then once again took Muhammad, hugged and pressed on him so hard that he though he was going to die then let him go. Again, the angel repeated the command and told Muhammad to read. Muhammad for the third time gave the same answer and once again. Gabriel repeated his action of hugging and pressing. Muhammad was so afraid that finally he asked the angel what he should read. Gabriel answered and said for Muhammad to read, "Read! In the Name of your Lord Who has created (all that exists). He has created man from a clot. Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous." And then Gabriel disappeared.
Why did things start like this? Why didn't the angel just speak to Muhammad and tell him gently that he was going to be God's messenger? The cave where Muhammad prayed was far away and it was difficult to climb to and reach. The situation was even made more difficult because Gabriel approached Muhammad at night and not during the day, "Verily, We have sent it (this Qur'an) down in the Night of Al-Qadr." Why did God subject Muhammad to all of this? The beginning had to be strong and powerful because the task that Muhammad was up against was not easy. We also must try to start the night of Al- Qadr the way Gabriel started it with Muhammad. This is a serious matter and we are approaching the most important 10 days of our lives. None of us can guarantee that we will live to see the following Ramadan.
Think about the most important day of your life. Was it the day you graduated? The day you got married? No, the greatest day of your life is the day when you are written to be from the people of Heaven. The Night of Al- Qadr can give you that.
What can we gain from this night and from the last 10 days of Ramadan? We do not know for a fact that the Night of Al- Qadr is on the 27th of Ramadan, but we do know for sure that it is amongst the last 10 days of Ramadan.
There are four main benefits to the Night of Al-Qadr:
1. "The Night of Al-Qadr is better than a thousand months." Worshipping Allah in that one night is better that worshiping him a thousand months. A thousand months is 83 years and 4 months. The average life expectancy of the Prophet and his followers was about 70 years of age. So worshiping Allah in this one night is better than a lifetime worth of worship.
2. Supplication in this night is accepted and granted. This is for several reasons, one of the reasons is that in this night, "Therein descend the angels and the Ruh (Gabriel) by Allah's permission with all Decrees." It is a night filled with mercy and the angels are all around. Don't forget to supplicate and make duaa that Allah keeps you away from the hell fire and gives you a place in heaven. Make sure you also supplicated for Muslims all over the world, as well as for yourself and family.
3. On this night all of your past sins are forgiven. Can you imagine? Everything that you have done in the past that was wrong gets erased and you start a new page. Scholars have agreed that all of the sins, no matter how great, can be forgiven on this night. This means that some of us will go to the Eid prayer with souls that are whiter than our gowns. These worships in the last 10 days must be done with the intentions of obeying and pleasing Allah, it is not enough to just stand there or read Qur'an without knowing what it is that you are reading or what it is that you are really saying while you are praying.
4. In this great night it is possible for us to be freed and liberated from the hell fires. This is not limited to those of us who are the most righteous or trustworthy, but it is possible for anyone to achieve this. This is a month where the beginning is merciful, the middle is forgiveness, and its end can help us become liberated from the hell fires. The reason for this is that most of us enter Ramadan with many bad deeds in our scale that may create a huge gap between Allah and us, so we need for the beginning to be merciful. This mercy then leads to the middle of the month, which is filled with forgiveness, which in turn takes us to the last ten days of the month. We are like workers in a factory; we work so hard and are given our wages at the end of the month. We all need to work for our wages, and do our best work throughout the entire month. If you can just imagine something with me here, some of us have done so many bad deeds and are walking down a dangerous path, a path away from Allah's instructions. We have so many bad deeds' that they have formed imaginary chains around our necks. These chains so long and in the end, they lead to hell. So then the Night of Al- Qadr arrives and Allah finds us praying and worshipping him, in this night we can be liberated and freed from this chain. Remember, once you are freed, you will never be chained again. Once you are freed you will start changing and you will not walk down the same path filled with mistakes again.
Do you see why these last ten days are important? On these days, the Prophet used to liven up these nights. Each one of us in these last ten days should come up with a personal schedule to liven up our nights and please Allah. The Prophet use to stay up all night worshipping Allah. He also woke up his family in these last 10 day. These days are for both genders so women should also be up all night worshipping Allah. What should our schedules include?
1. The Taraweeh prayers. We should attend to these prayers with all seriousness and not miss a single night of it.
2. Read Qur'an. Have you already finished reading it? If yes then why not finish it again in the last 10 days? If you have a lot of work or a lot of studying then read as much Qur'an as you can and continue studying or working. Just because it is Ramadan doesn't mean that students should fail or that people should go to work in the morning half asleep. We need to learn how to coordinate in these last ten days and it really is not as hard as it may seem. It just needs determination and good time management. Eat a little less, sleep a little less, concentrate more and do not waste any time. Do not waste any precious minutes and Allah will be by your side to help.
3. The Tahajod or Qiyam prayer. This prayer does not necessarily have to be done in the mosque. You can pray it on your own, with your friends or family in your own home. Give it a try; you can even finish the Qur'an in these prayers. Have a set of goals that you can achieve daily. How much of the Qur'an do you want to finish per day and you achieve this by also reading Quran during the Tahajod prayer. If you set a goal and your mind to it you can achieve this. You do not have to spend the night praying, just do what you can. If you can aim at praying from 7 to 9pm and again from 2 to 5am that would be wonderful, then you have livened up your night. And if this seems like too much then just do what you can and Allah will help you.
4. Charity. It is important that you give charity and it doesn't matter how rich or poor you are. You can give money, food, your old clothes, or whatever it is that you can offer.
5. Connect with your relatives; call your uncles, aunts, grandparents, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, cousins and second cousins. This will help you build a stronger familial unit and only help increase the love and care that you have will all those related to you.
At this point we have two more things to discuss. Firstly, and this is very important and we must try to implement today, before the first of the last ten days of Ramadan. Through Gabriel, Allah revealed to the Prophet which night is the Night of Al- Qadr. When the Prophet (P.B.U.H.) learned of the exact date of this night he became so happy and left his home and wanted to inform his followers. When he arrived at the mosque however, he found two men quarrelling at which point the Prophet actually forgot the date. What can we say? A quarrel between two men wasted our chance of knowing exactly when this great night was going to occur. Of course there is a moral behind this. Allah did this to show us that a simple fight between you and your brother can make you forget this night as well. That is why we all need to connect with our relatives. We need to forgive each other and rekindle lost or severed ties.
Let me tell you an interesting story. A man gave his brother 60,000 Egyptian pounds for a business that they could start together. The made arrangements, came up with the proper paperwork and pretty much agreed on everything. A couple of days later the brother called and said that he did not take any money. The 60,000 pounds were the man's life savings, and no matter what he did the brother still denied taking any money. The man then thought to himself, should he cut off ties with his brother or choose Allah? And he knew that Allah's mercy does not fall on those that cut or severe ties with their relatives. His choice was not between 60,000 pounds and Allah's mercy. The man then called his brother and told him that Allah ordered us to connect with our relatives, so forget about the 60,000 pounds and that he does not owe him anything. That night the man saw a vision of his sleep. In this vision, the Prophet told him to go and perform a Umrah with him. The Prophet then took him and then went around the Kaaba (tawaf). Then, days later, the brother called and gave the man his money back. We all need to forgive so that we can be forgiven.
Secondly, be aware of and stay away from disobeying Allah in the things that you do. And if there is something wrong that you are doing, which you keep doing, then stop and repent. If a guy and a girl are in an unlawful relationship then end it and repent before the last 10 days. If you are a girl who insists on not wearing the hijab then repent, how is that you want God to forgive all your sins when you insist on disobeying Him. If you are a man who insists on watching movies or shows, or Internet websites containing unlawful material then stop and repent. When God looks at you and wants to forgive you but finds that you insist on disobeying Him, He will then give this forgiveness to someone who is more deserving. Repent and leave the sins and get on the right path, the path of Allah.
The above is advice that we should all try to implement. We should do this along with the proposed schedule of worship, supplication, prayer, Tahajod, charity and reading Qur'an. Don't forget that the rewards are great. The reward is that your supplication will be granted, you will be freed from that chain that is leading you to the hell fire, your past sins will be forgiven and your reward will be greater than a thousand months of worship.
Here is another word of advice: whatever you learn from this lecture go and teach it to someone so that you can help guide someone while you are also helping yourself.
