The Night of a Thousand Months, NOT a thousand kuihs!

We have now come to the last ten nights of Ramadan, alhamdulillah. The Porphet SAW asked us to seek Lailatul Qadr in the odd nights of the last 10 nights. There is a whole surah in the Quran about this night (surah al-qadr):



(1. Verily, We have sent it down in the Night of Al-Qadr.) (2. And what will make you know what the Night of Al-Qadr is) (3. The Night of Al-Qadr is better than a thousand months.) (4. Therein descend the angels and the Ruh by their Lord's permission with every matter.) (5. There is peace until the appearance of dawn.) al-Qadr verses 1-5

Let us first explore what Lailatul Qadr means. Lailah means night in arabic. Al-qadr has a few meanings. We will discuss three of them here. Firstly, it can mean power like it is used in the oft heard phrase in the Quran 'Innallaha 'ala kulli syai-in Qadeer' i.e. Allah has Power of all things; it also has meanings pertaining to restriction and narrowness (this is the word Allah often uses when he speaks about restricting the provision of his slaves); and finally it can mean the Decree of Allah.

It is perhaps obvious why it would be called the Night of Power. It is better than a thousand months, and in it all the angels along with the Archangel Jibreel descend to earth with the permission of Allah. Jibreel's primary role is to bring down revelation from the heavens to the prophets. After the death of the Prophet SAW, there is actually no reason for the powerful and mighty chief of the angels to come down.  So him coming down every year on the night of Power along with the other angels is a big thing indeed. Perhaps too, the night is a demonstration of Allah's power and ability to do anything as He wishes. It is the night of abundant blessings, a night of forgiveness and there is no one who can question His will to bless the creation with such a night out of His infinite kindness.

How then is restrictiveness associated with this night? Some scholars have said that so many angels descend on that night that there is hardly any space for them to stand on earth. Their sheer numbers restricts the space on earth, hence the night of restriction. If such is the abundance of angels, then what of the blessings of the night, for where there are angels, there are blessings!

And finally, it is also called the night of decree because during this night, the Decree for all matters of the coming year are brought down. He says in surah Ad-Dukkhan:

﴿فِيهَا يُفْرَقُ كُلُّ أَمْرٍ حَكِيمٍ ﴾

(Therein is decreed every matter of decree.) (44:4)
And so it is imperative to make lots of dua' asking Allah to decree what is best for us in the coming year, and that He facilitates our affairs in the right direction.

The most important dua' of the night though is the dua' the prophet taught his wife 'Aisyah. Imam Ahmad recorded from `A'ishah, that she said, "O Messenger of Allah! If I find the Night of Al-Qadr what should I say'' He replied,

«قُولِي: اللْهُمَّ إِنَّكَ عَفُوٌّ تُحِبُّ الْعَفْوَ فَاعْفُ عَنِّي»

(Say: "O Allah! Verily, You are the Of the Pardoning, You love to pardon, so pardon me.'') Collected by Tirmidhi,Ibn Majah, An-nasa'i. Some scholars point out that 'afuww is slightly different from maghfirah (which is also forgiveness) in that 'afuww is forgiveness without having to go through the hisab/reckoning, whereas maghfirah is forgiveness after having to go through hisab in front of Allah, which is actually a very very terrifying experience given the fact that one knows while undergoing the hisab that at the end, one's place is either in Jannah or the Fire. Hence 'afuww is of a higher and better form of forgiveness, and that is why we should memorize the dua' and say it many times in the last 10 nights. Also, 'afuww connotates something in excess according to the verse in surah al-baqarah:


And they ask you what they ought to spend. Say: "That which is (spare) beyond your needs.'' al-Baqarah verse 219

So this dua' is not only about asking for forgiveness, but also about asking Allah to bless us with more than whatever we ask of Him, to give us an excess of blessings. Subhanallah! What a powerful dua'.


With such a fantastic bonus and barakah filled night for our benefit, which Allah has gifted to us out of His infinte Mercy, what a waste it is then if we do not seek it, spending the last 10 nights in prayer and other forms of worship. What a waste if instead of worship, we spend the night sleeping all the way to fajr, or going to Mydin and Kamdar for shopping (which is why some ustazs here often light heartedly remind us that the night is called lailatul qadr , NOT lailatulkamdar ), or making all sorts of kuih for personal or business purposes. Such a waste, it is almost sinful. Nay, it is indeed sinful, for the Prophet said ameen to the prayer of Jibril that those who are not forgiven after Ramadan has passed(i.e. they did not bother to take the opportunity to make use of this blessed month, especially the blessing of the night of Power), then such a person is doomed to enter the fire and is far from the mercy of Allah. Wal'iyazuillah.

If we remain heedless to such a grand blessing from Ar-Rahmaan, then I doubt there is anything in this world that can make us care about the fate of our souls in the Hereafter. What then is the end of such nonchalance and heedlessness, if not the Fire of Jahannam.

May Allah make us of those who appreciate His blessings and may He make us of those who take the opportunity to earn His pleasure and reward in this blessed month, especially on the Night of Power, Lailatul Qadr.