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| Sunday, 14 November 2004 |
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Month of Ramadan is a great time for Muslims Laylat-al-Qadr (Night of Power) is the night in the year 610 AD in which the Holy Quran was revealed to the world. This night is great because of what the Holy Quran contains, an ideology a basis for values and standards and a comprehensive code of moral of social behaviour, all of which promote peace within the human soul and in the world at large. It's great because of the descent of the Angels and Jibril in particular by their Lord's permission carrying the Holy Quran which was first sent down on that night. Surah-Al-Qadr speaks about the 'great night' which the whole Universe marks with joy. It occurs during one of the last ten nights of the month of Ramadan for this reason the last ten days of Ramadan are taken to be spiritually beneficial nights. It is the right of perfect communion between this World and Highest Society. It is the night which marks the beginning of the revelation of the Holy Quran to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and the Divine mission. The surah describes the Night of Power as 'better than thousand months...peace until the rising of the dawn. Ayesha, the Prophet's (pbuh) favourite wife explained that Laylat-Al-Qadr (Night of Power) is the 'Soul of the Prophet' that is to say, since the Prophet (pbuh) is also all of creation in the form of a man, that night corresponded to his soul. A number of traditions specifying this night have come down to us. Some stress that its the twenty-seventh of Ramadan, other the twenty-first a few others say its one of the last ten days and some do not go beyond saying that it is in Ramadan. Human experience The month of Ramadan is a great time for Muslims. The whole month, they feel very near to Allah. Only those who fast know from personal experience that to deprive oneself of the pleasure of eating and drinking when hungry, being thirsty and tired on a long, hot summer days, does not make the fasting person bored on depressed. On the contrary, when he remembers that he is doing that solely to please Allah, he feels sense of satisfaction which is very rare in human experience but it is also very real. He is particularly happy because he is able to overcome even the most pressing of human desires which is closely intertwined with man's sense of survival. When man can overcome his strongest desires, then he becomes well trained in the art of placing duty before self-interest. When we reach this thirty days of Ramadan fasting we find that it progresses in a very subtle and gradual way to the high level of its last ten days and reaches its pinnacle with the Night of Power. Fasting itself works on man and enhances his sense of duty. As he goes on from one day to another, the significance of his hard experience becomes clearer and clearer. When we look today in retrospect after the lapse of numerous generations, at that glorious and happy night, and imagine the fascination celebration the world witnessed on that night, and ponder over the essence of revelation and it is far-reaching effects on human life and values. Alavi Mowlana states The Muslim Religious Affairs Advisor to President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga Al-Haj Seyd Alavi Mowlana (Governor, Western Province states that, We, the believers in Islam are commanded not to forget or neglect this event. The Prophet (pbuh) taught us an easy and enjoyable way to commemorate that night, so that our souls may always be in close communion with it and with the universal event which took place in it. He has urged us to spend this night of each year in devotion. He said: "Seek the Night of Power in the last ten nights of Ramadan. He who spends the Night of Power in worship, with a pure motive of faith and devotion, will have all his past sins forgiven." (SHAC) |
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