Every Muslim is obliged to carry out acts of kindness in the upcoming “night of decree”, worshippers will be reminded on Friday.
In the last 10 days of Ramadan there is a special night, the night when the Quran was revealed and during which the angels descend to the Earth, prayers made to Allah are accepted, ranks are raised and previous sins are forgiven – that is “Laylat al Qadr” or the “night of decree”.
As Prophet Mohammed once said after Ramadan had begun: “This month has come to you, and in it there is a night that is better than a thousand months. Whoever is deprived of it is deprived of all goodness, and no one is deprived of its goodness except one who is truly deprived.”
Any good deed or act of worship conducted on that night, is counted as more than one thousand months of practising it.
The exact day when it falls has not been revealed, therefore Muslims are keen to spend the last 10 nights of the holy month in good work and prayers.
“The Almighty is close to those who pray to Him and listens to those who invoke Him,” the sermon continues.
A verse in the Quran says: “and when My servants ask you, (O Mohammed), concerning Me – indeed I am near. I respond to the invocation of the supplicant when he calls upon Me. So let them respond to Me (by obedience) and believe in Me that they may be (rightly) guided.”
During that night, Allah decrees people’s lots and provisions for the following year, as a Quranic verse says: “In that night is made distinct every precise matter.”
hdajani@thenational.ae
