“The night of power is
better than a thousand months.”
(Surah Al-Qadr, 97:1-5)
Often when we think of fasting in
Ramadhan, the first thing which comes to our minds is that we can’t eat or
drink, or that the fast is going to be long and the wether is going to be hot,
or that we will be too tired to go to work or to school. We always think about
the physical nature and element of fasting. And in doing so, we neglect the
more important part of fasting, the essence of fasting. And that is the
spiritual side, the side that Allah SWT wanted us to focus on, the side that
Allah Azza Wa Jal Himself emphasized in the Quran, in the famous verse :
“O you who believed,
fasting has been prescribed for you just as it was prescribed for those who
came before you so that you may achieve taqwa.”
(Al-Baqarah : 183)
So that you may achieve TAQWA. Not so that you can
lose weight. Not so that you can appreciate hunger or thirst only. Not so that
you may tire yourself out. But so that you may achieve TAQWA. This is the
understanding that the companions and the scholars of old had of fasting in
Ramadhan.
And that’s why Imam Malik r.a would stop teaching
hadith in the month of Ramadhan and focus on the Quran. That’s why Said Ibn
Jubair would complete the Quran every two nights in the month of Ramadhan. That’s
why Abdullah Ibn Umar r.a would spend the whole night in prayer in the month of
Ramadhan. And he would not break his fast unless there was a poor person eating
with him. That’s why what Al-Imam Az-Zuhri would do in the month of Ramadhanis
recite the Quran and give charity. And that’s why when Mu’adh r.a was on his
deathbed, he said that the thing that he would miss most from this dunya is
fasting the long hot summer days.
Imagine my dear friends in Islam, that now
it is raining good deeds. That Allah is blessing us with the shower of good
deeds. And there are literally millions of drops, but these drops are hard to
catch because they are so small. That’s how we should envisage the month of
Ramadhan. That’s how we should see the month of Ramadhan, as a unique
opportunity.
The last 10 nights of Ramadhan are fast
approaching on us. And this is the time when The Prophet SAW will do more not
less. This is when The Prophet SAW would tighten his belt, would up his gain,
and he would stay awake all night in worship, and then he would awake his
family.
In these last 10 nights of Ramadhan, we have
Lailatul Qadar. A night which is equal to a thousand months. A thousand months
is 83 years of good deeds from a single night of worship. A lifetime of worship
from a single night. Don’t waste this unique opportunity for non of us know
wether we would ever receive it again.
