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| Huffington Post - Ramadan Reflection Day # Day 26: In Search of Laylat al-Qadr |
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This Ramadan, Imam
Khalid Latif, Executive Director and Chaplain of the Islamic Center,
will for a second year in a row be keeping a daily journal for the
Huffington Post. His twenty-fifth article, entitled "Ramadan Reflection Day 26: In Search of Laylat al-Qadr" was published earlier today. To read the entire article in full, please click here Please share with your friends and networks and leave a comment on the Huffington Post website  Imam Khalid Latif is blogging his reflections during the month of Ramadan, featured daily on HuffPost Religion. For a complete record of his previous posts, click over to the Islamic Center at New York University or visit his author page, and to follow along with the rest of his reflections, sign up for an author e-mail alert above, visit his Facebook page or follow him on Twitter. Alhamdulillah, I have the good fortune of taking a group of people from our Islamic Center at New York University and different parts of the United States to Mecca every year in March for a pilgrimage called Umrah. It is made up mostly of rituals taken from the life of the Prophet Abraham, peace be upon him, and his family and takes less time in comparison to the Hajj. This past March when we went, it seemed to be a lot more crowded than usual. I stood in the middle of the Grand Mosque and looked upwards and found myself surrounded my millions of people. I felt really tiny at that moment. Here I was, in the midst of this huge gathering of people from all over the world, each coming with the purpose of connecting to the Divine. How then could I expect my voice to be heard? The question answered itself immediately as the next thought told me something that took away the anxiety and reignited my motivation for being there. My prayers would be heard. Despite all of these people, and many throughout the world, calling upon God, my voice would not be drowned out, and neither would anyone else's. What an empowering thing to know, that God hears me when I call upon Him. Subhanallah. "And your Lord says, 'Call upon Me; I will respond to you.'" -- The Holy Qur'an, (40:60)
In these last few nights of Ramadan, Muslims all over the world will
be forgoing sleep to stand into the late hours of the night asking of
their Creator. The Qur'an tells us of Lalyatul Qadr, the Night of
Destiny, in which one night of worship is equivalent to 1000 months.
This night is said to be the night that the Qur'an was initially
revealed to the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. Indeed, We sent it down during Laylatul Qadr Many Muslims will give emphasis to the 27th night of Ramadan being Laylatul Qadr, but the opinions on what day it is varies. The Qur'an doesn't mention a specific date for Laylatul Qadr and the Prophet Muhammad's recommendation to, "Seek it in the last 10 days, on the odd nights," indicates the importance of searching for it. I would recommend for those observing to take advantage of every night remaining and if we are amongst those who find ourselves in Ramadan next year, to stand in every night that we possibly can....to continue reading please click here |