9.4. Some Other Deeds to be Performed During the Night-of-Power
(Lailatul-Qadr)
1. It is up to the prudent wayfarer to ofter two rak'ats of prayer
(salat)
each one of the Nights-of-Power; in each rak'at after surah, the opening
(al-Hamd), should recite surah, the
Sincerity
(al-Ikhlas) for
seventy times, and after salutation,, should recite:
"
Oh Allah! Forgive me
and accept my repentance. "
And then should ask about his wants and desires.
2. Then he should offer 100 rak'ats special
prayer for the Night-of-Power,
and in between should recite the supplications which
have been left by the Sinless ones
(M'asumin A.S) — the prayers which
are extremely precious and valuable,
contain most subtle discourses,
delicate points and exalted learnings about Allah (the glorious, the
exalted), His characteristics, sacred names, generosity and beneficence,
wisdom and justice, divine will and destiny, etiquettes and manners of
supplicating Allah; all of which are heavenly revealed, and except prophets
and imams, who learned them through
revealations, no one else has access to them.
9.4.1. Comments About the Prayer's Etiquettes
Of course, it should not be forgotten that these supplications should
he recited in the state of being
completely awake, aware, conscious, and with a live heart; blessed is
the one whose recital of this prayers with a live
( 160 )
heart is influential upon his heart and soul; whatever is uttered by his
tongue is also accepted by his heart and soul; that if for these
supplications there do not exist any reward and blessing, except only this
effect upon his heart and soul, even then it merits, and one should mobilize
all his energy, strength, efforts, and
all over crusade with heart and soul in order to
accomplish this effect. But in addition
to that for each word and phrase
there are rewards, blessings, and illuminations — the rewards and
blessings which no one has the capacity to measure them.
Therefore, the one whose recital of
these supplications do not produce any effect upon his heart and
soul, at least should recite them
consciously, should ponder about their meaning, must endeavor in order
to comprehend as to what did he
read, what did he say, and what did he want, lest he recite them with
negligence with the tip of his tongue, like the
magicians who utter nonsense meaningless
words from the tip of their tongue, without knowing what is being
uttered, what is said, and what is wanted by him.
And the one whose recital of these
suplications neither influences his heart and soul, nor he hesitates
in their recital; does not even care to
understand their meanings, instead of reciting these supplications, should
cry about his own worst condition and should shed tears upon this
heavy tragedy — the tragedy of not
receiving divine grace in supplications; his being unable to
appreciate these supplications, and not being able to be influenced by them,
should recite the following sentence several times:
"
We are from
Allah and towards him is our return. "
— the Holy Qur'an
(2:156).
Which is recited at the time of
occurrence of a tragedy, further he should say: I seek refuge in
Allah from this tragedy, which is horrible and would bring a severe
punishment.
In a divine tradition, it has been
mentioned about the characteristics of next-worlders:
( 161 )
"
Their prayers ascend upwards and reaches
to Allah, their words are accepted, and
Allah so much likes to listen to their prayers the way a mother likes
her own child. "
Therefore, we should be careful and
should ponder about this sentence:
"
Their prayers ascend
upwards. "
Is not it shameful that the prayers which ascend upward should be
recited from the tip of the tongue, while
the heart and soul remain occupied
in wordly affairs? Is not it disgusting that we seek Allah (the
glorious, the exalted), from tongue and seek world by heart — the world
which in traditions has been called as
Allah's enemy as well as the enemy of His friends? Is not it
helplessness and disobedience that our tongue's tip
remains busy in his remembrance while the
heart takes off towards the world? Is there exist any heavier tragedy
than this one?
3. Open the Holy
Qur'an, recite its special prayer, place it upon your head, and your
intention in doing so, in addition to showing respect and regards to the
Holy Qur'an, should be that through this means, reason and thoughts become
strengthened and the illumination of reason becomes perfected with the
illumination of the Holy Qur'an.
4.
The pilgrimage
(ziyarat) of the Lord of the
Martyres
Imam al—Hussein (A.S.)
should be recited during this night, some other
Ziyarat-nameh which have been narrated by
the Sinless Imams (A.S.) should also be recited.
5.
The recital of
surahs
al-Rum, al-Ankabut,
and
al-Dukhan from the Holy Qur'an should not be forgotten on the
night of twenty third of Ramadhan.
6. The special supplications which have been narrated should be recited,
especially, the supplications, which has been quoted in the book of Iqbal
from some authentic books and begins as follows:
( 162 )
"
Oh Allah! If, about this night and
the nights before, there is a doubt or
reluctance in their being the Nights of Power, but regarding,
Thee, Thou unity (towhid), and that
because of Your exaltedness and magnanimity, You will purify your
servant's deeds — there is absolutely no doubt. "
If, one could discover truly the meanings
of the above content that in Allah (the glorious, the exalted), and
in His unity there is absolutely no doubt and contradiction — indeed he has
received a good reward for his worship
of this night. Also, one should not forget recital of short prayer
which has been mentioned in the book of
Iqbal quoted from Imam al-Sajjad (A.S.) and which starts from:
"
0 Intrinsic Fundamental (Secret)
evident in His Expose intelligible
expression (Manifest), and 0 Rational Exposition (Manifest) leading
to His genuine quintessential ( Secret). "1
Which, while being short is a very subtle
Monotheistic prayer worth of reciting.
9.4.2. Comments About the Importance of
Ahlul-Bait's (A. S.) Supplications
I swear that if we did not achieve any benefit from the existence of Sinless
Imams (AS.) except these very higher learnings, subtle themes, and
delicate points regarding Monotheism — which they have explained
1— This prayer has also
been mentioned in the book of
Mafateh al—Jinan of Haj Shiek
Abbas Qtimi in the deeds of 23ird night of
Ramadhan [Author].
( 163 )
to us, even then it would have been desirable to mobilize all our efforts
and strength for their thanks and
appreciation, while accepting and admitting, that these thanks and
appreciations would not be sufficient to
compensate for that great blessing, and whatever we do, we would never
ne able to thank for that great blessing — the way it aught to be
thanked.
7. One should not forget to select a period for having a private union between
himself and his creator and during this period should concentrate his
mind and soul at this point that Allah (the glorious, the exalted),
is completely aware of his helplessness and disobedience as well as
is able to rescue him from this wretchedness, because his generosity, magnanimity,
love, and kindness do not have any
limits; then he should tie his hopes towards His threshold of
generosity and benevolence, should look forward towards His blessings and bounties, and
should listen carefully to the breezing of the breeze of His love.
9.4.3. A Reminder
Yes! Congratulations and thousands of congratulations for the one who
was able to have the divine grace of performing correctly whatever
was described. But the one who did not have the divine grace of
performing all of them, lest be tricked by Satan and through acceptance of
his whispers, in which he says:
"
You are not the one who could perform
all these tedious worships, the way they aught to be performed, therefore,
it makes no sense to bother your self
leave it and do your own things, because, their incomplete
performance would not bring any reward for you. "
In this manner he would quit performing whatever he could have performed, would
close upon himself the path of salvation and righteousness forever, and with this
negligence and cheating would entangle himself into serious disaster.
Therefore, he should not pay
( 164 )
attention to these Satanic whispers and should not show any negligence in
perfoming whatever he could perform, even if it happens to be quite
insignificant, because, deeds and worships however smaller they might be,
possess illumination and reward, would enable the doer to have the divine
grace for performing another deed and worship, which
quite often helps the person to be able to perform complete worship.
Be aware that Satan does not have any other aim and objective
except to keep you away from Lord's
obedience and to cut off your's bonds
of servant hood. It should not ne
forgotten that paying attention to Satanic whispers results in heart's
darkness, which in turn makes a person lazy and disappointed in performance
of Allah's worship; disappointment from performance of deeds and worship
results in renunciation of some of the
worships; renunciation of some of the
worships results gradually in
renunciation of all the worships; renunciation of all the worships results
in our eaternal degradation and
doom, except that Allah's generosity rescues
us, so that we practice abstinence in
following Satan, and because of
abstinence from Satan's following, our heart become illuminated, thus
having the divine grace for worship and
servant hood.
Yes, the prudent believer, lest
underestimate his good deed, no matter how insignificant it may be,
or may consider even a tiny portion of it
as insignificant and worthless, and with such presumption renonuces it;
that such behavior would not
accomplish any thing except loss and
damage. (similarly considering his good
deeds as big and with such presumption getting himself involved in to
self-conceit).
Also, lest he renounces a good deed
because he is not able to perform it, instead, he should perform it,
as much
as
possible; of course, after performance of
a deed be it small or big, he should regard it as
insignificant while comparing it with
Allah's exaltedness. Because, the
deed and worship, regarded as insignificant by the servant are considered
as much bigger by Allah (the
glorious, the exalted), who very often looks at
it positively, and accepts it from his
servant, and what
is
important and useful
for the servant is — that Allah (the glorious, the exalted), accepts
his deed, and not its being small or
big, because He does accept quite
insignificant deed, rewards handsomely, and this acceptance and rewards
( 165 )
mean infinite gains for the doer. On the contrary, plenty of deeds which
aren't accepted by Him don't mean any thing for the servant. Didn't Allah
(the glorious, the exalted), accept a little worship and repentance from
Prophet Adam (A.S.) but reject plenty of
worships from Satan, and order him to leave the Celestial-kingdom
forever?
Therefore, from this consideration lest, one may regard his deed and
worship as big and looks at it with appreciation and astonishment, even
though if he has performed worship equivalent to the worships performed
through all humans and angels; because cosidering one's own worshiping
as great does not have any gain except its being ruined, and worst then
that, it changes deed's
illumination into darkness. Similarly lest he regards
a little deed and worship as worthless and may renounce it, because, so
often Allah (the glorious, the exalted), accepts a small deed, and with his
acceptance makes it a lot.
9.4.4. Comments About the Prayers of Others
Whatever has been described so far to strive hard to have more
sincerity and truth and to consider deeds and worships as small and
insignificant was about the deeds and worships which some one performs
for himself; and all this emphasis is because of the reason, that no one
should like and accept about himself any thing, except, the deeds and
worships which are performed with sincerity, and should not account for
whatever is not done with truth and
sincerity, rather should see it as sinning and transgression. But
lest he regards and presumes so about the deeds and worships of others,
because underestimating others deeds not
only doesn't produce any gain — the gain which is obtained for
underestimating one's own deeds — rather is detrimental, because it produces
the background whereby others become discouraged and
( 166 )
disgusted
with respect to their deeds and worships, thus the doors of
goodness and prosperity becoming closed upon them.
Therefore, from this consideration to
treat others deeds and worships
in this manner is not allowed, instead, for appraisal of others
deeds their very apparent value should be
considered as genuine. Or even
higher than this, Allah's generosity and magnanimity should be considered
as criteria, and should be
presumed so, that very often Allah (the glorious,
the exalted), because, of his generosity
and magnanimity might accept their
deeds, even if they are not accompanied with truth and sincerity.
Also, we should consider the possibility
that perhaps Allah (the glorious,
the exalted), because of His kindness and love towards the servants, might
accept and grant their prayers, even if they are recited from the tip of
their tongue, and not from the
depth of their souls. Therefore, from this
consideration lest we disappoint and
discourage an Allah's servant from
His blessing and forgiveness.
And
thus with such undesirable conduct make him discouraged and
with respect to his deeds
and worships, ultimately resulting in his quitting
worship and servitude. Even if his deeds
and worships are not sincere, and
are mixed with some undesirable things,
it is not to far that this very
apparent and superficial deeds and worships — if are not renounced
suddenly — performed by a servant would
become the basis for breezing the
cold breeze of Allah's grace over him, thus, blowing the spirit of reality
in the spiritless skeleton of his
worships; the illumination of reality radiating upon his soul in such
a manner that he would suddenly became transformed, gaining access to the
real worship and the reality of worship, from that superficial worship, and
attaining righteousness, salvation, and
eternal prosperity. I even believe that if an intoxicated sodomite in the
state of intoxication, if would
cry oh Allah! And besought Him for help, He would reply him.
( 167 )
9.4.5. The Night of Twenty Seventh of Ramadhan
It has been reported from Zaid bin 'Ali (AS.) that his father Imam
al-Sajjad (AS.) used to recite the
following prayer from the beginning till the end of the night, on the
night of twenty seventh of Ramadhan:
"
Oh Allah please bestow upon me the divine
grace so that I become disgusted with this world — the House of deception —
and become attracted towards the
Hereafter—the House of Eternity — and before the arrival of my death,
should make myself readied for the journey towards the Next-world. "
9.4.6. The Commentary—World Being the House-of-Illusion
(Dar al-Ghroor)
A little bit of pondering and meditation about
the above-mentioned supplication, would reveal this delicate point that in
accordance with the Qur'anic verses,
traditions narrated from the Sinless Imams (A.S.), and whatever has
been
, spiritually contemplated by the mystics, this world is
altogether deceitful and whatever we see, in reality isn't as it appears to
be, rather it is like a mirage, which is
misleading. Therefore, from these
considerations it has been called as the
House-of-Arrogance
(Dar al-Gharoor) and the
House-of-Deception
(Sarai-Farib).
Perhaps
acceptance of this point might be hard for some, and they may not
accept it easily that whatever is being seen by them in reality is
( 168 )
not,
what it appears to be, rather mistakenly they see a thing as something
else. But there are situations, where human perception makes a
mistake in seeing a thing something else, e.g. a spoon inside a glass of tea
appears as broken spoon. If we think,
ponder, and pay attention that this mistake of
human sight — whose being a mistake,
there is the least contradiction
with other sights which are not mistakes, at least in appearance doesn't
differ at all.
With this analogy, we can
therefore conclude, that seeing a thing as something else — even
contradictory to what it is suppose to be — is a phenomenon whose occurrence
is possible, and is not an impossible
phenomenon. And if the traditions describe that our perceptions, see
world and its phenomenons mistakenly as
things — which in reality they are
not — then with reference to the above-mentioned analogy, such
occurrence and its reality should also be acceptable i.e., the reality that
whatever we see in this world, is not, what it appears to be. Following are
some of the traditions relevant to this matter:
1. The traditions which mention the speaking of lifeless solid
material, like the speaking of stone pebbles upon the Prophet's (S.A.W.)
hands. Inspite of the fact that our senses do not accept the speaking of
stone pebbles and
other soild bodies.
2. The traditions which describe the
conditions of graves, that some of the graves are full of joy like
green pastures, while some of them are like
the trenches full of blazing fires,
inspite of the fact that human senses do not see the graves as such.
3. The
traditions which describe the role of angels in directing the world's
phenomenons, while our sense of perception does not see them.
4. The
traditions which mention that the sustenance of all worldly existence
including, solids, plants, and animals comes from the Celestial -kingdom,
while our sense of perception do not see such thing.
All
these traditions describe this point, that in this world, there are
plenty of phenomenons which are not perceived by our senses, or are
perceived in a different
manner. Yes! This world is named as the Houseof-Arrogance
(Dar al —Gharoor), because its phenomenons do not manifest themselves
to us the way they really are; rather manifest
( 169 )
themselves with forms which do not show
reality; with perspectives which lack authenticity, with essence which like
turning faces disappears; with stability which is altogether in motion; with
realities which like mirage, are imaginations and hallucinations. It deceits
its lovers, and present itself to them in a charming manner; only for the
believers — for whom the wordly
materialistic veils have been removed from their esoteric eyes — the
world manifests itself, the way it
actually is, and they see world's
phenomenons the way they really are.
Removal of worldly materialistic veils from the heart's esoteric
eyes, as have been mentioned in the above-mentioned tradition means:
" Becoming disgusted
with the House-of-Arrogance. " And seeing the worldly phenomenons
the way they are, means:
" Becoming attracted
towards the House-of-Eternity. "
Since, Allah (the glorious, the exalted),
has spreaded his blessings and
forgiveness more than any other period, during these esteemed nights
for his servants, and has invited them
for worship, obedience and sitting down upon the table of his generosity it
is a must for the servants to pay
more attention towards the etiquettes of these nights, by engaging
themselves in to worshiping and
vigilance, they should look forward
hopefully towards His generosity and
magnanimity, and should not be
negligent in remembering, that during these nights Satan too tries hard,
more than any other period, to keep us away from worship, vigilance,
and being benefited from Allah's blessings and favors.
( 170 )
9.4.7. How to Farewell the Night-of-Power (Lailatul-Qadr)
As was described for the other important and
esteemed nights, the Night-of-Power
(Lailatul — Qadr) should also be farewelled exactly
in
the similar manner, i.e. at the end of the
night, one should resort
(tawassul)
to the Impeccable ones the M'asumin
(A.S.) — to whom that night
belongs — should submit his deeds and worships to those exalted ones,
with a heart broken with grief and shedding tears, should request them to
make those deeds as righteous, and should
intercede with Allah (the
glorious, the exalted), for their acceptance, and thus making them as
fruitful.
9.4.8. The Day-of-Power (Qadr)
It should be understood that in
accordance with the traditions both the night and day are interconnected, as
far as their worth, value, esteem,
and splendor are concerned, i.e. if the
day is esteemed and honorable, the
night of that day also possesses the same
distinction and vice versa.
Therefore, we must appreciate the importance of the Days-of-Power and
like the Nights-of-Power, should celebrate them by sincerely performing
worships and righteous deeds.
