10. The Last Night of the Holy Month of Ramadhan
During this night there are few important deeds and one should
make his best endeavors for their performance as follows:
To offer ten
rak'ats of prayer for
acceptance of this month's deeds
and worships. In the book of
lqbal, it has been narrated
from the Holy Prophet (S.A.W),
that he has sworn that whoever offered
ten
rak'ats
of prayer during this night in the following manner:
"
The prayer should be offered with . a salutations after each
two (rak'ats); in each rak'at after Surah (al-Hamd), Surah (al
-.1khlas) should be recited ten times; and in each genuflexion (rukoo)
and prostration (sajood), recite the
four-praises (tasbihatul-arba) —10 times:
(subhan allahi wal hamdu lillahi wala ilahi illallahu wal lahu
akbar)
" Glory to Allah, all praises belong to Allah, and there is no
god but Allah, and Allah is Great. "
( 173 )
And after offering the salutations of
the last
rak'at should recite
the following phrase — one thousand times:
( Astaghfurellahi )
" I ask Allah to forgive me. "
Then in the end he should offer prostration by reciting the
following:
(Ya haiyo ya qaiyum, ya zul jalale wal
ikram, ya rahaman ad &min wal
akhra wa rahim hama, ya ilahil awwaalin wa al akhrin aghfir zunobena
wa taqabbal minna salavatena wa siamana wa qayamena.)
"
Oh Living, oh Self-existent, oh the Majestic and
Magnanimous, oh the Merciful in this world as well as in the
next-world, oh the Lord of the first and the
last, forgive our sins, and accept our prayer, fasting, and deeds. He
wouldn't even have raised his head from the prostration, but Allah would
bestow upon him his forgiveness, would
accept from him his Ramadhan's deeds and worships, and would pardon
his sins no matter how heavy they might
be, because of him would accept the worshiping of his neighbors, and in the
end the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) said: 'this is the special
gift for the men and of women o f my
community (ummah), and before me Allah has not given such gift to no
body. "
It would be desirable that all of us should do especially, those who
care about others reformation and refinement; because of their being
benefited from Allah's blessing of general compassion, they love to guide
others towards reformation, righteousness, truth, and perfection; for this
( 174 )
purpose
have selected the preaching as their profession, therefore, they
must be ahead of others in undertaking
this deed, because, the benefits which are gained by the people due
to the performance of this deed are far
greater than the benefits received by them in a preaching assembly.
Because, undoubtedly whatever is said in a preaching assembly does not
influence all the people present over
there what to say about its influence upon those who were absent and
did not listen to the preaching sermon.
But the reward of the above-mentioned
deed reaches to all the neighbors
living in that area, even if their number happens to be in thousands
or more. In addition to that the benefits which is gained by some one
through preacher is far insignificant as compared to the benefit of the
above-mentioned deed, i.e. forgiveness
for all their sins and acceptance of
all their deeds and worships performed
during the Holy Month of Ramadhan.
10.1. Questions and Answers
Perhaps, acceptance of whatever has been described above might be
difficult for some, specially, when there is a room for criticism regarding
the authenticity of this tradition. In reply it must be said: Yes! The
document of this tradition are not so authentic, but do not many
traditions narrate that for performance of recommended deeds, there is no
need that tradition's documents should be free from contradiction and be
absolutely authentic, and whoever has
performed the recommended deeds, described in a tradition — although with
less authentic documents — would receive the rewards mentioned
therein?
If again it is asked: we are not sure, may be for such type of traditions,
their proof of authenticity might not be needed, but how do we know that
Allah (the glorious, the exalted), would accept such a deed, and with
its reward would even pardon the people living in that area, so that we
should regard it as superior than preaching? The reply is, that this doubt is
also valid for preaching, where the possibility of nonacceptance is relatively
much higher, because the preaching is done in people's
( 175 )
presence;
therefore, is not safe form the danger of fame and egotism, and both these
factors play an effective role in making the deed contaminated
with the tan of hypocrisy, but the deed described above-mentioned is
perfomed in privacy and isolation, and therefore, remains immune from
being damaged through these two calamities.
10.2. Studying Imam al-Sajjad's (A.S.) Affairs
It is desirable to study and ponder,
whatever has been narrated about the actions, deeds, intensity of
repentance and obedience of Imam al-Sajjad
l (A.S.)during this
night, in order to find out, that such a noble and esteemed personality like
him, with all that piety, and spiritual grandeur,
present himself before Allah (the
glorious, the exalted), for repentance in this manner; therefore how
should we—with all this disobedience,
____________
1- Imam al–Sajjad (A.S.):
The son of Imam al-Hussein (A.S.) by the daughter of
Yazdigird the last Sassanid King of Iran was born in Medina on Saturday,
15th.
Jumada'-ula 36 A.H. He participated in Imam al Hussein's uprising and
accompanied his father to Karbala being a tragic witness to the tragic
event. After
his father's martyrdom he was made captive and taken from Karbala to
Kufa and from Kufa to Damascus. His speeches and protests on necessary
occasions made
manifest the worthiness and glory of Alhul-Bait (A.S.), the cruel
injustice suffered by his father, and
enormities perpetuated by the Yazid's Umayyads regime.
Imam al-Shafi considered Imam 'Ali ibn al-Hussien (A.S.) as the most supreme
jurist of all the people of Medina. His book
Al-Sahifah al-Sajjadiyah represents and
stands out as a profound social work of the time and a reflection of a
supreme
endeavor to meet the exigencies of spiritual ordeals facing the society at
the time of
Imam. He died at the age of 58, in Medina; poisoned by al Walid ibn Abdul
Malik ibne Marwan on 25 Muharram
95 A_H., and is buried in Jannatul Baqi Cemetery in Medina [Tr].
( 176 )
ingratitude,
indecency and intemperance — present ourselves before Allah (the
glorious, the exalted), for repentance and obedience.
" The great sayyid in the book of Iqbal has quoted from Imam
al-Sadiq (A.S.), that when the Holy Month of Ramadhan arrived, Imam
al-Sajjad (A.S.) did not admonish his male and female servants for
their mistakes, rather wrote all their mistakes in a diary. Then on the last
night of the Holy Month, he called all of them and
asked them to sit down around him, opened
his diary, called their names one
by one, saying: 'do you remember that on that day you made a mistake and I
did not admonish you?' The servant replied: `Yes! I do remember. Then
when he got all of then admitted their mistakes in this manner, he stood up
in their middle and said: 'all of you cry loudly saying: oh 'Ali bin
Hussein! As you have written our mistakes
in your note book, your's Lord has also written about your's
mistakes, and without even a single mistake being left out, has registerd
them in a special diary; a day will come when you will be scrutinized in His
presence the way we have come before you for scrutiny; now you should
forgive us and let us go, the way you desire Allah forgive you; you forgive us so
that He forgives you; you overlook upon us, so that He may overlook
upon you; you be kind to us so that He be kind towards you.
" Oh 'Ali bin Hussein! Here we are standing afraid in your ,presence,
you too should remember the Day when you would be
standing afraid in the presence of your Master; the wise and just Lord Who
would not overlook even the tiny deeds and would brought them for accounting; therefore,
you be generous to us, so that He too would be generous towards you on that Day.
" He uttered these words himself so that
they could repeat them, they too repetead these words with their
tongues loudly, while he was standing
among them, shedded tiers, cried, and said: 'oh Allah! You Yourself
has commanded to overlook and forgive those,
who have done wrong to me, oh Allah! I
have done wrong to my own self in accordance to Your command I have
forgiven and
( 177 )
overlooked those who have done wrong to me; You too should
overlook and forgive me, because, You are most deserving to
overlook and forgive; oh Allah! You have
commanded us not to oust the destitutes from our threshold; here we are
destitutes, who have placed our heads
upon Thy threshold, have put our hands upon the skirt of Your generosity,
our eyes are eagerly fixed upon Your love
and kindness, please do a favor upon us,
and do not oust us disappointed
and empty handed from Your threshold, because You are more deserving
for mercy and compassion among all.
" Then he looked upon them and said: 'I have forgiven you and have overlooked
your mistakes, now will you too over look me?
And if I was not a good master for you, will you forgive me? That I was
not a good, just, and generous master, but I myself is a servant of
an exalted, merciful, and compassionate Master.' Then they will
respond to him: 'oh our master! We have
overlooked and have forgiven you.' Then he said to them: 'please pray
and say: oh Allah ! Forgive 'Ali bin Hussein the way he has forgiven us;
make him free from the Hell's fire the way he has freed us from the servitude.'
" And they repeated these words upon their tongues, then he
himself said Amen and said to them: ' go away, I have forgiven you all, and
have made you free, so that my Master too may forgive me and make me
free.' In this manner he would make all of them free; since, the Day of Eid
ul-Fitr would have arrived, also bestowed upon
them gifts and rewards, so that they should not depend upon others for
their needs; and there was never a Ramadhan that in its last
night, he would not have freed more or less twenty of his slaves in this manner.
" He said: 'Allah frees seventy millions
sinners from the Hell on every
night of the Holy Month of Ramadhan, and on the last
night frees a number equivalent to the
sum of freed during all the nights, and I also like to free my
servants in this world, so that my Master also frees me from his punishment
on the Judgment-Day.' He never kept a slave for more than one year, if he
got a slave in the beginning or end of the year, freed him on the night of
Eid ul-Fitr,
( 178 )
brought
another one in his place, and when the Night of Eid
arrived again, freed him too, and he
practiced this method until! the end of his life. "
Yes! This was the method
practiced by Imam al-Sajjad (A.S.) for absorbing Allaha's blessing at the
Night of Eid ul-Fitr, and if we can not
properly execute his method in our lives, it would be desirable, to strive
our best to follow it to the extent it is possible. At least, we may
write in a diary the mistakes and
omissions committed by our children, relatives,
servants, and others, then on the
occasion of Eid ul-Fitr's night let us
overlook and forgive all of them and so
much better, if we look towards Allah (the glorious, the exalted),
and say:
Oh Allah! Mr. so on so,
Your's slave, did such and such wrong and transgression against me, but I
did not take revenge'; and similarly should
remember the mistakes and wrong of all of
them one by one, and then should say: oh Allah! You know it very well
that these slaves of your's, did these
wrongs to me, but as far as I was concerned, only for Your sake did
not stand against them, and did nothing
to take a revenge, with the hope that You too would keep Your wrath and
punishment away from me. Oh Allah! You Yourself has commanded us to
overlook and forgive others, therefore
You too should overlook and forgive us, because, You are far more
deserving for forgiveness and generosity as compared to all of us.
Oh
Allah! You are the one Who bestowed this divine grace upon me
to forgive those, who have done wrong to me, therefore please be
generous and do not deprive from Your forgiveness, because that divine
which you bestowed upon me is greater than this forgiveness.
Therefore, when you did
not deprive me from that greater blessing, please,
also do not disappoint me from being
blessed with your forgiveness too.
Oh Allah! You Yourself has commanded me
to respond to an act of goodness
in a much better way. I have forgiven those who had done wrong to me,
I am hopeful that You too will respond to my act of goodness with a
much better reward; would tree me from
Your punishment; with the alchemy of Your love, would replace my
evils in to many fold goodnesses, would increase my ranks; therefore,
complete Your generosity, and do not disappoint me from these wants.
( 179 )
Here, it should be reminded that not executing this method exactly,
the way described above, and simply paying heart's attention, although
might be useful and effective, nevertheless, its performance in the above
manner is far more effective and possesses many distinctions including:
A. As heart's attention towards a deed is considered only as heart's
worship, its execution and performance with tongue and other bodily parts
is considered as part's worships,
therefore, if we do it in the above manner
in addition to the heart's worship, we
would also have the worship of other body organs.
B. Further performance of a certain deed by a certain human body organ,
produces a special influence upon the heart, thus, exciting other
organ to perform other deed, which in itself creates a background for
another deed, and in this manner like a chain reaction, a continuous
reward is achieved by the worshiper. It
is obvious, that paying heart's attention only would never accomplish
such an auspicious happening.
C. Also performance of deed and worship
through bodily organs, have this good advantage that it might become
an ideal example and model, providing the relevant background for others,
who may also perform it, thus bestowing a reward upon us, because,
whoever is the pioneer of a decent tradition and desirable work,
every time some one would act in this manner, a reward would also
be bestowed upon the pioneer of that good tradition. In addition to that,
it provides a background, whereby the righteous and good deeds are
spreaded among others, as the method practised by Imam al-Sajjad (A.S.)
provided a background, thus enabling it to make its entry among others and,
thus encouraging them to perform it. Now, if Imam al-Sajjad (A.S.) instead of
performing it in this particular style, would simply have paid attention by
heart, then in that case, would we have any awareness about this method
today, and have practiced it ? Never.
( 180 )
10.3. Self-accounting
The other important deeds of this night is self's scrutinizing, and it would be so
much better and desirable that at the end of the month, the fast observing believer
should audit his investment and profit, exactly like the two partners who scrutinize
their investments and gains at the end of the day. He should look at his investment,
i.e. age, faith, blessings and illuminations of the Holy Month of Ramadhan and should
find out whether at the end of the month his faith has increased about Allah (the
glorious, the exalted), the Holy
Prophet (S.A.W.), and religion or not ? He should think how are his ethics
and spiritual conditions?
He should think whether the Holy Month of Ramadhan has contributed towards the
improvement, perfection and maturity of ethics, and affairs like fear, hope, patience,
asceticism, Allah's remembrance,
affection with Allah's remembrance, enlightenment, love, reliance,
surrender, consent, Monotheism, heart's
wideness, spiritual contemplation
of hidden realities, acceptance of calamities, keeping
secrets, detachment from the world, and
attachment towards the Hereafter,
etc., or not? He should think how are his deeds and character? Has he taken
steps towards their betterment? Has he increased his efforts
for their correct religious performance ?
Especially, he should review his
tongue's actions, and should think whether its sins like lying, speaking
nonsense, back-biting,
accusation, heart's wounds, obscenity and
ill-speaking have decreased or not?
If after
this scrutiny he discovered that his heart's affairs are still like
before, and no step forward has been
taken for their betterment, he
should realize that he has not been benefited from this esteemed month
and its bounties, the way he
should have been. That his undesirable and unjust actions have closed the
path for the illumination and blessings of
this Holy Month, thus, making him
deprieved from its benefits. Otherwise,
it is not possible that illuminations
and bounties of this month, especially,
the blessing of the Night-of-Power
(Lailatul/-Qadr) as well as
illumination and bounties of prayers and supplications do not left any
( 181 )
influence upon his actions and affairs.
Some one like this should feel sorry for
his loss, and from this fear, lest the saying of the Holy Prophet
(S.A.W.), who said: "
Whoever passes the
Holy Month of Ramadhan without his being
pardoned, then there do not exist any pardon for him ",
might be valid for him.
Therefore, he should arise for his
reform, should seek refuge in
Allah (the glorious, the exalted), should beseech Him for help, should
stretch his hands towards the
threshold of His generosity, with his tongue and from the
profundities of his heart must cry:
"
Or, Who listens to the (soul) distressed
when it calls on Him, and who relieves its suffering. "
—the Holy Qur'an
(27:62).
He must honestly and sincerely lament
upon his sorry state of affairs, from the profundities of his soul
and mobilizing his entire existence must
cry:
"
There is no
god save Thee, be Thou glorified, Lo! I have
been a wrong doer. "
—the Holy Qur'an
(21:87).
His condition should be such that shame and degradation of wrong
doers, anxiety and fear of sinners should
be apparent upon his face. He
must request for forgiveness and pardon with the degree of anxiety in
proportion to the magnitude of his sins
and the calamity inflicted upon him. If Allah forbids, his lazy and
deviated self prevents him from offering
repentance, at least, his case should not be worst than the Satan's; acting
exactly in the same manner as he besought Allah ( the glorious, the
( 182 )
>exalted), and also accomplished his
objective — i.e. not to be disappointed
from His kindness and generosity, not remaining negligent, inspite of all
the damages and deviations, not
closing the eyes from lords magnanimity;
and in summary in the last night of this
month, for compensation and provision of the benefits and rewards — lost by
him during the entire month — as
well as for reparation of losses and damages inflicted upon,
he must do whatever he can, and in this
manner should prepare himself for
the Day of
Eid ul-Fitr — the day for
presenting ourselves before Allah (the glorious, the exalted) — so that he
should not remain empty handed
from being benefited from great rewards, because indeed deprivation of
them be a tremendous loss and damage which would be irrepairable.
10.4. Farewell of the Holy Month of Ramadhan
The other important etiquette of the last night is to farewell the
Holy Month of Ramadhan, to be sad,
feeling regret because of its parting,
and reciting of most elegant prayers and
supplications which have been
narrated for this occasion by the Impeccable ones
M'asumin (A.S.).
