An obligatory posting!
Embedded in these last ten days of Ramadan is the Night of Determination (laylat al-qadr). It falls on one of the odd nights, and since there are varying traditions about which night it might be, God-loving Muslims are encouraged to try to observe as many night vigils as possible so as to capture that moment. If you are a Shi'a, you are more likely to observe them on the 19th, 21st, or 23rd nights, and if you are a Sunni you will probably choose the 25th, 27th and 29th nights. This variance is due to various narrations that favour either set. Since we can never really know which night it is, it is up to each one of us to make a sincere intention to derive the benefit of the night and uphold the tradition of full or partial night vigil, praying, supplicating, and reading Qur'an. If you are spiritually inclined you will try to observe all the odd nights!
Growing up I knew it as the Night of Power, which sounded awesome and magical. Sometimes as the Night of Destiny. But 'determination' is more correct, for it is on this night that, according to our traditions, the unfolding of the next year is determined.
The Qur'an tells us:
Which translates as:
In the Name of Allah the Beneficent, the Merciful
1. Surely We have revealed it [the Qur'an] on the Night of Determination.
2. And what do you understand of the Night of Determination?
3. The Night of Determination is better than a thousand months,
4. in which descend the Angels and the Spirit [Jibril] by the permission of their Lord in every affair.
5. Peace it is until the break of day.
Better than a thousand months. That's over 83 years! So the value of this night is about the lifespan of a privileged member of a first world country! A WHOLE LIFETIME!
How can this be? Isn't time equal? Isn't it evenly measured out in coffee spoons? Hope I'm not talking down to you here - I know we've all experienced time fly by and time stand still. We all know perception of time is relative. On a higher level of our consciousness we can step outside time, or the way we usually frame it. In fact, we need to otherwise we'd probably go mad. Hence sleep and creative endeavours, or the predilection to drown ourselves in decibels of music, whirl, leap from a plane, or mute the querulous voice of the self by meditation and prayer. Losing our selves is at the crux of so many human endeavours!
The relativity of time is doubly alluded to here, for though it is identified as the night on which the Qur'an was revealed to the blessed Prophet Muhammad (S), nonetheless it took much longer for it to be shared with mankind. The template of the reality the Qur'an maps out was unveiled to the Prophet in one flash, in one overwhelming moment. He was commanded to recite what was inscribed from the Protected Tablet (Lawh al-Mahfuz), in which is preserved the encodation of the entire reality. Twenty three years of experiential triggers and heightened states of consciousness were needed to draw the full Word of Allah out of him. These signs from the unseen came to be the Noble Qur'an, the guidance for all mankind. For though the creation of the Prophet's light preceded that of the existence of creation, he lived in time and space and was as subject to their limitations as we are. What a glorious honour and how utterly, shiveringly awesome!
Each of our individual stories are inscribed on this night, just as the code to reality was revealed in a language mankind could understand, or at least approach understanding. This dense moment, this coup de foudre of illumination, lies at the core of this special night. And we are invited to taste it. We shower and pray, spend the night up calling upon Allah, seeking nearness and blessing after it has already been promised to us, but we must seek it nonetheless. We must intend on it, for we are 'abd, and He is Rabb. The veils of the self have been thinned by 20 days of fasting, and we are more predisposed to melting inside than ever before, and to witnessing shimmers of Reality - maybe more!
By now we have all grown in receptivity and sensitivity by the rigours of the fast - that is if we haven't spoilt its salubrious effects by stuffing our faces or indulging in liver-killing foods. The Nights of Determination are the peaks to which our diligent worship has been working us towards. The intimacy of the night casts a velvet veil over our external senses. Our longing for the face of Allah and His pleasure is stoked by reciting His words, and disappearing in prostration. We have been emptied out of all other idols and ideals. We have come to the sacred precinct of Divine Presence. We stand there, no longer even burning with yearning. 'We' are not even there. Time has imploded into the dot of the letter ba' ب...
So much could be said about this Surah, but I've only chosen one current for now. The Qur'an is an ocean, an infinite horizon. Each wave brings a new crest, a fresh nuance... It is not for me to fathom it. It is for me and you to bask in it!
Have a blessed time on Laylat al-Qadr!
Embedded in these last ten days of Ramadan is the Night of Determination (laylat al-qadr). It falls on one of the odd nights, and since there are varying traditions about which night it might be, God-loving Muslims are encouraged to try to observe as many night vigils as possible so as to capture that moment. If you are a Shi'a, you are more likely to observe them on the 19th, 21st, or 23rd nights, and if you are a Sunni you will probably choose the 25th, 27th and 29th nights. This variance is due to various narrations that favour either set. Since we can never really know which night it is, it is up to each one of us to make a sincere intention to derive the benefit of the night and uphold the tradition of full or partial night vigil, praying, supplicating, and reading Qur'an. If you are spiritually inclined you will try to observe all the odd nights!
Growing up I knew it as the Night of Power, which sounded awesome and magical. Sometimes as the Night of Destiny. But 'determination' is more correct, for it is on this night that, according to our traditions, the unfolding of the next year is determined.
The Qur'an tells us:
In the Name of Allah the Beneficent, the Merciful
1. Surely We have revealed it [the Qur'an] on the Night of Determination.
2. And what do you understand of the Night of Determination?
3. The Night of Determination is better than a thousand months,
4. in which descend the Angels and the Spirit [Jibril] by the permission of their Lord in every affair.
5. Peace it is until the break of day.
Better than a thousand months. That's over 83 years! So the value of this night is about the lifespan of a privileged member of a first world country! A WHOLE LIFETIME!
How can this be? Isn't time equal? Isn't it evenly measured out in coffee spoons? Hope I'm not talking down to you here - I know we've all experienced time fly by and time stand still. We all know perception of time is relative. On a higher level of our consciousness we can step outside time, or the way we usually frame it. In fact, we need to otherwise we'd probably go mad. Hence sleep and creative endeavours, or the predilection to drown ourselves in decibels of music, whirl, leap from a plane, or mute the querulous voice of the self by meditation and prayer. Losing our selves is at the crux of so many human endeavours!
The relativity of time is doubly alluded to here, for though it is identified as the night on which the Qur'an was revealed to the blessed Prophet Muhammad (S), nonetheless it took much longer for it to be shared with mankind. The template of the reality the Qur'an maps out was unveiled to the Prophet in one flash, in one overwhelming moment. He was commanded to recite what was inscribed from the Protected Tablet (Lawh al-Mahfuz), in which is preserved the encodation of the entire reality. Twenty three years of experiential triggers and heightened states of consciousness were needed to draw the full Word of Allah out of him. These signs from the unseen came to be the Noble Qur'an, the guidance for all mankind. For though the creation of the Prophet's light preceded that of the existence of creation, he lived in time and space and was as subject to their limitations as we are. What a glorious honour and how utterly, shiveringly awesome!
Each of our individual stories are inscribed on this night, just as the code to reality was revealed in a language mankind could understand, or at least approach understanding. This dense moment, this coup de foudre of illumination, lies at the core of this special night. And we are invited to taste it. We shower and pray, spend the night up calling upon Allah, seeking nearness and blessing after it has already been promised to us, but we must seek it nonetheless. We must intend on it, for we are 'abd, and He is Rabb. The veils of the self have been thinned by 20 days of fasting, and we are more predisposed to melting inside than ever before, and to witnessing shimmers of Reality - maybe more!
By now we have all grown in receptivity and sensitivity by the rigours of the fast - that is if we haven't spoilt its salubrious effects by stuffing our faces or indulging in liver-killing foods. The Nights of Determination are the peaks to which our diligent worship has been working us towards. The intimacy of the night casts a velvet veil over our external senses. Our longing for the face of Allah and His pleasure is stoked by reciting His words, and disappearing in prostration. We have been emptied out of all other idols and ideals. We have come to the sacred precinct of Divine Presence. We stand there, no longer even burning with yearning. 'We' are not even there. Time has imploded into the dot of the letter ba' ب...
So much could be said about this Surah, but I've only chosen one current for now. The Qur'an is an ocean, an infinite horizon. Each wave brings a new crest, a fresh nuance... It is not for me to fathom it. It is for me and you to bask in it!
Have a blessed time on Laylat al-Qadr!
May you're time be blessed!
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