Twenty-First Ramadan Lecture Presented by Al-Sayyid Abdul Malik Badruddin Al-Houthi, 1443 A. H.
The Night of Qadr
Its Greatness and Blessings and How One Can Benefit from It?
I seek refuge in Allah from Shaytan, the outcast.
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful.
Praise is to Allah, Lord of the Worlds. I believe that there is no god but Allah, the Sovereign and the Manifest Truth, and that Muhammad, our master, is His servant, Messenger, and Last Prophet.
O Allah, confer Your salat and blessings upon Muhammad and the Family of Muhammad as You conferred Your salat and blessings upon Ibrahim and the Family of Ibrahim. You are Owner of Praise, Owner of Glory! And be pleased with Muhammad's good companions and all Your righteous servants and mujahidin.
Brothers and sisters, peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.
O Allah, guide us and grant us acceptance, for You are the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing; accept our repentance, for You are the Relenting and the Merciful.
The whole month of Ramadan is a blessed month that represents an opportunity for gaining reward and spiritual, behavioural, moral, and faith- and Taqwa-related transcendence. It also represents a great opportunity for invoking and remembering Allah (Glory be to Him), for having a greater relationship with the Holy Quran, and for obtaining guidance and insight at a time we are in great need of insight and guidance.
However, the last ten days of Ramadan have greater importance and come with greater blessings, as people seek the night of Qadr in the last ten nights. The Prophet (PBUH&F) used, in addition to reminding people of the importance and virtue of the month of Ramadan and the blessings Allah made in this month, to draw attention to the virtue of the night of Qadr and its importance, as well as the importance of seizing the opportunity on the night of Qadr. In addition, the Holy Quran spoke about the night of Qadr and how great, blessed, and valuable it is. The attention this night received in the Holy Quran shows great importance, for it has to do with every person in terms of what will be determined for or against him/her.
Even so, some might get tired after the pass of the two thirds of the blessed month and the coming of the last third of the month: the ten last days. Indeed, some might start to feel tired and get busy with the Eid and what comes after the Eid. This reflects a state of heedlessness and indicates lack of awareness of how great and important this opportunity that Allah offered in this blessed month is and of the last ten nights .
When we take a good look at our reality, we find that we are in dire need of Allah (Glory be to Him): Allah says, {‘O mankind, it is you who stand in need of Allah, while Allah is the Self-Sufficient, the Praiseworthy’}. Therefore, we are the ones who stand in need of Allah (Glory be to Him) in everything, from what we face of the sufferings, challenges, risks, hardships, problems, and worries to what has to do with our responsibility in this life and with its outcomes that affect our worldly life and our eternal future in the Hereafter. All of that should encourage us and make us pay attention to the importance of this opportunity and exploit it.
Allah (Glory be to Him) is the Merciful, the Generous, and the Greatest. What makes His mercy clear is the many opportunities He offers us, some of which are related to time, as is the case with the month of Ramadan, the last ten nights in this month, and the night of Qadr. Therefore, there are very great opportunities for you to seize. If you paid effort and attention, you may achieve big changes, great leaps, and very important successes in your life as well as in the Hereafter, your eternal future, which is far more important, bigger, and greater. In addition to all of that is what Allah will bestow upon you in this immediate life, such as relieving your pain, making plans for you, and achieving things that reflect well on you or on your life .
The needs of people are many, big, and various. Some of these needs have to do with their personal needs, while others have to do with their relationship with Allah and with their need for having great opportunities offered by Allah to benefit from, such as the night of Qadr.
The night of Qadr and its major blessings
On the subject of the night of Qadr, the Holy Quran says, {‘We have sent it down on a blessed night’}. Therefore, it is the night on which the Holy Quran was first revealed. The Holy Quran with all its greatness, virtue, and great importance was sent down on the night of Qadr, for it reflects the divine mercy. Indeed, it is one of most important reflections of Allah's mercy; it is His light and enjoys great sanctity, importance, and many blessings. It is a blessed book. So, due to its sanctity and great blessing and due to the fact that it represents mercy, light, and guidance, Allah chose to first reveal the Holy Quran on a blessed and great night. That is because of its sanctity, greatness, and importance. This is the first thing about the night of Qadr: It was the night on which the Holy Quran was first revealed.
Allah then says, {‘on a blessed night’}: Its blessings are great and include many things, including the increased rewards Allah granted during that night to a really astonishing level that might increase reward to tens of thousands of times, tens of thousands of times! If rewards are multiplied in the normal days of Ramadan to seventy times, then rewards for what a person does, if accepted, are multiplied on the night of Qadr to tens of thousands of times, to what may be equal to an entire lifetime. So it represents a very great opportunity, and seizing this opportunity by doing deeds is a profitable trade between the servant and his/her Lord (Glory be to Him).
When it comes to the other great blessings that Allah grants for His servants during this night in relation to their lives and their life affairs and that He bestows upon them, there are wide, varied, and comprehensive blessings.
The night of Qadr and arranging the affairs of all people!
{‘We have sent it down on a blessed night’}—sending down the Holy Quran is one of its blessings—{‘Indeed, We have always been warning. On that night every matter of wisdom is ordained.’} So one of the greatest things taking place on the night of Qadr is the fact that it is the night on which Allah arranges the affairs of people for the year ahead, arranging all their various affairs, including their livelihood and fate—all their various affairs and what has to do with arranging these affairs in a detailed manner. That is why He said, {‘On that night every matter of wisdom is ordained.’} The general arrangement includes a detailed arrangement of one's affairs for the year ahead. We should be interested in this matter.
For sure, every one of us is interested in what will be decided for or against him/her in his/her coming year. Is not every person supposed to want good for him/herself, want Allah to keep evil away from him/her in the coming year, and want Allah (Glory be to Him) to help him/her and make things easy for him/her in what can reflect well on him/her? When considering that it is a night that has to do with you and with what will be decided for or against you in your life and your affairs, wouldn't you care about it? A person might fall into a state of heedlessness towards Allah and everything, to the point of forgetting his/her own self and what has to do with him/her: {‘Those who forgot Allah, so He made them forget their own selves’}. However, whoever keeps remembering Allah, s/he will remember him/herself, and Allah will make him/her remember what has to do with his/her own self and his/her own affairs and important matters that should be focused on. This is at the individual level.
At the collective level, for the society or nation that moves into a specific direction, if it is the correct direction that follows Allah's instructions and teachings and seeks His pleasure, this night is important for all people who move as one nation or society in the same direction.
Therefore, it is important at the individual level (it has to do with you as a person and with your circumstances, life affairs, concerns, and problems, for every one of us has his/her own circumstances, problems, and concerns), but it is also important at the collective level, the level that unites you with your society or nation that you move with and belong to. So it has also to do with what will be decided at the collective level.
We should be keen that Allah decides what is good for us. What is decided for us or against us affects our reality, interests, attitudes, and actions to a great extent. Among the things that affect what will be decided for or against us are our attitudes, actions, positions, and behaviours.
Therefore, we must pay attention to this aspect. That is, when we return to Allah (Glory be to Him) and turn to Him, our Dua, supplication, and remembrance of Allah must be accompanied by true intention and determination to remain faithful to the way Allah prescribed for us, to move seriously according to His instructions, to fulfil our responsibilities commanded by Allah, and remain faithful to them so that Allah knows we are of those of true intention and determination. In addition, we must move according to His teachings and commands, seek to change course according to His instructions, repent from our shortcomings, sins, and wrongdoings, and turn to Him.
Hence, in addition to taking care of our supplication and what we ask and hope to get from Allah, we have to turn ourselves to Allah in the way that pleases Him. That is because when He (the Almighty) is pleased and satisfied because of what we do, He ordains good and mercy for us, and He ordains for us a great deal of His extensive bounty in this life and in the Hereafter—what is in the Hereafter is more important and more long-lasting, so it is what we have to pay more attention to. This is an important aspect of what we have to take care of and pay attention to, because the night of Qadr is the night of determining people's matters and divinely deciding what will later reflect well or badly on people in accordance with His wisdom, mercy, and management of His slaves' affairs.
From the guidance of Surat Al-Qadr
Among what Allah (Glory be to Him) has mentioned about the night of Qadr, there is a whole surah, Al-Qadr, in which Allah (Glory be to Him) said, {‘In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful. Indeed, We sent this down on the night of Qadr ’}. ‘Indeed, We’—Allah (Glory be to Him), the One with the great position, assures us with this expression. {‘Indeed, We sent this down on the night of Qadr ’}: He expresses for us (while drawing our attention to His greatness) that He sent His blessed, great, glorious, and holy book on the night of Qadr. Therefore, it is a night of great significance, the night of sending down blessings, mercy, and goodness.
Then He says about it, {‘And what will make you realize what the night of Qadr is?’}. This expresses its great position and bounty. {‘And what will make you realize?’} shows how great this night is, how important this night is, how sacred this night is, and how blessed this night is: That surpasses your realization, your estimation, your imagination, and your assumption—it goes beyond all of that. Not a person can realize how great or bountiful that night is. Its significance is bigger, greater, and higher than what a person can realize, comprehend, or imagine.
{‘The night of Qadr is better than a thousand months’}. The night of Qadr in its blessing, bounty, and goodness is better than a thousand months, as well as in reward for deeds, which could surpass a thousand months, a period that is equal to a whole lifetime, a long one! It is a very great night, and its blessing is very great, too.
{‘The angels and the Spirit descend therein by permission of their Lord for every matter’}. The angels of Allah descend to the earth on it extensively and hugely, in a process that has to do with the divine management of humans' affairs as if there are a lot of matters. Angels start working to prepare them in accordance with the extensive divine management and in accordance with the duties that are assigned to them; these duties by permission of Allah (Glory be to Him), and they execute Allah's instruction of preparing what is decided and planned for people, as well as other matters that we do not know about. The descending of angels on the night of Qadr has to do with people's affairs and managing their matters. This also expresses and indicates the importance, the bounty, and the sanctity of that night.
{‘Peace it is till the rising of dawn’}. Of the features of the night of Qadr and of its wonderful blessings is that it is peace: No torment or curse is sent down from Allah from its beginning to its end, {‘till the rising of dawn’}. This is of its wonderful blessings and special, amazing features.
These virtues, features, and exclusive qualities of the night of Qadr motivate us and show its great importance. That is because its blessings and the blessings of the deeds on it surpass thousand months.
The greatest opportunity for invoking Allah and seeking
good deeds!
A person should seize the opportunity and be keen during the last ten nights (on each of the nights, especially on the more expected nights) to turn towards Allah and not to miss such an opportunity. Time cannot come with an equal opportunity. This month (this Ramadan) might be the last month for some of us, so they might not make it to Ramadan next year; therefore, this blessed night—if perfectly exploited—might be what secures an eternal happy life for him/her. It is a source of great misfortune and deprivation for a person to miss such an opportunity.
During these last ten nights, can a person not focus more on turning to Allah, intensifying his/her effort, paying more attention, limiting his/her unimportant or ridiculous concerns that waste his/her time, remembering Allah (Glory be to Him), returning to Allah, invoking Him with prayers, and making a priority of seeking forgiveness from Allah? This is of the most important things a person needs, for Allah is the Merciful, the Generous, and the Greatest and wants what is good for us.
Our problem is always in our sins, wrongdoings, and transgressions. They reflect on us badly and have bad effects on us in our life and in our eternal future (the Hereafter). Therefore, asking Allah to forgive us, to pardon us, and to save us from the Fire is of the most important things a person should ask from Allah. Also, of the most important matters s/he should pray for his/her personal matters (concerns and life circumstances) and for the general reality of the Ummah and Muslim society is to ask Allah for success, victory, support, guidance, and all that is good.
A person can benefit from the prayers in the Quran. They are great prayers for the best in this life and the Hereafter. Among the blessed Quranic prayers is the prayer in which we ask Allah for what is good in this life and in the Hereafter: {‘Our Lord! Grant us the good of this world and the Hereafter, and protect us from the torment of the Fire’}. This worldly and religiously conscious prayer is knownto the ordinary person as well as the educated one, and it can benefit the busy people as well as those who have plenty of time. It is a great, blessed prayer.
Also, the prayer of the ribiyon, those mujahidin, is of the greatest and most important prayers: {‘Our Lord! Forgive our sins and excesses, make our steps firm, and grant us victory over the disbelieving people’}. It is important for the mujahidin to keep invoking Allah with this prayer during these blessed nights.
Also, of the most important prayers is the prayer of those who are well grounded in knowledge, which Allah (Glory be to Him) mentioned in Surat Ali 'Imran. It is of the greatest and most important prayers for the person who is keen to gain divine success and a good end to his/her life and fears to fall into deviation, disappointment, and misguidance: {‘Our Lord, do not let our hearts deviate from the right path after You have given us guidance, and bestow upon us mercy from Your own. Surely, You, and You alone, are the Bestwer’}.
Furthermore, there are prayers known to be attributed to the Prophet (PBUH&F), prayers from the Sahifa Sajjadyia, and other blessed, proper quoted prayers that focus on mentioning the Perfect Names of Allah. A person can benefit from them. It is also important to keep mentioning Allah, asking for His forgiveness, glorifying Him, and so on. That should also be accompanied by paying attention to good deeds, being mindful of Allah, and keeping away from what ruins good deeds or makes them worthless—anything that what is not consistent with Taqwa.
Of the best places for invoking Allah (the closest positions and situations for accepting prayers) is that of those who are standing in guard for the sake of Allah (Glory be to Him) on the Jihad fronts. They are stationed in the fronts of Jihad. And in that state, in which they fulfil their sacred, great responsibilities and stand in guard in the cause of Allah (of the most important and best states for answering prayers), a person there must exploit the opportunity, turn to Allah (Glory be to Him) with prayers, and make more and more prayers and mention of Allah (Glory be to Him). That is in addition to caring for acts of goodness and righteousness, such as paying alms and other acts of goodness and righteousness, as well as continuously paying attention in what remained of the month of Ramadan to the Holy Quran, the guidance of Allah (Glory be to Him).
That is enough for today.
We ask Allah (Glory be to Him) to grant us success in seeking what pleases Him; guide us to benefit from the night of Qadr; ordain for us the best of what He ordains for His slaves of His pleasure, forgiveness, and pardon; and grant us salvation from His torment. O Allah (Glory be to You), grant us victory, have mercy on our martyrs, and heal the wounded among us. O Allah, accept our fasting, night prayers, and good deeds. You are All-Hearing!
Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.