Night of Power

Only a brief blog today, mainly because I was up till 4am and had to skip my morning surgery to catch up on my sleep. I am writing this blog in a tiny gap between the missed surgery and an afternoon one starting at 2pm. Therefore I want to briefly explain why I was up till 4am last night.

Last night was the 23rd night of Ramadan, otherwise known as Lailatul-Qadr, which translates to the Night of Power. It is thought to be the most likely night when the Quran was revealed to the Prophet, although no-one is 100% certain, as I explained in the "Refresh yourself" blog. It is a night spent in prayer, remembering God and seeking his forgiveness, a chance to start afresh.

God describes the night best in the Quran when he states "We have indeed revealed this (Message) in the Night of Power: And what will explain to thee what the night of power is? The Night of Power is better than a thousand months. Therein come down the angels and the Spirit by Allah's permission, on every errand: Peace!...This until the rise of morning!" (Quran, Surah 97).

It is this spirituality which is unique for the muslims. Christians can claim to have it with Lent, Jews can claim to have it with the Day of Atonement, but it just doesn't compare. Last night was a chance for all muslims to get closer to God, to ask for forgiveness and blessings and God in his infinite mercy will grant to whomsoever deserves his forgiveness and blessings.

It is also a night which helps develops ones faith in God and in his religion. I for one found it extremely revitalising. It can be tiring, but knowing that there is an opportunity to obtain an abundance of God's mercy and blessing is the main motivating factor of the night. To put it rather simplistically, muslims are constantly striving to gain God's blessings and forgiveness and to avoid sin and punishment. Hence, I like to look at it as a credit system, making sure I have more good credits than bad credits. With this mind, last night was a chance to boost my good credits and also a chance to decrease the bad credits.

However, what I also used to think was that it was just a ritual which had to be done and then we would get the due credit. That is not the intention of the night. God will only listen to those who are sincere. Those who understand the importance of the night. It is this understanding that I hope to have achieved last night. It is this understanding that maintains my faith. Otherwise it becomes a religion of rituals, as long as we do the prescribed commands of God, we can get away with everything else. As long as we believe in God, that is enough. It is not as simple as that and rightly so, as God explains "Do men think that they will be left alone on saying, "We believe", and that they will not be tested? We did test those before them, and Allah will certainly know those who are true from those who are false." (Quran, Surah 29, Verses 2-3).

Life is a constant test and therefore we continually need to strive to seek God's blessing and forgiveness and this can not be done merely by performing prayers as rituals, going through the motions with no feelings. There is no benefit in that. Inshallah, my prayers and duas we're more sincere than last year and hence more accepted. Inshallah all the muslims who prayed last night, throughout the world we're all blessed by God.

I'm going to end it there because I need to leave for work! I hope I've provided a better understanding about the Night of Power, and apologise if it seems haphazard, I am still waking up!

Take care all,
Thoughts just flow, when do they have to make sense?