Month: July 2014

Looking for Laylathul-Qadr

Assalamu alaikum, peace be with you all

I promised to blog about Laylathul Qadr. Layl means night in Arabic and Qadr is a word hard to translate. It can mean; power, destiny, highly valued, decree,  among other meanings, when used in this context. Laylathul Qadr, can therefore be rendered as ‘the extremely valuable or powerful night of divine determination’ or ‘the night of power’. It comes once in a year, in the month of Ramadan. The Quran was first revealed to the Messenger of God, Muhammed (peace and blessing of God be upon him) during Ramadan, and many believe laylathul Qadr is when it was first revealed.

We don’t know when the exact night is (and hence the title of this post 🙂 ). There are valid scholarly opinions; it could be any of the nights of Ramadan, it could be in the last 10 nights of Ramadan or it could be among the odd numbered nights of the last 10 nights of Ramadan (i.e., 21st, 23rd, 25th night and so on). The majority favour the last two opinions. Scholars who do tafseer (=interpretation of the Quran) say these ayaath (=signs literally, but translated as verses in English) that open Surah Fajr (=chapter called ‘daybreak/dawn’) refer to laylathul Qadr. Again the English does not capture any of the rhyme or rhythm of the Arabic sadly…

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the name of God, the most loving, the love-giving
 
By the dawn

 

And [by] ten nights

 

And [by] the even [number] and the odd

 

And [by] the night when it passes,

 

Is there [not] in [all] that an oath [sufficient] for one of perception?

[I have to say the scientist in me is fascinated by numbers and the methodology of numeracy. I find ayah number 3 – ‘by the even and odd contrasted’ deeply delightful and extremely intriguing. What is it about numbers and divisibility and what does this tell us about ‘unity’ – that ‘one-ness’ of God our whole deen or way of life, is so completely based on. So much to ponder on! subhahanallah = exalted be God]

 Reflecting on the fact that we don’t know when laylathul qadr is, there is divine wisdom in that ..for it makes us not lazy to seek it. As in, we don’t just flock to the mosque to remember God on that one night, but rather go everyday hoping to meet ‘her’. Also there is divine wisdom in that it is in the last 10 nights (majority view) as often after 20 days of fasting, the body is tired and the spirit sometimes can vain. But knowing lalthul qadr will come in the last 10 days gives us something very precious to look forward to and so we renew our efforts and rather than a tiring body we find new energy and drive.

 There are ‘signs’ that tell us it was laylathul qadr. Many Muslim cultures have their own pieces of hearsay or you could even say ‘folklore’ about the signs :)…I remember as a kid being told that you won’t see a leaf on a tree move nor hear a dog bark (!). Some say the night will be softly cloudy, some say it will be clear…etc. Of course the messenger of God, peace be upon him, was asked about its signs and he did reply. The most authentic scholarly opinion based on his (peace be upon him) reply is that the sun will rise the next day ‘as if with no rays’, i.e., serenely and it won’t be dazzlingly bright. And more importantly during the night itself every believer’s heart will feel an immense peace. I found this nicely worded reply from Sh. Uthaymeen

From amongst the signs of Laylatul-Qadar is that it is a calm night and the believer’s heart is delighted and at peace with it, and he becomes active in doing good actions, and the sun on the following morning rises clearly without any rays.

Much Quran is recited during these precious nights and the mosques are full of worshippers who stand often through the night in long units of prayer. There is something so tranquil about this ‘standing by night’ (literally what the night prayer is called ‘qiyam ul layl’ = standing by night). When one is joined to one’s sisters and brothers standing shoulder-to-shoulder, row upon row. The lights are dimmed and the voice of the qari (=reciter of Quran) sings the verses of the Quran in soft serenity. Sometimes children will be playing outside or they will come and stand with the older ones in prayer, or they will be sleeping, some baby falling asleep in the arms of the mother standing in prayer. It is very beautiful and a time I long for each year. Some people follow the sunnah (=way, of the blessed prophet) who used to go into spiritual seclusion during the last 10 days, and so they will stay in the mosque in that seclusion – fasting by day and reciting Quran or offering salat (=Muslim ritual worship) and making du’a (=supplications or prayers) by day and night. It is a much needed ‘cleanse’. And I love it that this type of annual retreat is part of the religion and accessible to any ordinary Muslim that wants to take it instead of being only something for a priestly class of people, which does not exist in Islam.

 Finally, chapter 97 in the Quran is entirely devoted to this night. It is a short chapter being only 5 ayath. Reading it tells us why we feel so much peace during this one night. It is the night the angels descend and the arch-angel, Gabrial himself (peace be upon them all) visits the earth. To those unfamiliar with the tafseer of the chapter, in verse 4 ‘the spirit’ is considered to be the arch-angel Gabrial who is called Jibra’eel in Arabic.

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the name of God, the most loving, the love-giving
97:1
Indeed, We sent the Qur’an down during the Night of Decree.
97:2
And what can make you know what is the Night of Decree?
97:3
The Night of Decree is better than a thousand months.
97:4
The angels and the Spirit descend therein by permission of their Lord for every matter.
97:5
Peace it is until the emergence of dawn.

 

I will leave you with a 45 second clip so you can enjoy listening to the recitation of this beautiful chapter. I especially love the last ayah. Anyone who has had the good fortune to witness a laylathul qadr in their lives will know exactly what this means. May we all be granted the felicity to witness or to have witnessed laylathul qadr

Peace be with you all

 

 

 

 

 

The miracle of water

Assalamu alaikum dear readers, peace be upon you all

Half of this blessed month has already left us, never to return, and one can’t help but be sad at that thought. But indeed then also still happy that the month is still in our midst and that the last ten days are soon to begin. Bi ithnillahi ta’ala (=with the permission of God, the Most High) I will blog about the last ten nights of Ramadan later on.

Many of my Muslim readers who have been fasting, and perhaps some of my non-Muslim friends who joined the fast this year, would have gotten a renewed appreciation for water the past few days. Here in Canada the days are long and where I live, we are having a spell of warm weather. There is nothing as delightful as that first sip of cool refreshing water at sunset when we break our fast. Indeed the du’a (=prayer/supplication) of the blessed beloved (peace of God be upon him) when he broke his fast is heartfelt by us as we also utter it. [He made other du’a when opening the fast, that we also say]

‘The thirst has gone and the veins are quenched, and reward is confirmed, if Allaah wills.’

While fasting has many esoteric benefits, one among them is  truly a deeper understanding of the suffering there is in the world. Some things just have to be felt to be understood! And yet, as I write this, I know it is true that the suffering of thirst and hunger we undergo is very different to that of people who really are suffering these tribulations. For we, we have some assurance in our heart of food and drink that will come at the end of the day. But for many thousands this is not an assured thing. Indeed this month reminds us that for many in the world, even in our post-modern context, starvation/malnourishment/lack of potable water is still a stark reality.

It is remarkable how much more energized I feel just after drinking that glass of water. It always strikes me how amazing it is, that this substance can bring about such a complete change in a matter of moments.

As a scientist-in-training I am mesmerized by water. It’s such a perfect molecule. I forget, but I recall reading that had not the bond angle between H-O-H (the two hydrogen atoms and the one oxygen atom) being the precise angle it is, all of life would not have existed. It is an amazing molecule – that when it is frozen, it weighs less than when liquid… one could go on and on about it.

So I looked up an old post that I want to share. It is taken from here. This was shared with us by one of my dear sisters, herself a post-doctoral fellow now mashaAllah (=by the grace of Allah). It was when we had been studying the water cycle as it is given in the Quran during our Quran study halaqa (=circle/group/class). It was blogged 4 years ago. A reminder of the 4th anniversary of our Quran study group and also of this blog, bi barakathiallah! (=by the blessing of Allah). A useful collection of ayaath (literally ‘signs’, meaning ‘verses’ in the Quran..as each verse is considered a sign of God)

 

“Also, since we were discussing the fact that Quran mentions that fresh and salt water do not mix. The reference to it is in the Surah 25 Al-Furqan: Ayat 53: “And it is He who has released [simultaneously] the two seas, one fresh and sweet and one salty and bitter, and He placed between them a barrier and prohibiting partition”

It is also in Surah 55 Ar-Rahman, Ayat 19 & 20.

 

I think we were all fascinated by water and how it sustains life.
Ayat 54 of Al Furqan is the one that says that humans are created from water: It is He Who has created man from water: then has He established relationships of lineage and marriage: for thy Lord has power (over all things). 

Surah 21 Al Anbiya Ayat 30: “We made from water every living thing”

 

I wanted to share this video (http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/17265-the-water-cycle-where-fresh-water-comes-from-video.htm) about the cycle of water which is also mentioned in the Quran at several places:

– Surah 23 Al-Mumenoon Ayat 18: “And We send down water from the sky according to (due) measure, and We cause it to soak in the soil; and We certainly are able to drain it off (with ease).”

– Surah 30 Ar-Room Ayat 48: “It is Allah Who sends the Winds, and they raise the Clouds: then does He spread them in the sky as He wills, and break them into fragments, until thou seest rain-drops issue from the midst thereof: then when He has made them reach such of his servants as He wills behold, they do rejoice! “

– Surah 7 Al-Araf Ayat 57: “It is He Who sendeth the winds like heralds of glad tidings, going before His mercy: when they have carried the heavy-laden clouds, We drive them to a land that is dead, make rain to descend thereon, and produce every kind of harvest therewith: thus shall We raise up the dead: perchance ye may remember.”

– Surah 39 Az-Zumar Ayat 39: “Seest thou not that Allah sends down rain from the sky, and leads it through springs in the earth? Then He causes to grow, therewith, produce of various colours: then it withers; thou wilt see it grow yellow; then He makes it dry up and crumble away. Truly, in this, is a Message of remembrance to men of understanding.”

Let’s renew our appreciation of water, our thanks for it, and implement the sunnah (=way/habits/practices) of the beloved Messenger of God (peace be upon him) in how careful he was in using water and not wasting it.

Ramadan Kareem! (=May Ramadan be generous for you/wish you a generous Ramadan/God’s generosity be with you this Ramadan)

 

 

‘Fathima Knight in shining armour’!

Assalamu alaikum, peace be with you dear readers,

A few weeks ago, I was greatly delighted to ‘attend’ online, the first commencement ceremony of Zaytuna college. Zaytuna (=Olive/Olive tree) college is North America’s first academic Muslim liberal arts college. I believe it’s degree certification is from UC Berkeley. It was set-up by Sh. Hamza Yusuf Hanson, the scholar interviewed in the series I blogged recently.

I have been following the budding and growth of this institution keenly the past four years and it was  a proud moment to be able to witness its first commencement. The occasion was graced by Sheikh Abdullah Bin Bayyah, one of the few remaining ‘giant scholars’ in the Muslim world. He is a master of many spheres, speaks fluent French in addition to a very high caliber of Arabic and has a CV I have no words to describe, so I won’t. Suffice to say, that in his demenour and service he has come to embody what a true scholar is, and he is one of the teachers of Sh. Hamza. It is a great compliment to Zaytuna college that Sh. Bin Bayyah made the trip out for the commencement despite his 80+ years and difficulty with travel. He did it due to his heartfelt support of the endeavor. And indeed, it is a desperately needed endeavor. You may catch a glimpse of him in the clip, the elderly gentleman in traditional garb with his scholars turban. Knowledge has always been a prized possession for the Muslim, and God bless Sh. Hamza and his likes, who are fighting hard to bring back the light of learning to the Muslim world.

Faatimah Knight is a shining example of what a young person schooled in such an environment of sound knowledge and real scholarship can produce. Imam Zaid Shakir, is a well known and well beloved figure in the North American Muslim world. He is an African American ex-US marine (if I’m not mistaken) who converted to Islam several decades ago, and then schooled in traditional Islamic scholarship, who is now a teacher at Zaytuna. Imam Zaid mentions that whenever he sees Faatimah walking down the aisle, he calls out to her as ‘Fathima Knight in shining armour’. A compliment this young lady well deserves. This young lady is just that – someone inspiring for her truthfulness, sincerity and determination to follow her true heart.

I was so inspired and ‘taken’ by the depth and wisdom of her commencement address, delivered with such obvious sincerity that I wanted to share it with you. It is a 9.5 min clip. I hope you will be able to listen and be as inspired as I was. I pray for this young lady and may there be many more like her. She is well named by wise parents, after the daughter of the beloved Messenger of God, Fathima az Zahra (=the resplendent one… a title given to her by the people out of love. The world’s second oldest continuously running university, Al-Azhar in Cairo is actually named after her)

May God protect and increase this beautiful young lady. I am happy to note she has been offered a full scholarship to grad school in the illustrious University of Chicago Islamic studies program. I believe she refused a full scholarship for undergraduate study in U of Chicago to go to Zaytuna. She is one of the 14 students of the class of 2014. May God bless them all, their teachers and all who have supported this difficult and challenging endeavor.

 

 

 

 

Give30 , sadaqa, zakat and Happy Canada day

Dear Readers,

I was informed of this wonderful initiative by one of my brothers and wanted to highlight it here. Ramadan is a month of charity. Many of us save a lot of money on our grocery bill and entertainment/excursion bills etc., which is then given in charity. The hunger pangs and bouts of thirst we experience by fasting, doing their job of softening the heart so we renew our empathy with the majority of the world’s population still suffering from hunger and thirst. And we thank Allah SWT for this, for had it not been for this strong annual reminder, who knows who heedless/negligent we would be of other’s suffering.

Many Muslims give their ‘zakat’ during this month. Zakat is third pillar of Islam, one of the 5 obligations upon a Muslim. It literally means ‘purification’ and is an obligatory tax Muslims must give to poor Muslims/wayfarers/and a few other categories of people who qualify. 2.5% of a person’s wealth, if he or she meets the threshold to be ‘zakat-able’ must be given. The calculations can get quite complicated. This is due annually and it is up to the person to decide when to pay it. Almost all the Muslims I know, pay it during Ramadan though. One – because the fasting person is beloved to God, and any good deed done during this month is more beloved to God than at other times. And two – perhaps this experiencing of mock-poverty we feel does indeed propel us to give. Allah subhahanawa ta’ala a’lam (=God the most Exalted and High, knows best – we consign the knowledge of our comments whose truths we don’t know, to God most High and say He knows better than we do. So only He knows if my statement is valid or not)

Apart from zakat, any other charity is called sadaqa. Sadaqa comes from a root word that means ‘truth’. Giving charity does free one’s soul to experience truth, as indeed giving zakat ‘purifies’ one’s wealth. Ramadan is a month of exaggerated charity. The prophet, peace be upon him, was the most generous of men. But during Ramadan, his charity people said ‘was like the wind’. Allah elevate and bless him and his beloved family and make all his followers like him!

BTW the prophet peace be upon him, would fast excessively and was almost always hungry. They say people would not see smoke rise out of his chimney for 3 months at a stretch. His diet was mostly bread and dates. Though he loved meat, he (peace be upon him!) would never eat meat and bread together…considering it too much a luxury. But this does not mean, as some Muslims erroneously believe, that he (peace be upon him) was poor. There were periods of poverty, but for the most part he (peace be upon him) ruled a vary large state. His hunger was due to his extreme generosity and due to his frugal habits. In fact in our tradition, poverty – the real kind – is considered an oppression and completely disliked. We must fight to eradicate poverty in the world. But poverty that is voluntary, that is a different matter and may indeed be a safeguard from the traps of materialism. May Allah elevate the soul of our beloved and grant us the supreme felicity of meeting him.

Give30 is a remarkable effort. It’s a very Canadian story. And its a very Muslim story. It’s a Canadian Muslim story 🙂 – the kind I wish the news would cover more. But to be fair, they already have. I wanted to post it up on Canada day, but didn’t make it to do yesterday. However here is our brother who has been inspired by Ramadan, to organize the collection of money he saves by fasting so it may benefit local foodbanks. The blessed prophet said it was best to give charity locally. And though I know most of my Muslim brothers and sisters feel the strong pull to give to international organizations what with the horrendous global suffering contrasted to life in rich nation, still there is plenty of need here. So I hope you will share this initiative and promote it.

 

Website linked above and here it is again

www.give30.ca

 

Happy Canada day everyone and Ramadan kareem (=May Ramadan be generous for you!)