Laylat Al Qadar, night of decree

Tonight is one of the nights of Al-Qadar, Layali Al-Qadar in Arabic. This is the night where the first verse of the Holy Qaran was introduced to Prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him & his family). This night is so special for Muslims, because in our belief, in this very night the prayers and whishes of people are being heard, and that people who seek forgiveness are given a guiding hand. This night is a beautiful night to renew your faith and your strength in your religion.

This special night is spent with religious rituals such as praying, reading the Holy Quran, and reading Duaa (supplications), and ask help with health issues, money issues or any other issues that people are facing.

It is also preferred to do those special rituals in groups to strengthen one another. A lot of things in Islam are preferred in groups, we humans need people around us, some of us admit to it and others don’t, but the truth is we do. Sometimes we are surrounded by 1000 people and we still feel alone, and that feeling scares a lot of people so they ignore it because it is easier. Why shouldn’t we share everything that we can share? Even our faith, it makes it stronger and more beautiful.

But in this night after spending a few hours with family and friends praying, reading the Quran and the Duaa (supplications), I like to spend a few hours all by myself with my own prayers and readings. Sometimes it is important to do things alone, to make our own steps, to take time to confront our weakness, fears and selfishness.

This night is a perfect night for new beginnings, to start giving more attention to our faith and beliefs, and to give less attention to our selfish wants and needs. Not only our mind and body has needs and cravings but our soul too. This night is a good night to start spending a little more time in thinking.

This night has a beautiful atmosphere, everyone is up till the early hours of the morning to pray and step away of all the material things. Some people like to do special rituals and acts that mark a fresh beginning, and this night is perfect because of all the religious spiritual rituals, the beautiful atmosphere and the history that lies within this night. In some way it is like the New Year’s resolutions that people make every year to start over with themselves.

It might be hard to understand for people that have not given much thought about religion and faith, but I see this night as a good night for also none Muslims or none believers to start a fresh beginning. You might think why do I need a fresh beginning for? I don’t steal, I don’t lie, I don’t cheat, I don’t do drugs, I am not aggressive and beat my family or other people and I try as much as possible not to use bad language. With fresh beginning I mean a fresh beginning with the simple things. They are so simple and small we don’t think about them, such as being rude and hard on our little brother, sister or even our selves, or using so much water for showers and brushing our teeth, or not appreciating the things our family and friends do for us and taking them for granted, or throwing half of the food that we buy in the rubbish bin while others haven’t had a warm meal in a week. This night is perfect to take an oath with ourselves to spend a few moments thinking. You could do the coffee in the morning for your dad when he’s running late for work, or buy your little sister that T-shirt she loved but was saving the money for a DVD, or send an SMS to your friend saying “Hey, what are you up to?” just to show that you care, or to do the laundry once in a while. Consider it an invitation to turn the page, Muslim, none Muslim, whoever you are, where ever you are.

You might think, what is she babbling about? It is supposed to be something religious, right? Well, our religion is a way of life. There are two sides to it, one is between us and our creator and the other is the life that our creator has given to us, which includes people, work, ambitions and etc..