Ramadan Departs

The holy month of Ramadan, a month of opportunities for devout Muslims, for enriching one's inner spiritual devotion to the Almighty, has left us. It is said that in Ramadan Satan will not be able to influence the 'children of Adam' to do physical, intellectual and spiritual harm (by going against the wishes and the will of the Almighty) to themselves, and if at all they do it is only out of their uncontrollable personal desires and not that of Satan’s design. Indeed the month of Ramadan is for devout Muslims to spend their waking hours, day or night, performing duties that are in total devotion to the Almighty, be they commitments for worldly living like daily jobs and work commitments or daily spiritual obligations like prayers, 'reading' the Holy Book, the Quran, helping others, the poor and destitute and similar deeds. All are done to please the Almighty and seek His 'redha'.

At the two holy mosques in Mecca and Medina, apart from the five daily obligatory prayers, additional prayers are held in the night, one set of which is performed immediately after the late evening or after-dusk prayers where the imam will read verses from the Quran during the prayers and complete the whole Quran in one month. Similarly in all the mosques, all over the world, these additional prayers are also held but not necessarily complete the whole Quran though. Devout Muslims not only do these prayers in the mosques but add more prayers at home. These prayers are non-obligatory but are expected from them.

It is said that there is one night where all the prayers are answered and the benefits to the individuals are said to be equivalent to prayers of a thousand months. No one knows when this night is. It is said that the night will be in the last ten nights of Ramadan, possibly in the odd nights, and some even predict which night of the last ten based upon the starting day of Ramadan. I feel that one should not just depend on predictions. Instead one should make the effort to devote the ten nights to the Almighty. After all its only ten nights out of the whole year!! It is easy said than done though as one’s own habit and personal desires sometimes dictate one’s ability to concentrate in that last ten nights of Ramadan.

In the two holy mosques in Mecca and Medina, more prayers are held on the last ten nights of Ramadan, starting at midnight and usually ending at just before three in the morning. The mosques will reverberate with the sound of the Imam in prayers. This inevitably will spur those present to follow the Imam in the prayers and by my experience, the two mosques will be full of people following the prayers. On the nights of 27th especially and also 29th the mosque will be so full of people that every nook and corner of the two mosques will be occupied. People even have to pray on steps of stairways due to a lack of available space in the mosques. Not all other mosques will hold these extra prayers for the last ten nights but for those that do their starting times varies. In our community mosque near my house we start these prayers at about four in the morning. Other mosques have different times to hold the prayers, but what is expected is for the individuals to perform them on their own at home, as much as possible. Thus Ramadan is a month where Muslims all over are exhorted to devote their time and energy in supplication to the Almighty.

Ramadan has now passed us by. Will we have the opportunity to meet the next Ramadan? That will be the wish of all Muslims, and only with the will of the Almighty can we hope to meet it again. One will just have to pray for His grace to grant that opportunity. We live for the moment, prepare for the next and the future while seeking His pleasure in granting all our wishes and prayers…………… Amin Ya Rabbul Alamin……..

Note: For those interested in the Quran, its proper recitation and translation visit this site: http://www.quranexplorer.com/

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