Laylat Al-Qadr: The Night Better Than A Thousand Months

Opening Praise and Salutations

Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

Amma ba'd. Allah says in His noble Book. After seeking refuge: أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ، بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

And the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sunan al-Nasa'i, Hadith 2106; also reported in Musnad Ahmad)

"The month of Ramadan has come to you — a blessed month. In it, Allah has a night that is better than a thousand months. Whoever is deprived of its goodness has truly been deprived of all goodness." — or as he ﷺ said.

Glorification of Allah

Respected audience, dear brothers and sisters, and honorable esteemed guests of Allah. Let us start off with the glorification of Allah. As any khutbah, any sermon devoid of the mention of the greatness of Allah remains incomplete.

O Allah — the eyes cannot see You. Thoughts are not able to comprehend You. Anyone attempting a description of Allah is unable to do so. He knows the weight of the weightiest mountains. He knows the depths of the deepest oceans. Nothing remains hidden from the sight and the vision of Allah. He is all-hearing, all-seeing, and all-capable.

He commanded His beloved Habib ﷺ in the Qur'an:

Say, O Rasulullah ﷺ, that Allah is the King of all kings. He gives the kingdom to whoever He wants, and takes it away from whoever He pleases. He is the one that grants respect and takes it away from whoever He wants.

Then we send peace, blessings, and salawat upon Rasulullah ﷺ — سيِّدُ وُلدِ آدمَ وَلَا فَخْرَ — the best of the creation of Allah, without him being arrogant about it.

As the poet Hassan ibn Thabit رضي الله عنه, describing the Prophet ﷺ, stated:

The eyes have not seen anything as beautiful as Rasulullah ﷺ. And the women are not capable of giving birth to anyone as beautiful as Rasulullah ﷺ. You have been created devoid of all defects. It is as if you were given the choice by Allah of how you would like your physical appearance to be.

The Insan's Attitude Toward the Dunya vs. the Deen

Respected audience, dear brothers and sisters, when we look at the insan and his indulgence in the dunya, we realize that the insan is never satisfied with the status of the dunya that Allah has given him. He constantly wants more, and he is in the desire of more and more. Anyone who has been given a place and abode by Allah wants a bigger one and a better one. Anyone who has been given transportation by Allah wants a second and a third one. Anyone who has been given adequate by Allah to take care of his needs, wants more and more. Hence the insan is never satisfied.

There is the famous hadith of Rasulullah ﷺ, in which Hakim ibn Hizam رضي الله عنه — who also happens to be related to the Prophet ﷺ — came seeking something for his assistance, some of the dunya, for the assistance of his needs. And Rasulullah ﷺ gave it to him. Then he came a second time wanting more. Rasulullah ﷺ gave it to him a second time. And then a third time wanting more. And this time Rasulullah ﷺ told him:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1472; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1035)

"O Hakim, know that this dunya is very sweet. Anyone who gets a little taste of it wants a little bit more, and then more, and then more. And it's also very green — just like in the dunya, green is something which captures the attention of the insan. That's why if you're passing by, specifically if you're on the outskirts of town, and you pass by a grassy meadow, you just get lost in the sight of that mesmerizing green." And so Rasulullah ﷺ mentioned that it's also very green. And there is nothing that can quench the thirst of the son of Adam, except for the dust of his grave. That's the only thing which will satisfy his needs and his desires.

You know, there is a famous Urdu saying that we use frequently: سامان سو برس کا ہے پل کی خبر نہیں — that you have your luggage for a hundred years, yet you don't know what will happen in the next second. Whether you will even survive in that next moment or second, or not.

So that's the state of the insan when it comes to his dunya — he's never satisfied, he wants more and more. But when it comes to the status of his deen, we find that it's the complete opposite attitude. Where many a times, we're very, very satisfied with whatever state we're in — despite the fact that Allah gives us hundreds and thousands of opportunities.

Just like the fact that we're here in the month of Ramadan — we may have just passed by the first odd night, Laylatul Qadr. It could have been Laylatul Qadr. But the insan, when it comes to his deen, he's very satisfied. And whenever reminded, or called out, or called upon, he says that he's happy with whatever state he's in. Whatever little bit he's trying — "I try to go offer one or two salats with jama'ah in the masjid, I try to give this much in sadaqah, this much in charity. Annually, on a Ramadan basis, I try to finish one reading of the Qur'an — and that's enough."

And sometimes, when you insist or when you say more, one sentence goes to a second one, and then a third one — people sometimes end up getting annoyed. And they say, "What's the matter with you? Do you think I'm any less than you? Or my status in deen is less than you? I might even be better than you." So sometimes when we're reminded, we get annoyed at that reminder as well.

Three Categories of People on the Day of Qiyamah

Here, I want to specifically pinpoint a portion in the Qur'an where Allah highlights the plight of those people that are always satisfied with the status of their deen. And so, Allah mentions three categories of people in these ayat.

The First Category: Ashab al-Jannah

In the first one, Allah talks about those people that are successful. You know how sometimes in the dunya we have this criteria of success — you pass by a big mansion, you see it, and you say, "Oh, this person's made it." Or you pass by a supercar, a car that's very expensive, you see the person sitting in it, and you think that that person's made it — regardless of even thinking or pondering of what the state of the person is. He might be living in that mansion, but the next moment he may have committed suicide. Or he's sitting in that car, but he's going through a nasty divorce, and nobody knows whether he's going to retain the ownership of that car or not.

So Allah mentions that first category of people — the ones that have truly made it on the Day of Qiyamah. These are the people that have been granted access and entry into Jannah, and nobody can take it from them, because what Allah promises is to live and reside in Jannah for an infinity. You're never going to turn away from it; you'll never be taken out of Jannah itself.

On that day, Allah will give those people the privilege of calling the other people out. In the dunya, we're not meant to be like that — you're not supposed to mock anyone, you're not meant to look down on anyone. But over there in Jannah, Allah says that these people who made it to Jannah, they will call out to the ashab al-nar, the people of hellfire, and they will say: "We found the promises of Allah to be true. We found out that whatever Allah had promised us, He delivered on all of those promises. What about you? How fare you?"

Because you had been constantly warned in the dunya. "Don't do that. If you do it, Allah may punish you. It's Allah's choice — He may forgive you, but you may end up on the receiving end of the wrath of Allah." Did you find those promises to be true? They will say: "Yes." And so Allah says:

Then an announcer will announce: may the wrath and the curse of Allah be on those who oppress themselves.

The Second Category: Ashab al-A'raf

Then we come to the second category — and that's the specific category that we want to focus on. It is the Ashab al-A'raf.

Now A'raf, from a linguistic standpoint, refers to anything that is elevated. Linguistically, some of the Mufassirin have stated that even the red crest on top of a chicken's head is called the A'raf linguistically, because it is on top of the chicken's head. But here, A'raf on the Day of Qiyamah will be a raised platform or a raised place where people are going to stand.

The Mufassirin have gone back and forth as to what exactly A'raf is. But some of them state that these Ashab al-A'raf are the middlemen. So we've talked about three categories of people. There's one that we've already looked at — the Ashab al-Jannah, the ones who have attained their success from the court of Allah. And then we come to the second category of people — these are the middlemen. These are the people that simply did not have enough good deeds to be able to make it into Jannah, but they also didn't have enough sins or evil deeds to make it into Hellfire. And so now they're forced to stand here in the middle ground — standing on the plain of A'raf, or on the mountain of A'raf.

When they look towards their right side, what do they see? They see Ahl al-Jannah — the people of Jannah in Jannah, enjoying the bounties that Allah has given them. They can hear the enjoyment of the people of Jannah. And when they look towards the left, what do they see? They see the people of Hellfire. They can hear the wailing and the crying of the people of Hellfire. They're pleading with them to help them out, to take them out of it.

Do you think that's a good place to be? Just imagine for a moment that you're standing there. In terms of the dunya, if you have a court case pending or you have anything — there's a date that you're anticipating — even the slightest difference in that can cause you a lot of nervousness. Nobody likes to be in that state of anxiety. You want everything to be over with. To the point where sometimes when you have a loved one that has disappeared, the relatives sometimes are very hasty in trying to get a death certificate. Because they simply cannot wait anymore. They can't take the anxiety. They can't take the fact that they don't know what will happen.

So these people that may or may not have been satisfied with the status of their deen — and whenever reminded in the dunya to do better and to do more, that maybe by chance on the Day of Qiyamah you may not have enough, they would get annoyed and say, "Why are you preaching to me? I'm fine, I'm perfect, I'm satisfied with the state of my deen" — so now they may be standing there on that raised place, everyone can see them. When they look towards their right, they see people enjoying. They can't be a part of that enjoyment. They see towards their left, and they see people that are being punished. May Allah protect us from the Fire of Hell.

But that in itself is a different kind of fear — where you can see it and you are not experiencing it yourself. So Allah says:

And they will say to the people of hellfire: of what use and what benefit was your arrogance to you? And here the Mufassirin state that Ashab al-A'raf may be very pious people as well, and potentially they may make it into Jannah — because they have the opportunity of calling out to the people of hellfire: "Your large numbers and your arrogance, of what use was it to you? What did it suffice?"

The Third Category: Ashab al-Nar

And then Allah talks about the final category:

This time the people of hellfire are going to call out to the people of Jannah, saying: "Give us a little bit of water. Give us a little bit of the blessings that Allah has given you, or some of the sustenance that Allah has provided you." And in the dunya, we are advised to help anyone out regardless of their status — Allah knows best the conditions of the hearts of the people. But over there, the answer will be: "These things — the sustenance and these luxuries — have been made forbidden upon those who did not believe in Allah, and upon those who, when being reminded, turned away from the reminder."

The Lesson: Embrace Every Opportunity in Ramadan

Respected audience, dear brothers and sisters — my point being that sometimes these opportunities that we find ourselves in, they are a gift from Allah to give us that little nudge forward. The month of Ramadan, the opportunity of Qur'anic recitation, the opportunity of tilawa, the opportunity of i'tikaf, the opportunity of Laylatul Qadr, the constant reminders again and again — we shouldn't be annoyed at them.

Sometimes people will come up to the imams and say, "Can you talk about something else? I've had it — I've heard so much about the month of Ramadan, so much about the virtues of the month of Ramadan." Respected audience, we should think of it as an opportunity from Allah to give us that little nudge forward, so that we may not be stuck on the Day of Qiyamah from amongst the people of Ashab al-A'raf.

Du'a and Closing

May Allah grant us a speedy access to Jannah on the Day of Qiyamah. May Allah accept all of our ibadat and all of the acts of worship that we are engaged in this holy month of Ramadan. May Allah make us from amongst those who attain complete forgiveness from their sins at the end of this month of Ramadan.

Announcements

Brothers, I humbly request you to please stand up and move forward inshallah. There are a lot of brothers waiting outside.

Please pass the donation boxes from left to right, and donate generously — as rewards are being multiplied during the month of Ramadan.

The Final Ten I'tikaf Programs:

• 1 a.m. — Candlelight Conversations with Mufti Azimuddin Ahmed
• 3 a.m. — Guided Ibadah
• After Fajr — Rise and Reflect with Mufti Minhajuddin Ahmed
• After Salatul Dhuhr — Ilm Corners with various Ulama
• After Asr — The Power of Prophetic Prayers with Mufti Azimuddin Ahmed
• After Taraweeh — Asbab al-Nuzul: The Context Beyond the Text with Mufti Azimuddin Ahmed

Sisters Programs:

• Salam Collective — From Motion to Devotion: Clock is Ticking — Friday, March 21st and Saturday, March 22nd from 5 p.m. till Salatul Maghrib.
• Sisters Online Recitation Circle — Daily recitation of the Qur'an, prophetic prayers, and 40 short ahadith — online and for sisters only.
• Pray, Play, and Learn — Young Muslim Taraweeh: This children's program will be available throughout the month of Ramadan for mothers who want to perform Taraweeh salat while their children are engaged in supervised activities, enjoy snacks, and engage in Islamic activities.

Save the Date for the Annual Retreat: Friday, April 25th to Sunday, April 27th, inshallah.

Masjid Isa is urgently raising funds to complete their 9,000 square feet basement and to expand their sisters' hall due to shortage of space. To be part of this sadaqah jariyah, please stop by Masjid Isa's booth on your way out after Salatul Jumu'ah.

Please make du'a for Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and all of the Muslim Ummah.

Please make sure your lines are straight, leave no gaps in between, and try to fill up the spots in the main prayer area first.