The Quran is the book of God. It has been preserved in its entirety since its revelation to the Prophet of Islam between CE 610 and 632. It is a book that brings glad tidings to humankind, along with divine admonition, and stresses the importance of man’s discovery of the Truth on a spiritual and intellectual level.

Translated from Arabic and commentary by
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

THE NIGHT OF DESTINY

We sent it [Quran] down on the Night of Destiny. And what will make you comprehend what the Night of Destiny is? The Night of Destiny is better than a thousand months; on that night, the angels and the Spirita come down by the permission of their Lord with His decrees for all matters; it is all peace till the break of dawn. (97: 1-5)

A particular night of the year (perhaps some night in the last days of the month of Ramadan) is the night of decisions by God. Certain tasks have to be performed in the course of the year in connection with the administration of the world, and the angels descend to the earth to arrange for them to be carried out. On a similar particular night, the revelation of the Quran began.

aThis refers to the Angel Gabriel.

It seems that on that night there is an abundance of angels on the earth. Those who are spiritually aroused are influenced by this atmosphere and, as a result, they become imbued with a spirituality which enhances the value of their religious deeds at that time as compared to such deeds as are performed in ordinary circumstances.

The Prophet Muhammad divided the month of fasting into three parts. He called the first ten days ‘blessings’, the next ten days ‘forgiveness’ and the last ten days as ‘Freedom from Hellfire.’ The Prophet also said, ‘The best days of this world are the last ten days of Ramadan.’ Therefore, during the last ten days the Prophet’s family would join him in what they called, ‘the tightening of his belt’—in its figurative sense— indicating total seriousness of devotion.

For this reason, as the month draws towards the last ten days, the worshippers give more time to prayers, give more in charity and read as much as possible from the Quran, beseeching their Lord for His mercy and forgiveness.

When the Prophet was asked by his wife, Aishah, what one’s prayer should be if one finds the Night of Destiny, Lailat-ul-Qadr, he taught her this simple prayer: Allahumma innaka afuwwun, tuhibbul afuwa, fa afuanni. (O God, You are forgiving, You love forgiveness, so forgive me.)

QURANIC VERSES ON FASTING

The month of Ramadan is the month when the Quran was sent down as guidance for humankind with clear proofs of guidance and the criterion by which to distinguish right from wrong. Therefore, whoever of you is present in that month, let him fast; but he who is ill or on a journey shall fast a similar number of days later on. God desires ease for you, not hardship. He desires you to fast the whole month, so that you may glorify Him for His having guided you and so that you may be grateful to Him. (2:185)

Fasting serves as training for two things at the same time—inculcating the spirit of thanksgiving and instilling the fear of God in the heart of the believer. Food and water are great blessings of God, yet man is incapable of attaching due importance to them. While fasting, he goes hungry and thirsty the whole day, then at sunset, in a state of extreme hunger and thirst, he eats and drinks to his fill. He then realizes through his own experience how great are the blessings of God which are present in the form of food and water. This experience produces boundless feelings of gratitude towards his Lord. On the other hand, fasting also serves as a form of training for a God-fearing life, which entails abstaining from all kinds of sins and evil deeds, which God has forbidden. A total abstention from food and drink from dawn until sunset is an exercise in making God one’s guardian. The entire life of the believer is a life of fasting. During the month of Ramadan, he receives his training by temporarily, abstaining from certain things, so that for the rest of his life he may permanently renounce all those things of which God disapproves. The Quran is a great blessing of God to man. It is through fasting that man enables himself to be truly thankful to God, and to lead a godly life in accordance with the teachings enshrined in the Quran.