BY our Lord’s leave, we have come to another blessed “night of power”, scheduled for the 27th day of the month of Ramadan. May Allah bestow many more months of Ramadan and “nights of power” on the entire Islamic world.
The “night of power”, a blessed and auspicious instrument of peace and joy in which Muslims embrace one another in love and brotherhood, occupies a very special place in the Islamic world.
Indeed, Almighty Allah reveals in verses that the “night of power” is better than a thousand months, that the Quran was revealed on that night and that this bountiful day is one of great wellbeing.
Truly We sent it down on the “night of power”. And what will convey to you what the night of power is? The “night of power” is better than a thousand months. In it the angels and the Spirit descend by their Lord’s authority with every ordinance. It is Peace — until the coming of the dawn. (Surah al-Qadr,1-5)
The reference in this verse to “better than a thousand months” is an explicit statement of the superior nature and virtue of the “night of power”.
In Arabic, “a thousand” is a term generally used to express superiority and greatness. “Better than a thousand months” is, therefore, deliberately used to describe that night.
Something else that makes this night most valuable indeed is that the angels and Gabriel came down to Earth on it.
In praying and reciting the Quran on that holy night described in the Quran, we must not forget that all our days should be filled with religious observance in the same way as the “night of power”.
Reading the Quran, remembering the verses and their meanings, enjoining goodness and forbidding evil, maintaining justice, reconciling people and espousing the truth until no more corruption remains in the world are some of our most weighty responsibilities.
In these days, when the world is so in need of union and unity and when we so passionately desire peace and security on Earth, we must once again remember this reality revealed in verse 55 of Surah an-Nur and the great responsibility imposed upon us:
Allah has promised those of you who believe and do right actions that He will make them successors in the land as He made those before them successors, and will firmly establish for them their religion with which He is pleased and give them, in place of their fear, security. They worship Me, not associating anything with Me. Any who disbelieve after that, such people are deviators. (Surah an-Nur, 55)
As indicated in this verse, bringing peace and security to the world is directly proportional to believing in Allah alone, without ascribing any equals to Him, to performing the observances commanded in the Quran and to living by moral virtues at all times.
Therefore, on the “night of power” when we pray for ourselves, those close to us and all the Muslim world, we should review the observances and moral virtues that Allah makes compulsory for Muslims and strengthens the sincerity in our hearts:
TO serve Allah alone (Surah al-Fatihah, 4);
TO hold Allah above all things (Surah Al ‘Imran, 173);
TO love Allah deeply and sincerely, above all things (Surah al-Baqara, 165);
TO seek no other deity than Allah; (Surah al-Qasas, 88);
TO submit to Allah (Surah at-Tawba, 51);
TO trust in Allah (Surah al-Furqan, 58);
TO know that all things are from Allah (Surah al-Hadid, 22);
TO adopt Allah’s approval and good pleasure as our true aim (Surah al-Baqarah, 207);
TO fear Allah and to strongly avoid behaviour that He will dislike (Surah Rad, 21);
TO be loyal to the faith (Surah al-A‘raf, 89);
TO give thanks to Allah under all circumstances (Surah al-Baqarah, 172);
TO be forgiving (Surah al-Hijr, 85);
TO have humility (Surah al-Furqan, 63);
TO be gentle and compassionate (Surah at-Tawba, 128);
TO enjoin the right and forbid the wrong (Surah Al ‘Imran, 104);
TO adopt a spirit of union and unity (Surah as-Saff, 4);
TO always defend justice and the truth (Surah an-Nisa’, 105 and Surah an-Nisa’, 58);
TO turn away from empty things and do good deeds (Surah al-Furqan, 72);
TO be patient and not give in to difficulties (Surah Al ‘Imran, 146 and Surah Hud, 55);
TO behave well and kindly (Surah al-Baqarah, 277); and
TO not fear speaking the truth (Surah al-Ma’ida, 54).
There is no doubt that if societies possess these qualities; wars, conflicts, troubles and difficulties, afflictions, cheating and fraud, moral degeneration, hunger and poverty will all disappear from the face of the world, and peace, justice, security, tranquility and brotherhood will be everywhere.
The endless bloodshed will cease at once and the oppression of wretched women, children and the elderly in Palestine, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Kashmir, East Turkestan, Pattani, Moro and many other places will come to an end.
As emphasised in verse 55 of Surah an-Nur, it is people who believe and do good works and who behave according to the moral values of the Quran who will bring peace and security to the world. Every Muslim who thinks with his conscience and heeds the truth can be a part of this blessed and honourable society.
As Muslims of good conscience, our duty is to encourage all to adopt the moral values that will be pleasing to Allah, for ourselves and for the salvation of the oppressed, then to enjoin the moral values of the Quran unto all those who hear our voice, and to espouse the truth everywhere in the hope that our prayers for an end to the oppression of the Muslim world on the “night of power” will be instrumental in peace, friendship, love and brotherhood spreading across the whole world.
Adnan Oktar's piece on New Straits Times & Daily Mail:
http://www.nst.com.my/node/16429
http://www.dailymailnews.com/2014/07/26/columns-articles/1.php