Prayer for Understanding the Nights of Qadr
One of the most important prayers and requests which a fast observer should not forget, and from the very beginning of the Holy Month every night, day, and at every available opportunity should beseech Allah (the Glorious, the Exalted), is to bestow upon him the divine grace for worshipping, servitude, and night-vigil during the nights of Qadr and Fitr. And if a fast observer beseeches Him honestly and sincerely undoubtedly He will respond to his request and would not deny him his desire for having the divine grace - the grace which is so great that deserves merit - and the one who has trust in Allah (the Glorious, the Exalted), and the Holy Qur'an, in order to be sure for its attainment would be ready to spend that entire year in worshipping, night-vigil and asceticism. Did not the Holy Qur'an consider that night better than thousand months which are longer than eighty years? Would not by efforts and endeavours of one year, he accomplish the bonus and reward of eighty years?
Which is indeed a great profit, what to say to accomplish that same profit of eighty years during a period of less than a month. From this consideration, if someone does not have even so much courage to pray and request for the divine grace of comprehension of the Night of Power (Lailatul-Qadr) during the span of approximately twenty days (from the beginning of the Holy Month until the Night of Power), then he should realize that his heart is sick and his faith is unstable, and therefore it is up to him to seek the treatment for his heart's sickness and faith's instability. Whatever has been said about the Night of Power (Lailatul Qadr) is also valid for the day and night of Eid-ul-Fitr because Imam al-Sajjad has narrated that:
"This night (Night of Fitr) is not less valuable than the Night of Power (Lailatul-Qadr)."
Yes! Allah's devoted servants whose desire and courage is that through their prayer, worship, and preparation reach to the point whereby their esoteric eyes become opened during these nights so that they could witness the descent of angels, (Archangel Gabriel), and destinies descend from the Celestial Kingdom towards the earth during this night. And as compared to those great ones are we who do not possess even the courage to pray and request for the divine grace of worshipping during these nights.
Night of Power (Lailatul-Qadr) and Appreciation of its Merits
It is true that we do not know exactly, as to which night is the Night of Power (Lailatul-Qadr), but this should not prevent us from praying and requesting for its comprehension, of course to identify as to which night is the Night of Power, it has been narrated that from the beginning of the Holy Month till the night of twenty third, Surah-44, al-Dukhan should be recited one hundred times or Surah-97, al-Qadr should be recited one thousand times every night.
Also, for better comprehension of the Night of Power (Lailatul Qadr), there is a narration in the book of Iqbal, whose authenticity although is questionable, nevertheless, because of the profound importance of the Night of Power (Lailatul-Qadr), to act in accordance with the tradition, assuming its authenticity as correct would be reasonable. The summary of the tradition is as follows:
Ibne Abbas has quoted from the Holy Prophet [s]:
"I teach you a prayer (salat) that if you performed it, you will see the Night of Power (Lailatul Qadr) every night, twenty times or even more in the following manner:
Four rak'at prayer with one salutation (Salam), in every rak'at one time Surah al-Fatihah (the Opening), three times Surah al-Kafirun (the Disbelievers) and three times Surah al-Ikhlas (the Sincerity). After finishing salutation, recite the tasbeeh (praise) of Fatimah al-Zahra [a] thirteen times, and recite the invocation Astaghfirullah (Oh Allah, Forgive me) thirteen times.
The aim of the narration is not explicitly clear for us, and perhaps what is meant by seeing twenty times or even more Night of Power could be, that for someone like this, there is a reward, which is equivalent to the pleasure of seeing the twenty Nights of Power or even more. For example, it has been narrated that the reward of recital of one praise (tasbeeh) is greater than the Prophet Solomon's [a] Kingdom. But the interpretation of those who think that the reward of this prayer (salat) is equivalent to the reward of worship and night-vigil of twenty or even more Nights of Power (Lailatul-Qadr) is not correct.
Witnessing of the Night of Power (Lailatul-Qadr)
If it is asked what is meant from seeing the Night of Power (Lailatul-Qadr) and its pleasure? The reply is - that seeing the Night of Power means witnessing, whatever is being revealed during that night, seeing the descent of angels and destination of affairs, exactly as they are seen by the Imam of the Age (Wali al-Asr [a]) during this night.
Here it should be briefly explained that Allah (the Glorious, the Exalted), has created between the 'Worlds of Spirits' (Arwah) and the 'World of Bodies' (Ajsam) another world known as the 'Psychic World' (Barzakh or Mithal) which neither possesses the darkness and narrowness of the World of Bodies nor has the brightness and vastness of the World of Spirits. It is neither like the World of Spirits which is completely separate and abstract from the darkness of matter, confinement of physical bodies, and limits of quantity, nor it is like the 'Material World' which is completely confined into the darkness of matter, confinement of physical bodies and quantitative limits, rather it is free from the darkness of matter, but still is confined to the limits of shape and quantity, it is a world free from matter but with shape and quantity and in itself contains many worlds.
Every existence which exists in the 'Material World', in addition to the physical and material existence of his own world, also possesses different kinds of existences in the 'Psychic Worlds'. And every existence before his being created in this 'Material World' possessed relevant existence in the 'Psychic World' and before that in the World of Spirits in its appropriate form. In other words every existence, first exists in the hidden divine treasures as has been described in the following verse:
"And there is not a thing but with us are stores thereof.
And We send it not down save in appointed measure."
- Holy Qur'an (15:21)
From there this existence descends into the 'Psychic World' and from there, through divine angels further descends into the 'Material World', i.e. whatever exists in this 'Material World' was descended from the 'Psychic World' and whatever exists in the 'Psychic World' was descended from the hidden divine treasures.
Therefore, every human being whatever destiny or gains he possesses, are from these three worlds; although, majority of the people are negligent about their own 'Psychic' and 'Hidden Worlds', and are not even aware of their negligence, i.e., they neither know about the existence of these hidden Worlds nor are they aware that they themselves the possess existence in these worlds, except those upon whom Allah (Glorious, the Exalted), has bestowed His special grace to recognize them and their selves, and through the path of self-recognition could also recognize their psychic and spiritual hidden existences.
Because the reality of human self is rooted in the Spiritual-World, therefore, from this consideration, the one who has received the divine grace, is able to remove the material curtain from his spirit and self, thus, seeing the self's reality, without matter, in the psychic from, and may go even further deeper than this stage, whereby being able to see the spiritual reality of his self without any shape. Such recognition of the self is the meaning of the following narration quoted from the Commander of [a] the Faithful Imam 'Ali:
"Whoever has identified his self in reality has recognised his Creator."
Therefore, only those who have discovered the reality of their selves in this manner may truly appreciate the link and interface between the self's identification (khud shanasi) and Allah's identification (khuda shanasi).
It will be sufficient to conclude this explanation at this point, and would be appropriate to return to the earlier discussion. It should be added that from the traditions it can be derived that commands, and destinations for every year, i.e., sustenance, provisions, age, and one year lives of all worldly and earthly creatures are assigned during the Night of Power and through the divine angel are descended to this 'Material World', and the one who is Allah's Vicegerent (Khalifatullah) upon the earth sees and identifies these descent of destinies upon earth, i.e. it becomes clearly manifested upon him, and this very manifestation and seeing and identifying the descent of destinies upon earth though angels is called seeing the Night of Power and the joy and ecstasy felt by the seer, is the result of this manifestation, which could only be described by those who have experienced such phenomenon, and perhaps seeing of the Kingdom of Heaven (Malakut) by Prophet Abraham [a] which has been mentioned in the following verse of the Holy Qur'an might resemble such manifestations.
"So also did We show Abraham the power and laws of the heavens and the earth."
Ü Holy Qur'an (6:75)
Source:
Spiritual Journey of the Mystics (Suluk-i Arifan)
By:
Haj Mirza Javad Agha Maliki Tabrizi (R.A.)