July 2016

There were 2 posts published in July 2016 (this is page 1 of 1).

Removing Poison

I’ve recently been suspecting my interest in news and politics is more damaging to me and my psyche than I’ve thought. This has become especially clear after so many terrorist attacks this Ramadān.

To that effect, I’m purging my Twitter feed, where most bad news aggregates for me, of all politics and current affairs accounts. In a continuous effort to reassess what is meaningful and healthy. I’m going to focus on three hobbies this year that don’t involve trying to stay on top of what the rest of the world is doing; languages, coding, and writing.

Expect more from those topics later.

But first, I have a flight to catch to Madrid and someone waiting for me there.

Laylatul Qadr

﷽

Indeed, it is We who have send this Quran down from on high on the Night of Empowering Decree.
And do you realize what is the Night of Empowering Decree?
The Night of Empowering Decree is better than a thousand months!
Therein do the angels and the Spirit Gabriel descend by the permission of their Lord, with every divine commandment.
Peace it is till the rise of Dawn.
— 97:1-5

The last 10 days of the Islamic lunar month of Ramadān hold a very special importance. It is a time when people are encouraged to push through with their fasting, their recitation of Quran, and their acts of prayer and charity. The odd-numbered days of this period, 21st, 23rd, 25th, 27th, and the 29th, are when the Messenger ﷺ instructed us to seek out Laylatul Qadr, the Night of Power, or Destiny, or in Zaki Hammad’s translation of the Qur’an, of Empowering Decree.

This night is when the first verses of the Qur’an were revealed to Muhammad ﷺ, at the time in a cave meditating above Mecca;

Read, in the name of your Sustainer, who has
created man out of a germ-cell
Read, for your Sustainer is the Most Bountiful One
who has taught man the use of the pen
taught man what he did not know
— 96:1-5

The Qur’ān says this night is better than a thousand months. When Muslims perform a good action for themselves or others, it is as if they perform that particular action for a thousand months.