An Analysis of Laylat ul-Qadr (Night of Power) - 23rd Ramadan 1434/2013

'A'udhu bil-Lahi min al-Shaytan al-rajim. Bismi-Llahi, Al-Rahmani, Al-Rahim. Al-hamdulil-Lahi Rabbi al-Alameen, wa as-salat wa as-salam 'ala asharaf al-Anbiya'i wa al-Mursalin, wa habibi ilahy al-alameen, Abil Qasim al-Mustafa Muhammad. [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'aali Muhammad], wa 'ala ahli baytihi, at-tayyibin, at-tahirin, al-wahdat al-mahdiyyen. Wa al-la'anatu da'himata 'ala a'da'ihim ajma'ina ila yawm id-deen. Qala Allahu Ta'ala fi kitabih al-Karim. Bismillahi, al-Rahman, al-Rahim. "Inna anzalnahu fi Laylat il-Qadr"(97:1), "Wa ma adraka ma Laylat ul-Qadr" (97:2). "Laylat ul-Qadr khayrun min alf shahr" (97:3). "Tanazzal ul-Mala'ikatu wa ar-Ruhu fiha, bi idhni Rabbihim min kully amr" (97:4). "Salamun hiya, hatta matla'a al-Fajr" (97:5). Sadaqa Allahu, al-Alayyu, al-Adheem.

Dear brothers and sisters, as-salamu alaykum, wa Rahmatullahi, wa barakatuh. It is the greatest sale that you will ever witness in your life. And it is the biggest discount that has ever been offered by anyone. But this sale only lasts for one night. It begins at sunset at dusk, and it finishes with sunrise, dawn. And there are a few differences between the sale that I am speaking of and your everyday average sales that you see in newspapers, magazines, on the Internet and you see on TV.

Number one, your local mall is not hosting this sale. Your local shopping center is not hosting it. Macy's or J.C. Penney, or none of these stores, are hosting this sale. The host of this sale is none other than your creator, Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala. Number two, the merchandise that is being sold in this sale, is not clothes nor jewelry, nor appliances, nor electronics nor furniture. What is being sold in this sale, is a Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala forgiveness and has mercy upon us and our freedom from the fires of hell. It is the greatest reward of Allah that is being offered that is on display in this sale. And that is Al -Jannah. The paradise of Allah Subahana wa Ta'ala. And as I said, it only lasts one night. Number three, the currency that you use in this sale to buy is not dollars or dinars or dirha+ms, it is none of the paper money that we human beings are accustomed to in this world. The currency that you use in this sale is your A'mal, Salat, Qur'an, Du'a and Dhikr.

The good deeds are your currency. That is how you buy Allah's forgiveness, Allah's mercy, Allah's satisfaction and grace. And that is how you are freed from the fires of hell through your A'mal. If you have not already figured it out, I am speaking about Laylat ul-Qadr tonight. For some people who may have been tonight, last night, for others, tonight. Laylat ul-Qadr that Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala says in the Holy Qur'an: "Wa ma adraka ma Laylat ul-Qadr" (97:2). You can never comprehend the greatness of Laylat ul-Qadr. No, no matter how much I speak to you, brothers and sisters, about the greatness of Laylat ul-Qadr, it is not enough. You will not comprehend it. It is beyond our imagination. It is beyond our comprehension how great this night is. And we can talk all night about Laylat ul-Qadr, and its greatness.

But tonight I will speak about three important topics, three important questions that I will answer tonight. The first question, how many nights do we have that are Laylat ul-Qadr? Do we have three nights, or do we have one night that is Laylat ul-Qadr? And if it one nights, when is it? When is Laylat ul-Qadr? That is number one. Number two, why is this night called Laylat ul-Qadr the Night of Destiny? This is one of the interpretations of Al-Qadr that it is the Night of Destiny. Why is it called that? And number three, what is one of the most important a'mal, that we are supposed to do during this night? And some of us, we forget to do this.

So we begin with the first. Number one, how many nights of power do we have? Nights of destiny do we have? Three or one? The Ulama', they differ in this. There is two views. Some Ulama' say there is only one night of Qadr only one Layat ul-Qadr. Others they say no! There is three. So the first view that most Ulama' believe in is that there is only one night. So if there is only one night, why do we celebrate this night in three nights, the ninteenth of Ramadan, the twenty-first and the twenty-third night of Ramadan, why? Well, the reason behind that, brothers and sisters is because we have conflicting reports from the Imams and from the Holy Prophet about which night is Laylat ul-Qadr. We have traditions that say it is the nineteenth. We have traditions that say it is the twenty-first, and we have traditions that state it is the twenty-third.

So when I as a scholar, I come to read the Ahadith, I see there is a hadith for each night. So we are not sure which night is Laylat ul-Qadr because there are conflicting reports about that.

But however, most Ulama', they agree that most likely Laylat ul-Qadr is on a night like this, the twenty-third night of Ramadan. And that is why if you see, they call it Laylat ul-Qadr il kubra, the big Laylat ul-Qadr. There is only one Laylat ul-Qadr. It is called the big one, because most likely this is the real Laylat ul-Qadr. And I will just read you two Ahadith that the Ulama' they refer to in believing that the twenty-third night is the true Laylat ul-Qadr.

To the first hadith is called hadith Al-Juhani, it is a very famous hadith. And basically what it is, is that there was a man by the name of Juhani. And he comes to Rasul Allah one year during Ramadan. And he tells him, Ya Rasul Allah, my house is very far from your Masjid and when I come, I have to bring my my animals with me, my sheep, my goats, my camels and horses, whatever I have. And I have to bring all my family with them. And it is a huge family. And I can not come every night during Ramadan because my house is far. So he tells Rasul Allah, Ya Rasul Allah, choose one night, which is the most important night out of Ramadan and it is the greatest night out of Ramadan. And I will come only that night.

The narrators, the companions of Rasul Allah, they say we saw Rasul Allah he called a Juhani and he whispered something in his ear. We never heard. And nobody asked Rasul Allah what you said, what he said. So they said, Al Juhani left. When did he come back? He came back on the twenty-third night of Ramadan and he brought his entire family telling them that this is the greatest night of Ramadan. And they said every year until he died, he would only come during the twenty-third night of Ramadan. So the Ulama' they understand from this hadith that the man asked Rasul Allah what is the most important night that I should come? Rasul Allah told him something that he came the twenty-third.

So obviously Rasul Allah told him come the twenty-third night of Ramadan, and that night obviously should be Laylat ul-Qadr, because Laylat ul-Qadr is the most important night in Ramadan. So Rasul Allah told him obviously come during the twenty-third night because it is Laylat ul-Qadr. Rasul Allah I did not tell the ashab the companions that this is Laylat ul-Qadr, but all we understood is that this is the most important night and we know for a fact that Laylat ul-Qadr is the best night of Ramadan. So that is why the twenty-third night of Ramadan is Laylat ul-Qadr, according to this authentic hadith. This is one hadith, and then there is another hadith that Imam Ali alayhi as-salam, he narrates.

He says, during the time of Rasul Allah, one night, Rasul Allah, he sees a dream, he sees a dream that it is Laylat ul-Qadr, and it is raining. And as we know, the dreams of the Prophets of Allah, the messengers of Allah are all true dreams, they are all revelation. If I see something in my dream, most likely it is nonsense. Some people, every dream they see, they want an interpretation. That's not how it is, brothers and sisters. Yes, a minority of my dreams are called, according to the ahadith, "ar-ruhiya as-sadiqa" "The True Dreams", that actually have a meaning. But 95 percent of our dreams are nonsense, it is just something that in my mind is showing me. It does not have a meaning, but the dreams of the Prophets are all true dreams. That means it always has a true meaning.

So the Ashab, they said after we heard the hadith, the dream of Rasul Allah, it did not rain until it was the twenty-third night of Ramadan. The dream of Rasul Allah came true, he said, I saw it was Laylat ul-Qadr, he did not say which night is Laylat ul-Qadr. He just said, it is Laylat ul-Qadr and it is raining. When did it rained that year in Ramadanit? It rained during the twenty-third night of Ramadan, and one of the narrators, he says we saw mud on the nose of Rasul Allah. So some Ulama' they say the twenty-third night of Ramadan is Laylat ul-Qadr, because of this tradition.

So as I said, it is a matter of reading the Ahadith and understanding which night is the true night of destiny and, you might wonder why is there the disagreement and the Ahadith, why then the companions, why then the companions of the Holy Prophet and the Imams ask just go and ask the Prophet when is Laylat ul-Qadr? The reason is many times they would ask Rasul Allah and the Imams would not tell them.

We have many traditions. They used to ask Imam Ja'far Al-Sadiq, when is Laylat ul-Qadr ? Is it 19, 21 or 23? The Imam, he tells them, it does no matter. Do the amal of Laylat ul-Qadr all three nights. In one hadith he says " Ma aysar laylatayn, ma aysar thalath layali. So what? Who cares when the true Laylat ul-Qadr is. The point is, do the 'Amal of Laylat ul-Qadr during all these three nights. Because if it was not Laylat ul-Qadr, if tonight was not Laylat ul-Qadr. And I did the one hudrend raka's and I did Du'a and I read Du'a Jawshen and I read Qur'an, did I waste my time? If on the Day of Judgment I find out 23 was not Laylat ul-Qadr, no because you did good deeds anyway. It is good to read Qur'an throughout the year, not just Laylat ul-Qadr. So it is as if Allah hid Laylat ul-Qadr.

Why? So that we could do the amal of Laylat ul-Qadr in all three nights and receive the reward three times. It is from the mercy of Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala that he hid Laylat ul-Qadr or else we would only do the amal once. If it was twenty-one, we would just do it in twenty-one. Nobody would do anything. We would go and sleep the twenty-third and nineteen. But now since it is a mystery between three nights we do the amal all three nights and we receive three times as much as the reward.

And that is why in one tradition, Imam Ali alayhi as-salam, he is narrated. That one day his companions, they asked them, 'Ya Ameer il Momenin, tell us, when is Laylat ul-Qadr? Look at the answer of the Imam. The Imam is a teacher. He wants to discipline us. He wants to show us how to live this life and what perspective and what mentality and ideology to live by. The Imam, he says: 'Ma akhum min in akuna a'lemha fe astur elma-ha'. He says, look, I know when Laylat ul-Qadr is, but I am not going to tell you, I am not going to tell you.

And then he said, 'Wa lastu ashook. Inna Allah innama yasturaha ankum nadharan lakum, la innahum law alamakumuha, amaltu fiha wa taraktu ghairaha'. He says Allah likewise he does not want you to know when the real Laylat ul-Qadr is that is why the Holy Prophet, he whispered in the ears of Al-Juhani. Al-Juhani could only come once so Rasul Allah said let me tell him the real nights. But for the Muslims who live right by the Masjid, Allah does not want them to know Laylat ul-Qadr is. Why? Because the Imam, he says, if Allah tells you this night is Laylat ul-Qadr you are not going to do any good deeds on the rest of the nights. So it is a mystery to us. It is like a pop quiz. Why do we have pop quiz pop quizzes? Can not the teacher tell me tomorrow is a test? Because he wants me to be ready every day. Do not just study for the test. Study so you know the material.

This is how Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala wants me to live by. Treat every night, like Laylat ul-Qadr. And in fact, brothers and sisters, if I can grab your attention. I know it is very crowded and it is very loud. But if I can just please grab your attention so we understand the importance of Laylat ul-Qadr. Sallu 'ala Muhammad wa 'aali Muhammad [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa aali Muhammad]. And that is why our tradition states that Rasul Allah Sallal-lahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam, the last 10 days of Ramadan, he would go and he would move into the Masjid, he would live in the Masjid.

Why? So that he could do Ibada worship 24/7, the whole ten days, it was Laylat ul-Qadr. For us, for some of us we only have one night during the year, the twenty-third that we come to the Masjid or three nights. Nineteen, twenty-one, twenty three and we spend it in Ibadah, worship till fajr. For Rasul Allah, every year of his life, the last 10 days of Ramadan, every night was Laylat ul-Qadr for him. He used to spend the entire last ten days living in the Masjid. He would live there 24 hours a day.He would not leave the Masjid. In constant state of Ibada. So it is besides the point when Laylat ul-Qadr is. Treat every night like Laylat ul-Qadr.

And that is why Allah hid this night Laylat ul-Qadr other among three nights, so that we could do more good deeds. Remember I said this many times, Allah, he wants to create any excuse for us so that he gives us a reward. So Allah says yes, there is only one, but I am going to hide it between three so that you do it all three times and you receive the reward three times. So this is the first view. Remember, we said the first view holds that there is only one night of power, but we do not know which one it is. And most likely it is the twenty-third night of Ramadan. But then there is a second view that some Ulama' they believe in.

They say, no, there is not just one night of one night of destiny, one Laylat ul-Qadr, there is three. Nineteen, twenty-one and twenty three are all Laylat ul-Qadr There is three nights together. They make up Laylat ul-Qadr. But however each one of these nights it has a different role. Each one comes in a different stage. There is three stages of Laylarul Qadr. How and that these Ulama' they say that I am going to mention in the second question, in the second topic that I addressed that Laylat ul-Qadr is a night that Allah decides everything until next year. I will speak about this in a minute. So these Ulama', they say that this decision-making process of Allah is in three stages. The first stage happens during the 19th night of Ramadan. And what does Allah do during this night? They call it Al-Taqdeer. He sets the budget. So during a night like 19th Ramadan, Allah basically says that during this during this year from this Laylat ul-Qadr til Laylat ul-Qadr of next year, I will pass out this much mercy. So the budget is set during nineteenth.

During the twenty-first of Ramadan this is what is called Al-Qadha' Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala divides the budget. Ten, ten for this person. Twenty-four Mohammad. Fifteen for Ali, for Fatima, for Zainab. Allah distributes the budget between the human beings. And then the twenty-third night of Ramadan is what is the night of Ibram. This is the night the Allah verifies, approves everything and it is a done deal. So Laylat ul-Qadr is not just one night, according to the second view, it is three nights in three stages.

So this is the first question. Now we understand there is two views. Most Ulama' believe it is only one night and most likely it is the twenty-third night. The second question that we raised, why is this night called The Night of Destiny? Now, we should already know the answer that I just mentioned. It is called The Night of Destiny, Qadr in the Arabic language, al-Qadr wa al-taqdeer means when something is destined, when when something is decided. So it is called Laylat ul-Qadr because everything is decided tonight on Laylat ul-Qadr, from now till one year, till next Laylat ul-Qadr, Allah decides everything according to the Qur'an and according to the hadith, everything is decided in the Qur'an. Where does Allah say that in the Qur'an, He says: "fiha yufraqu kullu amrin Hakeem" (44:4). Allah speaks about the night that the Qur'an was revealed in Surat Al-Dukhan and He says that it was revealed during Laylat ul-Qadr and He says during that night, everything is decided.

What do I mean everything? Listen to the hadith of Imam Al-Baqir alayhi as-salam. Imam Al-Baqir alayhi as-salam, he says about this verse: "fiha yufraqu kullu amrin Hakeem" (44:4), he says: 'uqaddaru fi Laylat ul-Qadr kullu sha'y, yakunu fi tilka as-sana ila mithliha min qabil.' Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala decides everything during Laylat ul-Qadr. Like what? He gives examples he says: 'min khayrin, aw sharrin, aw ta'aten, aw ma'siyatan, aw mawludin, aw ajileen, aw rizq. Any good deeds that I will do, it is all destined tonight, from now till next year. Any bad deeds that I shall do this year, it is all decided tonight. If I will receive sustenance, if I will receive that job, if I will live a comfortable life this year or not. It is all decided this year, if I will have a child or not, it is decided this year. If I will die or not, it is decided tonight. Everything is decided on Laylat ul-Qadr.

And in fact, we have some traditions, brothers and sisters, that state that among the things that are decided tonight are unchangeable things that when Allah decides and he says this is going to happen, some of those things are unchangeable. I will speak about this next week. We have a type of Qadha, a destiny which is unchangeable. It is called al-Qadha il-Mahtoum. When Allah writes it, it is not going to change, even Du'a is not going to change it. Now, maybe most things are not like this Du'a can change it, I will speak about this next week. But if there is something that will not change the unchangeable things that Allah decides, it is going to happen tonight.

So if I was supposed to die this year when the Laylat ul-Qadr is about to finish and Allah writes 'fulan' is supposed to die 'fulan' is supposed to have a terrible year, if I do not do anything to change that, it is not going to change. Now, many things they do change, like I said, but there are some things that do not change. The 'Ajel' that is Mahtum the 'Qadha' that is Mahtum, that is unchangeable. So we have to be very careful. But why is it decided tonight? You might ask. Allah just like that He decides that I am going to have a terrible year, that I am going to sin, that I am going to be a mu'min? No.

Allah does not decide just like that for no reason. Allah, He sees how you perform on this night. If you spend this night in Ibada worship, if you spend, it in Du'a and you ask Allah to give you a good year and you do good deeds during Laylat ul-Qadr Allah writes a good year for you. He says this person, look, he spent entire Laylat ul-Qadr in Ibada, worship. I will write for him everything that is good. But if I spend it sleeping, if I spend it wasting time and chatting and doing other things besides Ibada, Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala will not write me good things during that year. So it is in my hands, brothers and sisters. This is not predestination that God decides, and that said, I can not change. It is all in our hands, under our control. So spend Laylat ul-Qadr wisely, brothers and sisters.

And from this, we understand, because Laylat ul-Qadr is the night of destiny and everything is decided from now till next year. We have to be very careful how we spend tonight or whenever Laylat ul-Qadr is, whether it was last night, the 19th 21st, why? Because from now till next year, your fate and whatever happens to you is in your hands right now. Spend this night wisely, ask Allah to give you a good year. And that is why we understand the answer to the third question that we posed. What is one of the most important things that we should do tonight? Brothers and sisters, is Du'a! That is what I am speaking about this whole month. Du'a! Spend a few minutes and speak with Allah and ask Him to give you a good things.

Ramadan is the month of Du'a brothers and sisters, we said that there are conditions to Du'a. If you do not meet those conditions, you are not going to find the answer. But what is beautiful about what Ramdan, the Holy Prophet, he says about Ramadan, in his sermon that he spoke about Ramadan, he said, 'Wa dua'ukum fihimu ustajab'. Allah will answer your Du'a during Ramadan. That means Allah will be more lenient in giving you what you want. So that means if I did not meet some conditions, Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala will give me what I want anyway. Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala makes exceptions that He tells you, yes, there are ten conditions, for example, to Du'a. But in Ramadan I will make them five, in Ramadan I will make them three. I know you did not meet some of the conditions of Du'a, but yet because it is Ramadan, because I am so kind in Ramadan, I am going to give it to you anyway. So that is why take advantage of this month and read Du'a every night Du'a Abu Hamza, Du'a Il-iftititah, and any other Du'as that you wish.

And the most important night in Ramadan is this night, Laylat ul-Qadr. It is the night of Du'a. Everything is decided this night. So ask wisely. Ask Allah to give you everything that you want. The hadith of Rasul Allah salla Allahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam says that Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala chose out of the week, the best day is one Juma'a, Friday, and He chose out of the year, the best month is Ramadan and out of the night the best night is Laylat ul-Qadr. It is mentioned in the Qur'an. Allah says in the Holy Qur'an: "Laylat ul-Qadr khayrun min alf shahr" (97:3). It is better than 1000 not nights, 1000 months, so it is better than 30000 nights. One night it is equal to thirty thousand nights. If you do a worship during this night, Laylat ul-Qadr Allah will times it by thirty thousand. Is this not unbelievable? Do not waste a second of your brothers sisters, it is only and especially now in the summer, where it is so short, it begins at 9 and finishes at 4:30. So you only have a couple of hours. Take advantage of it and ask Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala to give you everything.

And, when I when I say ask Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala to give you everything, I mean it brothers and sisters. Ask Allah to give you everything. Have high ambitions! There is a hadith from Rasul Allah salla Allahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam, that says on the Day of Judgment, Allah Subhana wa Ta'la, will bring two people to give them the reward. And these two people, they live the exact same lives. They had the same belief the same eman. They had they did the same amount of good deeds. So obviously their reward should be equal. Right? So Allah gives one of them the reward and then He gives the other one a greater reward. So the first one he objects. He says, Ya Allah, that is not fair. This guy was exactly like me, we both prayed at the same time we went to Hajj together, we did the same amount of good deeds. Why are you giving him a greater reward? Look at it answer of Allah Subahan wa Ta'ala. Allah tells him: "you know why I gave him more than you? Because he asked for more. And you never asked. He used to always ask. Oh Allah, give me more than I deserve. Oh Allah, give me more. He had higher ambitions. You never asked for more. You never asked for it. He asked for it. I gave him you never asked for that extra. And that is why he did not give you".

So tonight, ask for everything with Allah! And Number one, two points when we ask. Number one, like I said, have high ambitions, have high aspirations. Ask for the biggest things, the greatest things! There is a tradition that says that an angel one day he was crossing, it was, you know, just flying over the the world one day until he came across an island. This is during the time of Bani Isra'il, thousands of years ago. So he sees a worshiper. There is a guy he is an abed all he does is worship Allah from day and night. He sees he is worshiping Allah all by himself in this island, and it is filled with trees and grass. So this angel asks God. He tells Him: oh Allah show me the reward of this abed. Allah shows him. He sees it is a very it is a very small reward. He should, he expected more because he is an abid he is a prostrator, all he does is worship Allah. So he asks Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala, why? Why are you giving him such a small amount of reward? Allah tells him, go and live with him one day and you will see why.

So he goes and he lives, you know, he just basically, looks at that guy and wants to spend a day with him. So he goes, he says, I am an angel of Allah and I want to spend one day with you, says, OK, so he says you are an abid. And he says, yes, I worship Allah. He says, Is there anything you want from Allah? He says, No, you have no needs from Allah. He says, no. And then he says, You know what? There is just one thing that is in my heart. This is my biggest wish in my life. If Allah does this, I will be the happiest man in the world. He says, what is it? The angel says, what is it? He says, Look at this island it is filled with grass. He says, I wish God had a donkey, that he could come and eat this grass. God does not have a donkey that eats the grass, all this grass is being wasted. This is my biggest wish in my life. The angel, he says, OK, now I understand why your reward is so little, because he has such small ambitions. His greatest wish in his life is that Allah brings down a donkey and he starts eating the grass so the grass does not get wasted.

Let us not be like that person, brothers and sisters. There are lessons that we learn from from the history of how to ask when we ask. There is a famous story that a man comes to Rasul Allah one day. And this man, when Rasul Allah, went to Ta'if, the city of Ta'if, before he became a messenger, before he was sent, he went he did not have anywhere to stay. Some guy in that city, he told them, come to my house. He gave him shelter. He gave them food. He was very kind with him. So when Rasul Allah became a king and he became the ruler and a Prophet and everything. This guy heard that Rasul Allah, the man that I gave him shelter and everything. He was my guest. Now he is a Prophet. He goes to him and he tells him ya Rasul Allah do you know me. He say no who are you. He says, I am the man that 20, 30 years ago you came to my house and I was so kind with you says, yes, I remember you. He says, ya Rasul Allah, I want you to repay me. I was so kind with you when you needed me. Now you are so strong. So be kind with me. Rasul Allah says ask anything and I will give you. He could have asked for anything brothers and sisters. Do you know what he asked for? He says, ya Rasul Allah, I want 200 sheep, 200 sheep. And that is all I want. So Rasul Allah prays to Allah, Allah sends him the 200 sheep.

When he leaves, Rasul Allah tells his companions, he tells them, can you believe this guy? I am the Messenger of Allah. I ask him, ask for anything he could have asked for Jannah, he could have asked to be with me in my level in Jannah, he could have asked for everything. He asked for 200 sheep and then Rasul Allah says 'ala sa'ala mithl ma sa'ala ajuz Bani Isra'il', he says, only if he was as smart as the old lady of Bani Isra'il.

So their companions, they ask him Ya Rasul Allah, what is the story of the old lady of Bani Israel? The Holy Prophet tells his companions that Musa one day Allah tells him, when he was moving from Egypt to Palestine to Sham, wherever he was going, he told him that when you go, you have to take with you the bones or the body of Yusuf. The Prophet who was before him. So Musa does not know where his body is. So he asked his friends and companions, who knows where Yusuf is buried? They tell him there is only one old lady there knows where Yusuf is buried. So they call that old lady, she comes, what is it you want, Musa? He tells her, I want you to tell me where the grave of Yusuf is. So she tells him, I will tell you under one condition. He says, what? Under one condition, I make a request and you ask God for that thing, if you accept, I will tell you where he is. So he says, OK, fine.

She tells him, I will tell you where the grave of Yusuf is and you give me three things. Number one, I am an old lady, I want to be young again. Number two, I am blind, I want my sight back. This is a prophet he could do miracles. And number three, when I go to Jannah, I do not want I do not want to just go to Jannah. I want to be your neighbor in Jannah. Look at the high ambitions. She wants the highest levels of Jannah. Under these three conditions I will give you. Musa he was kind of disappointed. He was kind of angered how rude she is. He wanted to reject her Allah, told him, no, do not reject her. I am giving her this. I am Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala is kind I will give her. So Musa he says fine. And he gives her all these three things. And then she says the grave of Yusuf is in this place.

So Rasul Allah tells his companions, why did not he ask? Just like the old lady of Bani Israel. Have high ambitions. When you sit with Allah, do not say Oh Allah I want you to send me three hundred dollars. What is three hundred dollars? You can ask that, but that is that is not the only thing you ask for a car or a spouse. Ask for the biggest things, ask that Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala frees you from the fires of hell. Ask for the mercy of Allah. Ask for Allah's forgiveness, asking Him for Al-Jannah. Ask him to give you a good, believing, pious children that you raise in this country, it is difficult to keep them practicing, good Muslims. Ask Allah that He gives you the ability that you have good believing sons and daughters. And then ask Him for everything else that you want in this world. So have high ambitions, brothers and sisters, when you ask, that is number one.

And number two, when you when you do dua brothers and sisters, the best type of Du'a to do, is to ask your brothers and sisters to pray for you. You see, because I will speak about this the day after tomorrow. That we human beings Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala when I become selfish, he does not like that, when I just ask too much for myself unless I am a very pious man. So the best way to Du'a is tell your brothers and sisters and your friends to Du'a for you, because that is so unselfish. Instead of doing Du'a for myself, let me do Du'a for my brothers and sisters and family and friends. And according to the ahadith, let me read you the hadith, that if you do Du'a in this way, this is the fastest, the fastest Du'a that Allah answers. Listen to this hadith.

Imam Al- Baqir alayhi as-salam, he says, 'Asra'u al-du'aa najahan li 'l-ija'ab', the fastest dua that as soon as you ask, Allah gives it to you. What is it? He says "Dua'u il-ahkh il-ahkhii be dhahr al-ghayib'. When you do Du'a for your brothers and sisters, for other people, Allah right away he gives it to you because you are not selfish. And then the hadith says 'Fa yaqulu lahu malakun mawakkil ameen'. I'll give you what you want to your friend, 'wa laka mithla'. And not only will I give your friend, I will give you twice as much as you are asking for your friend because you are so unselfish, because you are still thinking about other people, not just about yourselves.

So tonight, brothers and sisters make a deal, an agreement with everyone else, with all your friends and family members. Tell them tonight instead of I pray for myself and you pray for yourself, I will pray for you. And you get what you want and you pray for me and I get what I want. Be smart when you do. There are ways. Remember, we said there is conditions, there is rules, there is guidelines. This is the best type of Du'a Allah will answer right away. And in fact, as I said, I will speak about this in a few days that sometimes Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala, He does not answer because we have done sins. Some sin they prevent our Du'a from going to Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala. Allah, He says you have committed these sins. I am not going to answer your Du'a.

So in one beautiful hadith, Allah, He tells Musa, the best solution to ask Allah, if you are a sinner, He says 'Ya Musa ud'unee bi lisanin lam taqseeh'. If you want me to answer you. Listen, it is a very beautiful Du'a. He says if you want me to answer you, do Du'a on a tongue that you have never disobeyed Me on. So Musa he says, now Musa is infallible, but for us. For me, I could never do that because I have sin in my life. So how can I ask God with a tongue that is infallible. It is impossible. So Musa tells Allah, how do I do that? I am a sinner, I can not do that, well Musa is speaking on our behalf, he is not sinner.

Allah tells him 'Ud'uni 'ala lisani ghayirik'. Let your family members and friends do Du'a for you. I sin with my tongue. But do I sin with my brother's tongue? No. So my brother's tongue, I have never sinned with it. Let him do Du'a for me. And it is as if I have prayed to Allah with a tongue that has never disobeyed Him. See how clever that is? So make an agreement with your friends and family members, they Du'a for for you and you do Du'a for them. And you will receive reward as well. Remember, I said the angel says, I will give you twice as much. I ask Allah, oh Allah give my brother, my father, my cousin, my son, whoever, this much amount of reward. The angel says, I will give him that and I will give you twice as much as I will give the as I will give him.

And then finally, brothers and sisters, let me read you this hadith and insha Allah we will end with this. That if you Du'a for your brothers and sisters, if you constantly teach yourself to pray for everyone else, not only will Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala accept that Du'a not only will He give you twice as much, but listen, that those people that you do Du'a for on the Day of Judgment, they can do shafa'a for you. You know, shafa'a, you intercede on behalf of someone else. Someone else who has it doesn't have too much good deeds. I ask Allah. I intercede. I tell Him, oh Allah, please forgive him for my sake. Allah will forgive him. We know the Imams and the Holy Prophet, they have shafa'a, they intercede on our behalf and they help us when we are in need, on the Day of Judgment. Even your family members and friends, if there are mu'min, they can help you.

Listen to this hadith of Rasul Allah. The Holy Prophet says: 'Inna al-abdin il-mu'min la youmar bih ila an-nar, yakunu min ahli al-ma'siya wa al-khata'ya'. On the Day of Judgment, some of us, may God forbid, Allah says you did not do anything, you were such a sinner. He tells the Angels, take him to hell. So while they are dragging me to the fires of hell, some good friends of mine and family members who are better than me. They see me. They see that I am being dragged to the fires of hell. What do they say? 'Fa yaqulu al-mu'minin, mu'minoon wa al-mu'minat. Ilahana, abduka hadha kana yad'u lana. Fa shaffa'na fi, fa iushaffi'auhum Allah azza wa jal fi, fa yanju min an-nar bi Rahmat min Allah, azza wa jal'. It is a beautiful Du'a. So they see that this friend of theirs or this family member of theirs is being dragged to the fires of hell. So right away what did they do? They tell him, Oh Allah, this person that you are dragging to the hell, he did Du'a for me. He ...I benefited from him. So it is not fair that he goes to hell now, I can not watch this. So they beg Allah. They ask Allah to save them. And Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala saves that sinner not for his sake, but for the sake of his family members and friends that he did Du'a for. So if I do do that for other people, I am going to benefit from that on the Day of Judgment, not only will Allah give me twice as much in this dunya. They will become my shafu'a on the Day of Judgment.

And finally, brothers and sisters, once when you begin to do Du'a and ask Allah and you begin to pray for others, always begin with others. There is a certain, there is a certain etiquette that I have to go by. Any time you want to do Du'a, for others, who do you begin with? Who do you begin with? You begin with your Imam, brothers and sisters, Imam Al-Mahdi ajjal Allahu Ta'la farajuha wa shareef. Do Du'a for him. When I go to visit any shrine, any time I want to do Du'a, I always begin with Imam Al-Mahdi. Even though I said this last night, he does not need our Du'a. We need him. When I do Du'a for him, I show him that I care for him, that I am thinking about him. And remember, we said we said when you do Du'a for others, we benefit. We get twice as much and they help us on the Day of Judgment.

So begin with the 12th Imam(atfj). And the best thing is, say, Allahumma ajjal li waliyyka al-faraj, Oh Allah hasten his reappearance and consider me among the followers and the warriors of Imam Al -Mahdi. This is number one. You begin with Imam Al-Mahdi, alayhi as-salam. Number two. Who do you pray after that for? You pray for your father and your mother, your parents, and then your grandparents, your children, your brothers, your sisters, your uncles and aunts and nephews and nieces, the farther.

So you start with the closest people to you, your parents, and you go and then your second cousin, third cousins and your family members. And then you do Du'a for your friends, and your teachers, and whoever you love. So any time you do Du'a brothers or sisters, you begin with Imam Al-Mahdi. You end with your friends, and do Du'a for all the Muslims and all the followers of Ahlul Bayt, alayhum as-salam. Listen to this hadith, the Holy Prophet Salla Allahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam, he says.

'Man qala: Allahumma ghfirli al-mu'minina wa al-mu'minat, kataba Allahu lahoo bi kulli mu'min khalak Allah mundhe khalak Allah Adam, ila intaquma as-sa'a hasana, wa maha anhu sayy'a, wa rafa' lahu daaraja'. If you say this Du'a, it takes you three seconds to say it. 'Allahumma ghfirli al-mu'minina wa al-mu'minat'. Oh Allah forgive the mu'mins, the male ones and the female ones. Al-mu'minin wa al-mu'minat. Do you know how much reward Allah will give you? The Holy Prophet says how many people have lived since Adam till the Day of Judgment? Probably 100 billion people. Allah will give you for each human being that He created or for each mu'min that He created. Millions upon millions of mu'mins from the time of Adam, till the time, till the Day of Judgment. For each mu'min, Allah will give you a hasana. So if there is a hundred million mu'mins that Allah created throughout time, He will give you a hundred million hasanat just for saying Allahumma ghfirli al-mu'minina wa al-mu'minat .

And He will erase from your book of bad deeds as much as there are good believers. And He will, and He will give you a reward, and He will escalate your position in the Jannah. How many degrees? As much mu'mins as Allah has created throughout time. It is so simple! 'Allahumma ghfirli al-mu'minina wa al-mu'minat'. So always do Du'a for others, brothers, sisters. You begin with Imam Al-Mahdi, then your family members, and then all the Muslims, and then ask Allah for your for your hajat, or your wishes. And when you ask for your hajat, begin with the hajat of the Akhira first, do not begin with the worldly materialistic Hajat.

So say Allah, give me Iman, give me taqwa, give me piety. I want to go to Hajj. If anyone wants to go to Hajj, brothers and sisters this year, it is decided tonight. Do Du'a that Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala writes you among the Hujjaj. Even if you do not have money, even if you can not go, do Du'a. Tell Allah to help you go. Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala can send you. Allah he can send you the money. Allah he can send you the paper, the passport, whatever that you need. So do Du'a. Ask Allah that I want to go to Haji this year, that I want to become a mu'min this year. That yes. Tell Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala maybe for this past couple of years I have sinned so much. But tonight, Laylat ul-Qadr, this is when everything changes. This is when everything is decided. I want You to write me a good year, and I begin by repenting. Shed a tear with Allah.

Tell Him oh Allah I have been such a bad slave, servant for you. And forgive me, I want to start a new chapter. And Allah will forgive you. Wa Allahi He will forgive you. We mentioned in the Qur'an Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala says. That He says in the Qur'an, "Qul ya abadi alladhena ashrafu ala anfusihim, la taqnatu min Rahmat Illah" (39:53) . Allah says to all those people that have done so much harm, unbelievable amount of haram, they have done every sin in the book. Don't lose hope. Allah forgives all your sins.

But you have to ask for His forgiveness. Ask tonight is the best night to repent. If I did not pray for my entire life. Start tonight brothers and sisters. This is the greatest night out of the year. Start tonight. Allah will forgive you. Make up your salah and start praying. If I am a sister and I do not wear hijab for my entire life, repent tonight. Tell Him Allah forgive me. I am sorry for not doing it. But tonight is the night and Allah will help you. He will push you. You will see it is much easier if you make the commitment tonight. Remember, everything is decided tonight, but you have to make the commitment. You have to ask Allah to give you the power the Tawfiq to do it. And like I said, ask Allah to send you to Hajj if you have it went to Hajj and I said this yesterday, the Y.M.A. they have a beautiful Hajj group.

And you could ask from the YMA administrators about it all the the Amal and all the lectures are conducted in English. Like I said yesterday, Hajj is difficult brothers and sisters. It is complicated. If you go without correct guidance, you are probably going to mess up your hajj. And for the ones for us that we do not speak Arabic too well, there is limited amount. There is limited groups that we have to that we can go with. The YMA conducts all its programs in English under the guidance and leadership of Imam Sayyid Hasan Al-Qazwini.

Ask anyone that went with the YMA and they will tell you what a beautiful group it is. You will enjoy it. You will get you will get the reward of Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala and all the informative lectures of this Hajj group. So if you hav not enrolled, enrolled tonight, if you can not go, you do not have the money, you do not have the time tonight to ask Allah, to give you the time, ask Allah to give you the money.

It is all in the hands of Allah. I spoke about this. He is the true source. He is the one that controls my life in this world. It is not my boss. It is not my job. These are all means brothers and sisters. Put your hope into Allah ask him tonight, Laylat ul-Qadr, and have high aspirations. So make that commitment with Allah, Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala will inshaAllah change your life. And in the end, I make a kind request to all my brothers and sisters to also include me in your Du'a as I need your Du'a. And inshaAllah I shall pray for every single one of you. Only a few hours remain from this beautiful night. Take advantage of it brothers and sisters. Wa Allahi we will regret it. Allah has given us the best, the best opportunity. One night that equals thirty-thousand nights. Do not waste a second!

If you are sitting, have nothing to do the least thing read Surah: "Inna anzalnahu fi Laylat il-Qadr"(97:1). It is Mustahab to read this surah on Laylat ul-Qadr 1000 times. If you can not read it 1000, 500, if you can not one hundred, if you can not fifty, ten. As much as you can, do not waste the second. The easiest thing just read "Inna anzalnahu fi Laylat il-Qadr"(97:1), as much as you can, until dawn. And Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala inshaAllah He shall be kind with us. Wa akhir ad-da'wana. Al-Hamdulillah Rabb Al-Alameen, wa sallu 'ala Muhammad wa 'aali at-tahirin [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad].