Chapter 3

Lailatul-Qadr

Bismillähir-Rahmänir-Rahïm. In the Name of God, most Merciful, most Compassionate.

Allah! Creator who gave us integrity! Bestower of tranquillity and peace! Allah, Giver of true sustenance (rizq) and grace (rahmat).

Within man You placed everything of this world and the world of souls: the throne of God (‘arsh), the gnostic eye (kursï), the pen (qalam), heaven, and the preserved tablet (al-lauhul-mahfüz), which is destiny.

One who is Lord, You gave us everything: You gave us completeness, long life, and death. Allah, You are the One who made us complete.

You gave us every wealth, You gave us Your rahmat and the supreme treasure of the three worlds. In making us human, You have given us greatness, glory, and wisdom.

Allähu ta‘älä, the Singular One who rules and sustains, You gave us the certitude, the reverence, and the resolute faith (ïmän) to worship You.

Allah, Bestower of all gifts, You are the One who gave us a life without death and a life with death. You gave us a perfect heaven, an imperfect body, and an imperfect hell. You gave us resplendent wisdom and ïmän. You also gave us the darkness of ignorance and desire.

You gave us undiminishing wealth, the grace-wealth of all the universes, the Rahmatul-‘älamïn. You gave us this most perfect wealth of faith, conviction, inner patience (sabür), contentment (shakür), trust in God (tawakkul), and total surrender to God (al-hamdu lilläh).

You gave us this wealth which brings contentment. You gave us this fortune of grace and made us complete. You gave us the imperfect world and its hypnotic fascinations. You gave us ignorant desire and attachments. You gave us the darkness of sensory enticements that bring about bold, restless, base desires with their connections to the world.

You also gave us the light of love and grace. You gave us this perfection. O Giver of all things, Allähu, Lord of all universes, we have abandoned Your gifts of perfection, and joyously desiring things that are imperfect, we walk on the path of destruction.

We follow our minds and desires, let go of completeness, and reach out to death. We follow our base desires and roam the world, falling prey to sensory enticements, the darkness of illusion, torpor, lust, anger, and hatred.

Allähu, please protect us who walk the path of evil. Please destroy arrogance, karma, and maya. Help us to walk the straight path and bring us peace. Destroy our fecal arrogance. Destroy our differences and lead us on harmonious paths of peace.

Enable us to do charity and to fast. Give us the faith, the prayer, and the proper way to pray to You. Charity, fasting, and the pilgrimage of Hajj—these duties will be realized by wisdom, feeling, faith, and awareness, by actions that realize You, and by the wisdom that trusts others as one trusts oneself.

Since the fast is suitable for and will be understood by feeling, awareness, and intellect, [the first three wisdoms] this fast was revealed to the Rasül; may peace and blessings be upon him. God revealed the fullness and reverence of this faith to the Rasül (Sal.) and said, “O Muhammad, make your followers understand this. Tell them to do this task, this ordained duty. For those who have declared the affirmation of faith (kalimah), and have resolute faith, this will be an ordained duty.

For those who realize this, and for those who know Me, this will be rahmat. If man understands and fulfills this, if he understands and does his duty to all lives, I will give him My wealth, I will give him My grace, I will give him the perfection of Imän— the rahmat of all the universes.

If man lives like Me, with unity, tolerance, and equanimity, this will be the greatest of fasts. It will be rahmat. It will be the attainment of My throne. It will be the attainment of union with Me (äkhir). An undiminishing wealth! Paradise! A treasure that will bring happiness!

O Muhammad, understand, and ask your followers to do this. Direct them on the straight path of divine knowledge (‘ilm). Tell them to study the divine knowledge that is My rahmat.

Make them understand this mysterious divine knowledge. It will make them silent and patient with everyone. And when man understands himself through divine knowledge, he will know himself and Me. Make them understand the Wisdom within wisdom. Make them understand Resolute Faith within resolute faith. Make them understand Worship within worship and perform it. Make them understand Charity within charity and do it. Make them understand the Fast within fasting and accomplish it.

Through divine knowledge, make them think about the Pilgrimage within the pilgrimage, the Hajj within the hajj, and undertake this task with understanding. Make them understand the True Man within man. Make them realize the One who exists as Perfection within perfected man (insän kämil).

Make them understand and realize the Resplendence within Perfection, the Qutb, Make them understand the one who is the Qutb within the qutb. Make them realize the Resplendent Perfection who is the Nür within the Nür. Make them realize Allah, the Treasure within the Nür.

One who understands the rahmat, that all of everything is contained in Allah, will be one of pure faith, a mu’min. This one of pure faith will be perfected man, the resplendence of absolute faith (dïnul-Isläm). He will never see hell, never see death. He will have received the rahmat of eternal life. He will live with the compassion that is life to all lives.

With the name ‘Abdulläh, he will be a slave to God and serve Him. Once he realizes the proper ways of ïmän, he will need none other; he will remain as God’s slave. Make them realize this state. When man realizes and looks within, I will be the Rahmat. If he understands true man, I will be the True Man within man— the Insän within insän.

I will be the Perfection within perfected man— the Kämil in insän kämil. I will be Divine Knowledge within divine knowledge, I will be Resolute Faith within resolute faith, I will be Charity within charity, I will be the Fast within the fast, I will be the Pilgrimage within the pilgrimage, and I will be the Affirmation within the affirmation of faith—the Kalimah within the kalimah.

I will be Worship within worship, I will be experienced as Belief within belief. I will also be the Eye within the eye, I will be Wealth within wealth, and I will be the Light within the Light of God—the Nür within the Nür.

I will be the Inner Heart within the inner heart, I will be the Resplendent One within divine knowledge, I will be the Qutb within the qutb, I will be Allah within the Nür, and as Allah within Allah, I will serve and be known as the Rahmat of all universes.

O Muhammad, make your followers understand this. To those who have wisdom, those who have ïmän, those who have certitude, and those who have become slaves, tell them this, and explain it to them. And even those who do not comprehend this, tell them to do the five ordained duties and attain understanding. Preach wisdom to them, and through wisdom, make them understand.”

Furthermore, God, the Singular One who rules and sustains, gave these explanations ( ahädith)— these words that will be known as the inner meanings of the Qur’an and as words of divine knowledge—to the Rasül, may peace be upon him. He explained the meanings of the fast to the Rasül (Sal.), saying, “O Muhammad, even as I sent down the first sürat 1 to you on Mount Hira, I sent down this light and rahmat. I sent it to you as Lailatul-Qadr.

When I sent it to you that day, the first light which descended embedded itself in your inner heart. I sent down the light known as Lailatul-Qadr and kept your inner heart open. I made the heart of an ummï into a heart of ‘ilm— the heart of an unlettered one into a heart with sacred knowledge. I made it into rahmat. I made it remember. I made it into light. I made it so that you would be understood. And to you I revealed the rahmat that is Allähu as the light, the Lailatul-Qadr. I fed this light to your inner heart. O Muhammad, if man climbs the black rocky mountain of his heart and goes beyond, if he opens the bismin-käi, the minute morsel of flesh, goes within, climbs beyond, and worships Me with a melting heart, I will send down the divine knowledge known as Lailatul-Qadr. I will send this into his inner heart.

O Muhammad, I will send down the same divine knowledge, the same Lailatul-Qadr, to anyone who opens his melted inner heart and offers worship. This qadr, this ray, will resplend. It will resonate in the inner heart. I made the angel Gabriel hold you tight, three times. Then after you had crushed the three desires, earth, woman, and gold, 2 after you had crushed arrogance, karma, and maya, desire, anger, sin, and hell, after you had crushed all these black stones that arise from the bile, I sent down the light known as Qadr.

I made it descend and embed itself in your inner heart. That day, that first time, I sent the light, I sent the Qur’an.

All the lights I sent down to you after that were like rays of splendor to your inner heart. Every sentence and every word was a ray of light. All these rays were the Lailatul-Qadr. The Light known as Nür Muhammad accepted each meaning I sent down and made it its own.

Once established, it is revealed on the outside as the Thiru Qur’an, and as the inner Qur’an, the Thiru-Marai. When it emerges, each light is a ray, a qadr. The ray is the soul. The soul is light. The light is rahmat. The rahmat is fullness. This fullness is the light of ïmän, which is resplendent. This resplendence is the dïn, the light of purity. This light of purity is the Life of life, the Hayät. This Hayät is mysterious. And I, as the Mystery within the mystery, will be the One who bestows on all lives the rahmat of Bismillähir-Rahmänir-Rahïm— the limitless grace of God, most Merciful, most Compassionate.

O Muhammad, explain the meaning of ïmän to your followers, give them divine knowledge, open their inner hearts, and break down the rocks of darkness, the black rocks of sensory enticements. Break down earth, fire, arrogance, karma, maya, anger, lust, selfishness, pride, and jealousy. When man breaks down these black rocks and crushes them with his wisdom, when man breaks the hard rocks with the light of läm (Nür), the form of mim that comes into being will be Muhammad.

When this sürat, this form of Muhammad, comes into being, when this state dawns, worship with a melting heart will grow. When this worship begins to thrive, the first sürat will dawn in his inner heart as Lailatul-Qadr.

When man becomes one of pure faith and one whose heart is filled with the resplendence of God (Ïmän-Isläm), his heart, aham, will open. When all the darkness is destroyed, the light known as Ahamad will dawn. This light will imbibe each word spoken by Me. When the words are absorbed and then revealed, they will be the power of My attributes, My wiläyat. They will be the Asmä’ul-Husnä of the Qur’an, the ninety-nine wiläyat.

One who has propriety, good conduct, modesty, good qualities, patience, inner patience, contentment, trust in God, total surrender to God, and the righteousness, certitude, and completeness of ïmän, one who becomes a light within this and acts with My actions is my slave.

He is one of pure faith, and he is Muhammad. He is the light, and the Light of God—Nür. He will be rahmat, He will be My wealth of patience, He will practice patience.

O Muhammad! Say this to those who come with ïmän, seeking to realize Me. Of the ordained duties and everything I revealed to you, the first thing I sent down was the light, the Lailatul-Qadr.

When your followers reach this state, My words, My explanations (ahadïth), and the letters of the Qur’an will be like souls (rüh) and rays of light. Life will be perfection. It will be rahmat. He who understands this will be one of pure faith. He will be ïmän. He will be perfected man. He will be qutb. He will be Nür. He will be Nür Muhammad.

He will have received Allah’s rahmat by being Allah’s slave. When he receives My rahmat he will understand My divine knowledge (‘ilm). His inner heart will be ever resplendent. His heart and face will have the beauty of having seen Me. He will do My duty.

O Muhammad, tell your followers this. Tell them this, show them the explanations of divine knowledge, and make them realize. Make them follow this path of wisdom and reach Me. Through determination, certitude, and patience, make them see Me. Only then will man achieve good results. Only then will he understand this fast.”

Thus spoke God to the Rasül; may the peace of God be upon him.

May all of us understand this. May we understand faith, worship, ïmän, prayer, charity, fasting, and the pilgrimage of Hajj. When we understand the five outer duties and the inner duties and establish resolute faith, we will become Muhammad.

Then, when we come out of the cave and perform prayers with a melting heart, the light known as Lailatul-Qadr will descend. When this resplendent ïmän and sürat are sent down, the three desires will have been broken down, and the religions will have been destroyed. Our inner heart will be filled with divine knowledge and we will be ummï, forgetting everything but replete with Allah’s divine knowledge.

Only God’s qualities, His divine knowledge, and His words will be absorbed by the inner heart. And when they are revealed on the outside, they will be words of life. They will be light. We must understand this divine knowledge, this ‘ilm.

My brothers and sisters, children born with me, Allähu ta‘älänayan, the Singular One, who rules and sustains, bestowed this rahmat on the Rasül (Sal.). In many ways, in the ahadïth and the Qur’an, He has placed His divine knowledge (‘ilm) as an inner mystery and has provided the explanations.

We should understand this and worship Allah inwardly. If we do, we can attain the treasure and rahmat. We will receive that rahmat. Each child must use insight. We must search for wisdom. We must study ‘ilm inwardly.

Ämın, O Lord of the universes. Please bestow on us Your benevolence and Your rahmat, and so grace us.

Please fill these children with resolute faith. Please keep open the hearts of each of my children. Please keep darkness away from their inner hearts. Break down the black rocks of darkness and delusion. Send down the light of Lailatul-Qadr into their inner hearts.

O Allah! Please give them the intention to worship on Your path and offer prayers with a melting heart, and so grace them.

Amın, O Lord of the universes. May the peace, the beneficence, and the blessings of God be upon you.

Go and fulfill your fast.

M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (Ral.)

Footnotes

1. Sürat: A word used for chapters in the Qur’an, of which there are 114. It is also used by the author to refer to the form of man. The first sürat revealed to Muhammad (Sal.) was the süratul ‘alaq. Trans.

2. Earth, woman, and gold: In eastern spiritual thought, the full spectrum of sensory desire is summarized in the phrase earth, woman, and gold. Each word symbolizes a fundamental aspect of desire. Earth refers to the craving for land and power, woman refers to the pursuit of sexual fulfillment, and gold refers to the greed for material wealth. Trans.