Dear Ru & Joe,
Papa am excited this evening when you guys told me ,you two, are interested in the 'Lailatul Qadr '. That is the true spirit my sons!
We are now in the last 10 days of the Ramadan....The Lailatul Qadr phase, better than
' seribu bulan '.
This not a metaphor. It is real.
Only in this part of the Nusantara, we collectively take as 'figurative'.
In the middle eastern diaspora, the advisories both in the uqran and hadith, are taken very seriously. If you happened to be in 'the Haram' on the 27th of Ramadan, there is not an inche of wastered space within 1 km radius of Baitullah, even 2 hours before magrib.!!!!
I am afraid the Lailatul Qadr phase is all about waking up in the wee hours of morning and doing your tahajud prayers mainly and taddabur quran, ideally from 12 midnight onwards right up to sahur.
Papa termed it as a 'lottery' for the Muslims but one of papa's friends took exception to that expression, but I am not interested to get into arguments involving ' pedantics with him. He is an al mu"tazilah moderen , so , let him be lost in his discourses and pedantics!
You and me , we don't have time for that.
The best way of course is to do the Rasullallah's way, [ pbuh]. His night prayer was only 11 rakaats , according to a well known hadith as narrated by Saiditina Aiishah.
But what a prayer it is !!
After fatihah, our nabi read surah al Baqarah, followed by Ali Imran, and An Nisa; then the second rakaat , following the al fatihah, he read surah al Maidah and so on and on.
By the time nabi [pbuh] finnish his Qiam, which is only 8 at the most, before his witr's 11, he must have finish the whole quran, allahualam.
You and me, we are 1000 times very much lesser mortals.
We cannot even string out the 1st 10 surah of the muqadam ayat by heart, let alone by heart surah Abasa.
What is the solution then?
You guys can follow one of the many recommended by renowned tok gurus , like Ustaz Kamus, Dr Haerun Din, etc and etc
Papa have my own personal way , dictated by the time available from the time I take the ablution to sahur time.
Now that this the last 10 days, I try to wake before 1.00 am which give me a a good 4 hours
before your mom start calling for sahur.
Given papa's relative 'illiteracy in the quran', my main zikr and doa actually is in making use of allah's most beautiful names!
So those enumerated here are really a personal ' choices ', tailored to papa's current need , sensitivity and limitations of ilm.
.............
1. 1st cycle of tahajud prayer followed by astagfirullah , say 100 times, then
Ya Latif 129 times [ dont argue with the number, you ca do 100, 200 or 1000. 129 respond to the cumulative addition of the numbered numerals that make ya Latif...Khiai Muhammad Bhakiet's recent discourse is referred ]
1. 1st cycle of tahajud prayer followed by astagfirullah , say 100 times, then
Ya Latif 129 times [ dont argue with the number, you ca do 100, 200 or 1000. 129 respond to the cumulative addition of the numbered numerals that make ya Latif...Khiai Muhammad Bhakiet's recent discourse is referred ]
Ya Salam, 136 time...[ again the number is arbitrary...]
Ya Fattah, Ya Razak, Ya Wahab, Ya Ghoniy, Ya Mughni.....say 100 times, again the numbers are arbitrary , dictated by time.
Ya Fattah, Ya Razak, Ya Wahab, Ya Ghoniy, Ya Mughni.....say 100 times, again the numbers are arbitrary , dictated by time.
Ya Zaljala Liwal Ikram
Ya Qadim, Ya Daim, Ya Ahad , Ya Wahid , Ya Somad ....say minimum 100, again arbitrary.
Ya Rahman, Ya Rahim..... [ 100x ]
Subha na llah al Malikul Quddus, [ 100x ]
La ila hailla Anta, ya Hayyu Ya Qayyum [ Shaykh hamza Yusuf's favourite litany, which papa picked up. he must have picked it up from his Mauritanian desert sojourn under a famous murabit there!]
Ya Muhyi... 68 times [ refers to Khiai Muhammad Bhakiet who I think took from his tok guru and tok guru, and tok guru... finally from Imam Al Ghazali ]
Allah, Allah, Allah.......if you have the stamina, 1000 time [ synchronised with your breath....but we will talk about this some other time ]
.............
2nd cycle of tahajjud prayer, followed by
..al Fatihah, 41 times [ great for doa purposes....doa whatyever doa after the rcitation , if you like ]
..Doa nabi Yunus, " la ila hailla anta subha nakainni kuntuminaz zolimin .''...45 times
...'' Subha nallah wabi handihih subha nallah hil Azim, astagfirullah '', 100 times
..'' .La ila haillallah huwah dahu la sari kalah lahul mulku walahul handu yuhyi wayumit wahuwa ala kulli shai in Qadir '', say a 100 time , minimum, more if you have the time
3rd cycle of tahajjud prayer, followed by
......al Fatihah 7 x, An Nas 7x. al Falak 7x, Kul Huwallah 7x, Kul Ya 7x, Ayatul Kursi 7x and
finally the last 3 ayat of al Baqarah 7x
2nd cycle of tahajjud prayer, followed by
..al Fatihah, 41 times [ great for doa purposes....doa whatyever doa after the rcitation , if you like ]
..Doa nabi Yunus, " la ila hailla anta subha nakainni kuntuminaz zolimin .''...45 times
...'' Subha nallah wabi handihih subha nallah hil Azim, astagfirullah '', 100 times
..'' .La ila haillallah huwah dahu la sari kalah lahul mulku walahul handu yuhyi wayumit wahuwa ala kulli shai in Qadir '', say a 100 time , minimum, more if you have the time
3rd cycle of tahajjud prayer, followed by
......al Fatihah 7 x, An Nas 7x. al Falak 7x, Kul Huwallah 7x, Kul Ya 7x, Ayatul Kursi 7x and
finally the last 3 ayat of al Baqarah 7x
[ papa's replacement of actually reading the big surah from the quran, since papa still ' merangkak' with the quran like a new mualaf ]
........our ubiquitous surah Yasin
.....'' Hasbunallah wani' mal Wakeel '' , 450 times
...Your favourite short selawat to the nabi, 100, 500, 1000 time...the more the better.
4th cycle of tahajjud, followed by
.......la ila haillallah hal malikul haqkul mubin....100x
....kalimah toyyibah, '' La ila haillallah '' , 1000 times
.....end your tahajjud prayer phase with this very potent wirid cum doa, as related by ibnu abbas in termidzi and ibnu majah, also one of papa's favourite short wirid cum doa, a panacea of all ills and doa.
papa like the cadence of the wirid and also it contain at least four to five of allah's most beautiful names:
la ila haillallah hul azhi mul halim
la ila haill llallah u rabbul arsil azim
la ila haillallah rabbus samaa waa tiwal ardhi rabbul arsil karim
If time permits, papa do 4 rakaat of solat hajat, over 2 salam...
[ handed down by the late allahyarham Ustaz Dato Ismail Kamus...!st rakaat, after fatihah, followed by 10 kulhuwallah; 2nd rakaat, 20 kulhuawallah, then salam. In the 2nd set , 30 kulhuwallah and in the last rakaat, 40 kulhuwallah.
On completion of the 4 rakaat, another 50 kulhuwallah.....then followed by a short , doa with respect to what is your hajat. YEs, I know, papa's 'wahbis friends will have a field day here, but I have a four full hours to 'fill' before the sahur!! ]
BY now it would have been around 430 am, you still have 20 minutes to do 4 rakaat of Solatul Tasbeeh, washed down with 10 minute or of Solat Taubat , 2 rakkaat.
Just say
Taubat again
...May be repeat Doa Nabi Yunus,
...and read one short ayat from surah al Ghafir, ayat 42...'' wa ufawwithu amri illallah innallah ha ...Basirun bil ibad '', many times as a form of zikr...[ I leave all my affairs with Allah, HE is all seer of his servants ]
........'' allahuma inna ka affuwon tu hibbul afwa wa' fu anni ''
...Wash off with the usual 'Rabbana atina........."..
[ sons, in Lailatul Qadr, try to avoid asking too many worldly wants, imaging you guys are whispering sweet nothings to your LOVER, THe BELOVED,.....we just want to close to HIM...nothing else matters! ]
[ It would be 5 am now , and your mom will be calling for you to have sahur..]
My advice to you guys.
At this juncture don't ever get closeted by anyone tok guru.
Go for safety in numbers!
So many of them plying the tubes nowadays, especially the younger ones who are IT savvy.
They may not be the best tok gurus to start beefing up your ugama knowledge.
They may end you up wearing 'blinkers' throughout you earthly life and be a ' kera sumbang ' in this already peaceful society.
You can see many of these
kera sumbang' in the masjids nowadays, percolating to one corner, looking at their hand phones, while the rest do their collective doa and wirid, following the imams!
Have an open mind and learn from as many tok gurus as you can.
Collect your ' big data' first.
WHEN YOU REACH MY AGE, IF YOU Still DECIDE to be the closeted safety of the Wahabis , go ahead.
Or you think the rest of the people are not thinking people, you can decide to take the ' arrogant route ' and join as the al MU'tazilah Moderen, go ahead, but mind you , you are on a slippery slope from here on!
At the end of the day I want you guys to have the right ' equipments ' to be able to appreciate the exquisite joys and pains of Rumi, the steadfastness of ibn Arabi, and be able to comprehend the ' inner demons and crises ' of Al Ghazali,;....at the same time be able to accept and chuckle and enjoy ' kampong ulama ' like Azhar idrus and Ustaz Abdul Somad et al; and can also tolerate narrow minded guys like Maza or Rasul Dahri and comprehend their utter confusion of their ugama.
You are on safe ground after your life long of ' big data collection ', insyaallah
Ramadan , I want you 2 guys to think off , as a great open university!
The Lailatul Qadr phase, is a ' test', also a test of your tenacity of purpose.
Insyaallah, the lessons learnt, could percolate down into you lives, to revived in the next Ramadan, as we slowly, slowly , creep into our varying phase of ghaflah [ heedlessness ] as as is common of us , the Homo Sapiens!
Happy hunting, sons!!
Post ramadan, continue your tahajjud, albeit with shorter wirid, and zikr.
If Allah opens up your 'hearts', HE will make your get addicted to this routine.
If that happens, don't forget to tell papa about it!
😉😉😉
........our ubiquitous surah Yasin
.....'' Hasbunallah wani' mal Wakeel '' , 450 times
...Your favourite short selawat to the nabi, 100, 500, 1000 time...the more the better.
4th cycle of tahajjud, followed by
.......la ila haillallah hal malikul haqkul mubin....100x
....kalimah toyyibah, '' La ila haillallah '' , 1000 times
.....end your tahajjud prayer phase with this very potent wirid cum doa, as related by ibnu abbas in termidzi and ibnu majah, also one of papa's favourite short wirid cum doa, a panacea of all ills and doa.
papa like the cadence of the wirid and also it contain at least four to five of allah's most beautiful names:
la ila haillallah hul azhi mul halim
la ila haill llallah u rabbul arsil azim
la ila haillallah rabbus samaa waa tiwal ardhi rabbul arsil karim
If time permits, papa do 4 rakaat of solat hajat, over 2 salam...
[ handed down by the late allahyarham Ustaz Dato Ismail Kamus...!st rakaat, after fatihah, followed by 10 kulhuwallah; 2nd rakaat, 20 kulhuawallah, then salam. In the 2nd set , 30 kulhuwallah and in the last rakaat, 40 kulhuwallah.
On completion of the 4 rakaat, another 50 kulhuwallah.....then followed by a short , doa with respect to what is your hajat. YEs, I know, papa's 'wahbis friends will have a field day here, but I have a four full hours to 'fill' before the sahur!! ]
BY now it would have been around 430 am, you still have 20 minutes to do 4 rakaat of Solatul Tasbeeh, washed down with 10 minute or of Solat Taubat , 2 rakkaat.
Just say
Taubat again
...May be repeat Doa Nabi Yunus,
...and read one short ayat from surah al Ghafir, ayat 42...'' wa ufawwithu amri illallah innallah ha ...Basirun bil ibad '', many times as a form of zikr...[ I leave all my affairs with Allah, HE is all seer of his servants ]
........'' allahuma inna ka affuwon tu hibbul afwa wa' fu anni ''
...Wash off with the usual 'Rabbana atina........."..
[ sons, in Lailatul Qadr, try to avoid asking too many worldly wants, imaging you guys are whispering sweet nothings to your LOVER, THe BELOVED,.....we just want to close to HIM...nothing else matters! ]
[ It would be 5 am now , and your mom will be calling for you to have sahur..]
My advice to you guys.
At this juncture don't ever get closeted by anyone tok guru.
Go for safety in numbers!
So many of them plying the tubes nowadays, especially the younger ones who are IT savvy.
They may not be the best tok gurus to start beefing up your ugama knowledge.
They may end you up wearing 'blinkers' throughout you earthly life and be a ' kera sumbang ' in this already peaceful society.
You can see many of these
kera sumbang' in the masjids nowadays, percolating to one corner, looking at their hand phones, while the rest do their collective doa and wirid, following the imams!
Have an open mind and learn from as many tok gurus as you can.
Collect your ' big data' first.
WHEN YOU REACH MY AGE, IF YOU Still DECIDE to be the closeted safety of the Wahabis , go ahead.
Or you think the rest of the people are not thinking people, you can decide to take the ' arrogant route ' and join as the al MU'tazilah Moderen, go ahead, but mind you , you are on a slippery slope from here on!
At the end of the day I want you guys to have the right ' equipments ' to be able to appreciate the exquisite joys and pains of Rumi, the steadfastness of ibn Arabi, and be able to comprehend the ' inner demons and crises ' of Al Ghazali,;....at the same time be able to accept and chuckle and enjoy ' kampong ulama ' like Azhar idrus and Ustaz Abdul Somad et al; and can also tolerate narrow minded guys like Maza or Rasul Dahri and comprehend their utter confusion of their ugama.
You are on safe ground after your life long of ' big data collection ', insyaallah
Ramadan , I want you 2 guys to think off , as a great open university!
The Lailatul Qadr phase, is a ' test', also a test of your tenacity of purpose.
Insyaallah, the lessons learnt, could percolate down into you lives, to revived in the next Ramadan, as we slowly, slowly , creep into our varying phase of ghaflah [ heedlessness ] as as is common of us , the Homo Sapiens!
Happy hunting, sons!!
Post ramadan, continue your tahajjud, albeit with shorter wirid, and zikr.
If Allah opens up your 'hearts', HE will make your get addicted to this routine.
If that happens, don't forget to tell papa about it!
😉😉😉
This is not the end of the lailatul qadr story.
It is supposed to be tranformational :
Be a God fearing person!
If you are the boss, a Godfearing boss!
If you are destined to be a 'gurkha' for life, a Godfearing 'gurkha', etc etc and etc....
Papa
Papa
