What If Laylatul Qadr Is The Wrong Night? | Ramadan Pause & Reflect #9 | Dr. Omar Suleiman

Is it an even night or an odd night?

As we enter the last 10 nights of Ramadan — the most blessed part of the entire month, and the opportunity to catch the immensely valuable Laylatul Qadr — we must not take any chances. Do your best on every single night. 

Dr. Omar Suleiman also urges us to make du’a for our unjustly detained brothers and sisters in the last 10 nights of Ramadan. May Allah grant them and their families ease and hasten their release. 

Transcript

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I'm gonna start tonight's uh khatrah actually on a somber note because it's important subhanallah. So we have in this masjid alhamdulillah been advocating for our sister Licha Kurdia, who has been now uh in ice detention for over a year, spending her second Ramadan there in Prairie Land. And we ask Allah Azza to free her. And we know of her name and we know of Brother Yaqub's name now, may Allah free him. We know of different people. As subhanAllah, sister Licha had introduced me in Prairie Land to another sister named Noor Salman, uh, who is a young sister from Iraq, a medical school student, had legal permanent residency and was picked up and suddenly everything revoked and it became a nightmare for her. And you often don't know who's sitting next to you in the masjid and what what their story is and what they're going through. And this is something just to open our hearts to the people in our masjid and in our ranks. You know, we last year we were talking about Likha and we were talking about Sister Warad, and her husband Ta'her was advocating for her in Alhamdulillah. Tahr came, stood up, and Warid got out, and she's attended this masjid multiple times. I don't even know if she's here tonight, but may Allah bless them both and may Allah Azza protect her and protect her family. Allah Amin. But um I happened to meet brother Khalid, who is the husband of our sister Noor, who is in uh prairie land. If you could stand up, Khalid. And subhanAllah, you see, this is my first time actually meeting him, but you see a brother who is sitting in the masjid praying quietly, and you don't know what he's going through. And his wife is in prairie land right now, and I want us as we come into these last ten nights, may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala free Noor. May Allah Azazel free licha, may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala free Yaqub, may Allah free Dr. Afia, may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala free Shukri, may Allah free Hassan, may Allah free all of the political prisoners that we know and that we don't know. Ya Rab, Ya Rab, Ya Allah, we ask you in these last ten nights to free them. We ask you to return Noor to her husband. We ask you, O Allah, to free liqa', we ask you, Allah, to free all of those that are unjustly imprisoned, and we ask you, Allah, to guide us to be of service to them, and we ask you, O Allah, that as long as they dwell in those cells, that you fill their cells with tranquility, that you filled their cells with sakeina. Allah ma'amen. Please keep your brother Khalid in your dua, his wife Nurbi ibn Naita. I wanted to start with that, because subhanAllah, average brother, he just texted me. We only communicated uh by phone. I only uh have spoken to his wife, and he said, I'm in the masjid. I said, where he said, I'm looking at you right now. And we don't know the stories of the people that are right next to us. So please, dear brothers and sisters, in these last ten nights, make dua for your brothers and sisters, those that you know of and those that you don't know of, bidninahi ta'ala, the ummah that is close to you and the ummah that is far from you. I'll keep tonight very short bidnunahi ta'ala on top of that. Um I titled the Shatra, Did We Start Ramadan wrong? Because I can't remember for a while uh a conversation amongst people, you know, did we start on the wrong day? Did we start on the wrong day? And obviously, unfortunately, it's one of those times where we have a Ramadan that started uh two days for many people in the community. We know many people that started Thursday, started Wednesday. I was in a Muslim country when Ramadan started anyway, so subhanAllah, you don't even bother yourself and think about these things, you just go with what the country announces and you start to fast with them. But you'll see even two countries, not just two communities, two countries next to each other fasting on different days. Let me make one thing clear. Two countries, two communities could use a valid method. Both of them could use a correct and valid method to establish the month of Ramadan. But obviously, Ramadan can't be both of those days. It either started this day or it started that day. Which brings me to the point of what we're going into the last ten nights. And this is so crucial and so important, and it's a simple reminder. The Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam sought Laylatul Qadr in all of the last ten nights. And that is without confusion in moon sighting and doubts about whether or not the moon was actually seen or not, or whether this or that happened. That was the Prophet, and he is the sole authority while he's on earth, and they still, he still, Ali, honored all ten of those nights. And there are a few reasons for that. Number one, as we said earlier in the program today, that these are the best ten nights of the year, whether or not Laylat al-Qadr is amongst them, meaning Laylat al-Qadr is the best of those nights, and then the other nights are the best nights after Laylatul Qadr. So you honor those nights. Yes, he said, seek it in the odd night, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. But what if the night that you think is odd is actually even, and the night that someone else thinks is even is actually odd? And that is actually going to be a situation that we face in this particular month of Ramadan. There are communities that are going to be treating the odd completely different from this community, and that's going to be around the country and even around the world. So who's right? Another factor to add into this is what some of the ulama mentioned that, and it's it's a minor opinion, but it is an opinion that one of the hadith of the Prophet he said, sikhlay al-Khadr, and he said, with nine remaining, with seven remaining, with five remaining, and when he uses al-baqeen, that which is remaining, then therefore if the month is 29 days, then that turns the even into ad. If you treat it as remaining nights rather than the nights that are ahead of you. I say this, dear brothers and sisters. When Ibn Mas'ud was asked when is Dayatul Qadr, he said it could be any night of the year. And he said that to make a point, not because he actually believed that it could be any night of the year. This night is worth everything. Everything. Everything. Don't throw away a single one of these nights. So if you're someone who's watching or you're someone who's visiting from another community and you started, for example, on Thursday, and you say, oh, tomorrow night's not uh it's not even one of the last 10 nights for us, treat it like it is. What do you have to lose? Honor the night, do tahajud, honor it with as if it's one of the last ten. And if you're someone who started on Wednesday and tomorrow will be the 21st night for you, then don't treat the 22nd like the 22nd, treat it like the potential 21st. And don't treat the 28th night like the 28th night, treat it like the potential 27th. Think in that way, and that way every single one of the nights ahead is going to be special. But especially in a year like this when there's so much controversy, and understandably so about whether the moon was actually seen and what method was, especially in a year like this, these next 10 nights, don't lose a single one of them. Very simple. Have the exact same regimen for every single one of the last ten nights. The masjid should not have a discrepancy between the even and the odd, especially in a month like this, especially in a time like this. So that is my short message to you. And inshaAllah ta'ala, I ask Allah Azza to accept from us Laylatul Qadr, to accept the duaas that we make in Laylatul Qadr for our April brothers and sisters. I ask Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala to decree for us blessing in this life and acceptance in the next. Allah Amin. Barakallahu fiqum a salam alaikum rama sala.