A thousand months – that is longer than most people live. Laylah al-Qadr means "the Night of Decree". It is the night wherein Allah sent down the Qur'ân to the lowest heavens. Our good deeds on this special night are magnified in value, so that it is as if we have been offing those deeds for 1000 months.

When we compare our life spans to those of the people who witnessed the earliest Prophets, we see that our life spans are very brief. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "The lifespan of the people of my community is from 60-70 years. Only a few people live longer than that." [Sahîh Ibn Hibbân (2980)]

The Chapel Hill Islamic Society has put a contract offer on property for a new Islamic Community Center, which would have a daily and Friday prayer room and also space to host community events and children's activities.

"It's not a done deal yet," said Malek Khan, president of the Chapel Hill Islamic Society. "There is a property in Chapel Hill [and] if we can get that property in time ... several months from now we will start building on it."

"We'd like to have students involved," Khan said. "We know students are a great base of attendees. We've worked briefly with the Islamic Society, but we're increasing our workload."

It was narrated from Abu Hurayrah (radi Allahu anhu) that the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam), “Whoever fasts Ramadan out of faith and seeking reward, his previous sins will be forgiven. And whoever stays up and prays on Laylat al-Qadr out of faith and in the hope of reward, his previous sins will be forgiven.” He also related that the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, “Whoever prays at night in Ramadaan out of faith and the hope of reward, all his previous sins will be forgiven.” (Agreed upon).

In the hadeeth of Abu Hurayrah (radi Allahu anhu), there is evidence that each of these three actions is a cause for forgiveness of previous sins; fasting the month of Ramadan, praying in it’s nights, and praying in the night of Qadr. Praying in the night of Qadr is a cause of forgiveness alone for whoever is able to catch it, regardless of whether it is in the beginning of the last ten days, middle or in the end and regardless of whether the person feels that it is the night of al-Qadr or not.

The month of Ramadan is a special season of worship. If one attends to his worship with dedication and sincerity, he is certain to end the month having earned forgiveness of all his past misdeeds.

We have repeatedly emphasized that the reward God gives for fasting in the month of Ramadan is greater than we can imagine, because fasting is an act of worship which admits no hypocrisy. It is not possible for any person to fast in order to deceive others. This is due to the fact that boasting about fasting is forbidden. Hence, he cannot publicize the fact that he is fasting. If he does not mention it, then other people have no way of knowing it, because fasting is an act of worship by abstention, rather than a positive action. Moreover, the Prophet (peace be upon him) has taught us to spend part of the nights of Ramadan in worship, standing up in prayer to offer the special prayer known as taraweeh. This means that in Ramadan we fast during the day in fulfillment of an obligatory type of worship and we stand up in prayer at night as a recommended act of worship. Moreover, there is the Night of Power which falls in the last 10 days of the month of Ramadan. It is a night which is worth more than one thousand months. If one happens to spend that night in worship, he is certain to have all his prayers answered and all his sins forgiven.

The Night of Power is the pinnacle of this season of worship.

Aisha asked the Prophet (saw) “What should I say on Laylat-al-qadr?” He replied,

Say, “O Allah, You are Al-’Afuww and You love to ‘afw, so fa’fu me” (Tirmidhi).

What do all these italicized words mean? The common translation of the supplication above is,

O Allah indeed you are a Pardoner, and you love pardon, so pardon me.

That’s it? The supplication for the last 10 nights, THE supplication we are supposed to focus on, is just to be ‘pardoned’ by “The Pardoner”? Isn’t there more to it?

Seems a bit strange, let’s look at it in more detail.