laylatul Qadr

[saina]

Assalam alei kum

Masha allah laylatul Qadr is nearing and I am really looking forward for this blessed night.

Some ahaadeeth indicate that Lailatul-Qadr is in the last ten nights, while others indicate that it is in the odd nights of the last ten. Other ahaadeeth state that it is in the last seven - please explain which one should we follow

Praying and supplications on this blessed night - again, I have read/heard so many different methods one can pray.  For example: recite Surah Ikhlas 100 times without talking, recite 7 times Inna Anzalna fee laylatul Qadr...., Then perform 2 rakaat nafil namaaz - and in each rakaat recite surah Ikhlas 100 times after Surah Fateha and Inna Anzalna.., 4 rakaat nafil namaaz and in each rakaat recite 1 x surah fateha, 1 x Innal Anzalna fee... and 27 times Surah Ikhlass..... etc.  Would this be right or alternatively please advise what would be the most appropriate prayer/supplication

Allah Hafiz

[AbuNuru]

Would this be right or alternatively please advise what would be the most appropriate prayer/supplication

Wallahu'alam about the specific prayers you mentioned there. Personally I have never heard of them but the sheikh can elaborate. But what has appeared in the hadith is as follows:

Narated by Abu Huraira: Allah's Apostle said, "Whoever establishes the prayers on the night of Qadr out of sincere faith and hoping to attain Allah's rewards (not to show off) then all his past sins will be forgiven." – [Bukhari Vol.1, Book 2, #34]

A'ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, reported that she asked the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, "O Messenger of Allah! If I knew which night is Laylatul-Qadr, what should I say during it?" And he instructed her to say: "Allahumma innaka `afuwwun tuh.ibbul `afwa fa`fu `annee" (O Allah! You are Oft-Forgiving, and you love forgiveness. So forgive me). (Reported by Ahmad, Ibn Majah and At-Tirmithi)

[Aslam AbuIsmaeel]

Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh

Yes laylatul qadr is drawing near and it is the greatest night - the night of all nights - in the year! 

When is it - in the last ten nights, the odd ones of those or the odd ones of the last seven nights?

As many scholars pointed out based on hadith and occurences of laylatul qadr during the Prophet's time, laylatul qadr changes from one night to another night from year to year.  During the Prophet's life time itself it was on the 21st or 23rd and it was also on the 27th night of Ramadan. So, on once occasion the Prophet said to seek it in the last seven nights ...

From all that, some scholars pointed out that laylatul qadr is most most most likely to be in the last ten nights of ramadan and therefore the Prophet (s) used to stay up those nights in I'tikaf (seclusion) in masjid every year till his death.  So, the best for us to seek laylatul qadr is in the last ten nights.  In fact the Prophet was directed to seek it (in his i'itikaf) in the last ten nights and not in the middle ten nights.

Out of the last ten nights, it is most likely to be in the odd ten nights, i.e. the night before the 21st ramadan, the night before the 23rd ramadan, the nights before the 25th, the 27th and the 29th ramadan. 

So, we should seek it in the last ten nights as the Prophet used to do Itikaf in them seeking laylatul Qadr.

Out of those, the most hopeful are the odd ones among the last ten.  As for the specific date it changes from year to year as it did during the lifetime of the Prophet itself.

[Aslam AbuIsmaeel]

Assalamu alaikum

As for the second issue of what do we say and do in this blessed night of laylatul qadr ...

As Abu Nuru nicely pointed out the hadith of Aishah radiyallahu anha, the Prophet sallalahu alaihi wa sallam showed her to say that dua during that night.

Also, as in the first of the two hadith that Abu Nuru mentioned, the Prophet strongly encouraged us to pray during this blessed night i.e. to spend the night in prayers - extra (nafil) prayers, i.e. Qiyamul-Layl (non-obligatory night prayers).  So, the Prophet said, "whoever stays up (qaama i.e. stands up in Prayer in) laylatul qadr with Iman (faith) and seeking reward (from Allah), all his previous sins will be forgiven." 

So, this ought to be our main activity that night, i.e. extra non-obligatory prayers. 

How do we pray these night prayers usually that is the way we pray them in laylatul qadr but even more rak'ah and longer and perhaps with more dua.  The normal way to pray them, the Prophet showed to the man who asked, how is the night prayer, the Prophet replied, "Pray twos and twos, then when you fear dawn approacing pray one odd (i.e. witr)."

To sum it up, in laylatul qadr, we pray non-obligatory (nafil or sunnah) prayers twos and twos - this prayer is the most important worship on this night and the Prophet said whoever prayed this night with iman and seeking reward all sins are forgiven.  Each two rak'ah we try to pray it with more Quran if we can, more dua in sujud as the Prophet encouraged, do the dua in sujud as the Prophet taught to Aishah (or do it outside prayer as well).   Besides extra prayers, we can do lot of dua too and remembrance of Allah as the Prophet showed generally, subhanallah, alhamduilllah, etc and la hawla wala quwata illa billah etc...

Note: The word Nafil is used by some scholars to mean extra prayers that we can pray but the Prophet did not regularly pray them.  Other scholars dont use the word nafil but just general sunnah prayers.  So the terminology is not important, basically we pray night prayers in laylatul qadr.

As for Surah ikhlas that many times etc, it was actually not something recommended by the Prophet nor any other great scholars of early times as such.  (Perhaps some people or scholars later on recommended that.)  So, given the Sunnah did not come with that number of recitations etc, we can just pray in twos and two rak'ah with any surah in it - long surah or short surah - and do dua in sujud from the duas we are shown in quran or in hadith or other dua we can say ourselves in arabic. 

I pray Allah gives us all the success to pray in laylatul qadr, to recite quran therein, to do dua and remember Allah lot during the night!

Wassalamu alaikum