Sacred nights are esteemed by Islam. Having great mercy upon His slaves, Allâhu ta’âlâ has made some nights valuable and has declared that He will accept the prayers and istighfârs done on these nights. He has made these nights opportunities for His slaves to worship much, to pray and ask for forgiveness. A sacred night is named after the day following it. It is the
duration of time from the early afternoon prayer of the preceding daytime till the dawn following the night. Only, the night of Arafa and the three nights of Qurbân are not so. These four nights follow the daytime after which they are named. We must benefit from these nights, perform our omitted prayers of namâz, read the Qur’ân, say prayers and istighfâr, give alms, please Muslims and send the thawâb to the souls of the dead, too. We must respect these nights. To respect them means not to commit sins during them.
Muslims have ten sacred nights:
1 — QADR NIGHT is a night in the blessed month of Ramadân. Imâm-i Shâfi’î noted that it was most probably the seventeenth night, while Imâm-i a’zam Abû Hanîfa said that the most probable night was the twenty-seventh. We have been told to look for it between the twentieth and the thirtieth nights. It is the most valuable night praised in the Qur’ân. The Qur’ân began to be revealed to Rasûlullah on this night.
2 — ARAFA NIGHT is the night between the Arafa day and the first day of the ’Iyd of Qurbân. It is the night between the ninth and the tenth days of the month of Zil-hijja.
3 — NIGHT OF ’IYD OF FITR is the night between the last day of the blessed month of Ramadân and the first day of the ’Iyd.
4 — NIGHTS OF QURBÂN are the nights following the first, second and third days of the ’Iyd of Qurbân. These three days are called Ayyâm-i nahr.
5 — MAWLID NIGTH is the night between the eleventh and twelfth days of the month of Rabî’ulawwal. It is the birth night of Hadrat Muhammad Mustafa ‘alaihissalâm’, who was sent as the Prophet for people all over the world and who is the last and the highest of all prophets. After Qadr Night, it is the most valuable night. That night, those who become happy because he was born will be forgiven. That night, it brings much thawâb to read, listen to and learn about the wonders and miracles that were seen when Rasûlullah was born. He himself would tell about them, too. That night, the Sahâba would meet together at some place and converse with one another
6 — BARÂT NIGHT is the fifteenth night of the month of Sha’bân. That is, it is the night between its fourteenth and fifteenth days. In the eternal past, before creating anything, Allâhu ta’âlâ predestined, decreed all things. Of these, He informs His angels about everything that will happen during one year on this night. On this night the Qur’ân descended on to the Lawhilmahfûz. Rasûlullah ‘sallallâhu alaihi wa sallam’ would worship and pray very much during this night.
7 — MI’RAJ NIGHT is the twenty-seventh night of the month of Rajab. Mi’raj means ladder. It is the night on which Rasûlullah was made to ascend to heavens and was taken to unknown places.
8 — RAJAB MONTH AND NIGHT OF RAGHÂIB: First Friday night of the month of Rajab is called Night of Raghâib. Every night of Rajab is already valuable. Every Friday night is valuable, too. When these two valuable nights come together, they become all the more valuable. The value of the night of Raghâib is communicated by various hadîths.
9 — MUHARRAM NIGHT: The first night of the month of Muharram is the Muslim’s new year’s night. Muharram is the first month of the Islamic year. The first day of Muharram is the first day of the Muslims’ new year, that is, of the Hijrî year (A.H.). Disbelievers celebrate Christmas on the first night of January, which is their new year’s day. They commit the actions of disbelief commanded by the Christian religion. They worship on that night. And Muslims, too, on their new year’s night and day, congratulate one another by exchanging letters (or by calling one another). They visit one another, give presents to one another. They celebrate the New Year with magazines and newspapers. They send their prayers so that the New Year will be beneficial and prosperous for them and for all Muslims. They visit their parents and the savants at their homes and get their benedictions. On that day, they put on new dresses as if it were a day of ’Iyd. They give alms to the poor.
10 — ASHÛRA NIGHT: The tenth night of Muharram. Muharram is one of the four months esteemed in the Qur’ân. Ashûra is the most valuable night of the month. Allâhu ta’âlâ has accepted many prayers on Ashûra Day. Acceptance of Hadrat Adam’s repentance; Hadrat Nûh’s (Noah’s) ship’s being rescued from the Flood, Hadrat Yûnus’ getting out of the fish’s stomach; Hadrat Ibrâhîm’s not burning in Nimrod’s fire; Hadrat Idrîs’ being made to ascend to heavens; Hadrat Ya’qûb’s finding his son Yûsuf and healing of the cataract on his eyes; Hadrat Yûsuf’s getting out of the well; Hadrat Ayyûb’s recovering health; Hadrat Mûsâ’s (Moses) passing over the Nile and Pharaoh’s being drowned; Hadrat Îsâ’s birth and his escaping from being killed by Jews and his ascent to heaven alive; all these happened on the Ashûra Day.
It is bid’at to mourn and lament because Hadrat Husain ‘radiyallâhu anh’ was martyred on that day. It is sinful. Mourning on Ashûra Day is a custom of the Shî’îs. They mourn for Hadrat Husain. Because he was Hadrat Alî’s son, they praise him adoringly. But we the Ahl as-sunnat love him very much because he was Rasûlullah’s grandson. There is no mourning in Islam. Muslims do not mourn only on Ashûra Day. But they always become sad whenever they remember the tragedy of Kerbelâ. They grieve deeply. They weep bitterly. If there were mourning in Islam, we would have done it not on Ashûra Day but on the day when Rasûlullah’s blessed feet bled all over in Tâif, or when his blessed tooth was broken and his blessed face bled at Uhûd or when he passed away.
Of the ten nights mentioned above, the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth nights are called Qandîl nights.
Besides the ten nights mentioned above, the other nights of ’Iyd of fitr, first ten nights of the month of Zil-hijja, first ten nights of Muharram, every Friday night and every Monday night are sacred. Hadrat Sharnblâlî writes the virtues of the nights in detail in his book Imdâd-ul-fattâh.
The following hadîths are written in various books:
1 — The gates of [Allah’s] Compassion are opened on four nights. Prayers or istighfârs done on these nights will not be refused. The first nights of the ’Iyd of Fitr and Qurbân, the fifteenth night of Sha’bân [Barât] and Arafa Night. [Qadr Night having been mentioned in many hadîths, it must have been deemed unnecessary to mention it here.]
2 — Among acts of worship, Allâhu ta’âlâ likes better the ones done within the first ten days of Zil-hijja. A day’s fast during these days will be given the thawâb of a year’s [supererogatory] fast. The namâz performed during their nights is like the namâz performed on Qadr Night. Perform very much tasbîh, tahlîl and takbîr on these days!
3 — If a Muslim fasts on Tarwiya Day and does not say anything sinful, Allâhu ta’âlâ will put him into Paradise certainly. [Tarwiya is the eighth of Zil-hijja, previous to Arafa Day].
4 — Respect Arafa Day! For, Arafa is a day esteemed by Allâhu ta’âlâ.
5 — Those who worship on Arafa Night will be set free from Hell.
6 — Two years’ sins of those who fast on Arafa Day will be forgiven. The past one year’s sins and the next one year’s sins. [Arafa is the ninth day of Zil-hijja, other days are not called Arafa.]
7 — He who says the Ikhlâs a thousand times on Arafa Day will be forgiven all his sins and his every prayer will be accepted. He must say all of them with the Basmala.
Upon hearing that a lot of thawâb will be given for doing a certain thing at a certain place and time, if a person does it with this thought in order to get thawâb, Allâhu ta’âlâ will give him the thawâb even if the information were not true. But it has to be something not prohibited by the Sharî’at. To get the thawâb of supererogatory worships, it is a condition not to have any defect in one’s îmân and in one’s fard worships, to repent for one’s sins and to entreat Allâhu ta’âlâ for forgiveness, and to intend to do them as worship
[1] Ref: This paragraphes are quoted from the book “Endless Bliss” third fascicle page 282, which is the translation of the book “Tam İlmihal Seâdet-i Ebediye” written by Hüseyn Hilmi Işık ‘rahimahullâhu ta’âlâ,’ who passed away in 1422 A.H (2011 A.D.) in Istanbul / Turkey. “Tam İlmihal Seâdet-i Ebediye” and “Endless Bliss” published by Hakikat Kitabevi, www.hakikatkitabevi.com.tr, Istanbul.
