Friday Night - No space at the mosques

Treesy


Joined: 14/08/2008
Posts: 406

Message Posted:
25/09/2008 18:53

This Friday is a very special night for Muslims and if you live near a mosque expect it to be a little crazy from 7pm onwards as it is the busiest night of the year.

I have copied the following as it explains what this night is all about very well.



Wishing you all a happy Eid. Peace and blessings x







The 27th night of Ramazan (this Friday 26th September) is called Kadir Gecesi (Lailat al Kadr), the Night of Power.



It's a very special night for the 1.2 billion Muslims all around the world and many of them will spend the hours between Friday's sunset and Saturday's sunrise with prayers and recitations of the Koran (Qur'an) as this is no ordinary night. It's the night in which the first verses of the Koran are believed to have been revealed to Prophet Muhammed in Mecca (Mekke) in the year 610 AD.



Muslim tradition holds that when Prophet Muhammed received the first revelation in a cave on the mount of Hira, it was the 27th night of the month of Ramadan. The anniversary of that night, or, say, the birthday of the Koran, became the holiest moment in the Muslim calendar (Kadir Gecesi).



The reference to it comes from the Koran itself. One of the shortest chapters of the Muslim scripture is named “Qadr” and it tells why this evening is so special.



“Truly We sent [the Koran] down on the Night of Power,'' God says to the Prophet. It is “better than a thousand months,” and “the angels and the Spirit descend by their Lord's authority with every ordinance.”The greatest night of the Muslim year, this is the sanctified night when the history of Islam began. The gates of heaven are opened wide, angels walk the earth and the demons of Hell are chained in their fiery pits.



It is also a night of forgiveness, when good deeds performed are "better than the deeds of 1000 months which do not contain a Night of the Decree." The faithful Muslim can hope not only to have his sins forgiven by Allah if he spends the night in prayer, but to have his death-throes eased, and to receive "four pillars of light upon which rest 1000 palaces."



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."Hadith, Bukhari Vol 1, Book 2:34

Lemtich



Joined: 15/02/2007
Posts: 1487

Message Posted:
26/09/2008 10:23

Its the Jewish New Year on Tuesday. 5769 would you believe?



Lem

brian24001


Joined: 23/03/2008
Posts: 606

Message Posted:
26/09/2008 11:04

If it's an 'anniversary' [27th night of Ramadam], how can it change each year, because Ramadan changes all the time?

Lambousa Gordon


Joined: 03/11/2007
Posts: 1992

Message Posted:
26/09/2008 14:01

Islam follows the lunar calendar.

Treesy


Joined: 14/08/2008
Posts: 406

Message Posted:
26/09/2008 15:44

Brian 2401 - hope this from Wikipedia will help explain.



The Islamic calendar or Muslim calendar (Arabic: التقويم الهجري; at-taqwīm al-hijrī; Persian: تقویم هجری قمری ‎ taqwīm-e hejri-ye qamari; Turkish: Hicri Takvim; also called the Hijri calendar) is a lunar calendar used to date events in many predominantly Muslim countries, and used by Muslims everywhere to determine the proper day on which to celebrate Islamic holy days. It is a lunar calendar having 12 lunar months in a year of about 354 days. Because this lunar year is about 11 days shorter than the solar year, Islamic holy days, although celebrated on fixed dates in their own calendar, usually shift 11 days earlier each successive solar year, such as a year of the Gregorian calendar. Islamic years are also called Hijra years because the first year was the year during which the Hijra occurred—Islamic prophet Muhammad's emigration from Mecca to Medina. Thus each numbered year is designated either H or AH, the latter being the initials of the Latin anno Hegirae (in the year of the Hijra).[1]



The current Islamic Year is 1429 AH, from approximately Jan 9 (evening) to Dec 28, 2008 (evening).