Laylatul-Qadr (The Night of Power)

Laylatul-Qadr- Vipi Uweze Kuupata Usiku Huu?

Tunaingia kumi la mwisho, kumi ambalo ndani yake kuna siku tukufu, siku ya Laylatul-Qadr, ambayo ibada yake ni bora kuliko ibada ya miezi elfu.
Anasema Allaah (Subhaanahu wa Ta'ala):

﴿ بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ ﴾
(( إِنَّا أَنزَلْنَاهُ فِي لَيْلَةِ الْقَدْرِ)) (( وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا لَيْلَةُ الْقَدْرِ)) (( لَيْلَةُ الْقَدْرِ خَيْرٌ مِّنْ أَلْفِ شَهْرٍ)) ((تَنَزَّلُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ وَالرُّوحُ فِيهَا بِإِذْنِ رَبِّهِم مِّن كُلِّ أَمْرٍ)) (( سَلَامٌ هِيَ حَتَّى مَطْلَعِ الْفَجْرِ))


BismiLlaahir Rahmaanir Rahiym
((Hakika Sisi Tumeiteremsha Qur-aan katika Laylatul Qadr, (Usiku wa Makadirio[Majaaliwa]). Na nini kitachokujuulisha nini Laylatul Qadr?)) ((Laylatul-Qadr ni bora kuliko miezi elfu)) ((Huteremka Malaika na Roho (Jibriyl) katika usiku huo kwa idhini ya Mola wao kwa kila jambo)) ((Amani usiku huo mpaka mapambazuko ya alfajiri)) [Al-Qadr: 1-5]

Vile vile dalili katika Hadiyth mbali mbali zimethibiti kuhusu Fadhila za usiku huu mtukufu, na jinsi Mtume (Swalla Allaahu 'alayhi wa aalihi wa sallam) alivyokuwa hali yake katika siku hizi kumi za mwisho za Ramadhaan.

Baada ya kuzijua fadhila zake usiku huu mtukufu inakupasa Muislamu ujikaze katika siku kumi hizi za mwisho kuacha mambo yote yanayokushughulisha ya dunia na utumbukie katika ibada tu ili uweze kuupata usiku huo mtukufu, yaani ukukute wewe ukiwa katika ibada ili zihesabiwe ibada zako kama kwamba umefanya ibada ya miezi elfu.
Tukifanya hesabu miezi elfu hiyo ni sawa na umri wa miaka 83!

1000 ÷ 12 = 83.3 yaani miaka themanini na tatu na miezi mitatu takriban.
Hivyo ikiwa Laylatul-Qadr imekukuta katika ibada ya aina yoyote, ikiwa ni Swalah (Qiyaamul-Layl), kusoma Qur-aan, kufanya aina za dhikr, kutoa sadaka, kulisha chakula, kuwasiliana na jamaa, kujielimisha au kuelimisha, kufanya wema.

KWA FAIDA ZAIDI YA KUHUSU HII LAYLATUL- QUDR TEMBELELEA WWW.ALHIDAAYA.COM

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Ramadan Kareem 2010

Ramadan Greetings in Kiswahili from Tanzanians, Kenyans and the Swahili diaspora

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Ramadan Commercialized

An OLD but great article that resonates with my Ramadan experience last year in U.A.E. and Oman. Is this not the inevitable by-product of the Emirates wholehearted embrace of global capitalism? What about countries like Iran and Syria? I would imagine this is primarily an urban phenomenon.

The new Ramadan: It's beginning to look a lot like...
By Hassan M. Fattah
Published: Wednesday, October 12, 2005

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The decorations are hanging, the cash registers are clanging and the air of holiday cheer is everywhere. For a holy month, Ramadan, circa 2005, is nothing like it used to be.

Once an ascetic month of fasting, prayer and reflection on God, Ramadan has gradually taken on the commercial trappings of Christmas and Hannukah, straight from the hanging lights that festoon windows to the Ramadan greeting cards and Ramadan sales and advertising campaigns that have become the backbone of commerce for the holy month.

Marketers and businesses have caught on to the potential of 1.3 billion people at home fasting or breaking their daily fasts and getting back to normal life - a captive audience eager for entertainment and celebration, and more than willing to feast when the sun goes down.

Here in Dubai, the region's uber-mall, commercialism has taken on a life of its own as almost everything has been dressed in the cloak of Ramadan, straight from the sale of consumer goods to the sales of cars.

Dubai malls are open till the early morning, and the nights rock away at dinner parties in desert tents.

"Ramadan is changing from a religious month to a cultural or social event," said Mohammed el-Kuwaiz, a Saudi management consultant based in Dubai.

"You're using faith to commercialize something else," he continued. "It doesn't feel right."

Sheik Ahmed Abdelaziz Haddad, grand mufti of Dubai's Islamic Affairs Department, puts it even more succinctly.

"The problem isn't that people are trading and doing business," he said. "It's that people have taken this month to be a month of shopping."

Ramadan, which occurs during the ninth month of the Muslim lunar calendar, is considered the holiest month of the year, a time of fasting, family and reflection.

It is during this month, Muslims believe, that the Prophet Muhammad received his first revelations of the Koran from the angel Gabriel.Since then,Muslims have been ordered to forgo food, water and other worldly pleasures during daytime for the entire month as a pillar of their faith, a sacrifice to show they have not forgotten God.

The fast begins at dawn and lasts until sundown, with special prayers in the evenings in an air of heightened spirituality and meditation.

But walk through many Arab cities this month, and the spirit may also move you to buy, buy and buy some more.

In Egypt, hotels and restaurants advertise Ramadan feasts while an advertising sweepstakes calls on people to read all 30 days of ads to win a prize.

In Beirut, worshipers hang colored lights that say "Ramadan Kareem," or blessed Ramadan. A Mercedes ad in a Dubai newspaper plays on the theme of the crescent, a common Islamic symbol: "Welcome Ramadan with a visit to Gargash Enterprises and you'll soon be feeling over the moon."

In Cairo, companies and political candidates campaigning for parliamentary elections next month gave out traditional Ramadan lanterns emblazoned with their names and company logos.

A shopping mall in Dubai even features a Ramadan display with an uncanny resemblance to a nativity scene, complete with moving camels, a village elder reading stories and a desert scene.

And a huge sign outside another mall touts its "Spend & Win" promotion: "Ramadan Kareem. Win Dhs. 1 million and enjoy shopping until 1 a.m." That's about $275,000 in the local currency, dirhams.

For advertisers, Ramadan is like a 30-day Super Bowl weekend, where television channels broadcast their best programming and competitors jostle for market share.

Some brands spend as much as half their advertising budget in this month alone. With those kinds of resources being brought to bear, it may be no wonder that many people are troubled by the creeping commercialism.

"It is supposed to be about spirituality, but it drives me crazy that it is all about food and banquets," said Naglaa Abdel Fattah, 30, a secretary in Cairo.

"I do not feel the spirit of Ramadan anymore. I call my friend and all she talks about is the 10 dishes her family is preparing for iftar," when the fast is broken. "This is extravagant."

On the second day of Ramadan, Haddad, the Dubai mufti, beseeched Muslims in a written note to take the month more seriously.

"A Muslim who is focused on the worldly trade will miss the benefits he could get in the hereafter," he said. "What we see happening today in the commercialism of Ramadan is caused by Muslim ignorance of what is required of them to benefit their souls.

"God defined this month to save them and to protect their souls."

But even he admitted he is facing an uphill battle.

A special program in Dubai called "Dubai, the city that cares" offers a different twist, donating half the proceeds of a million-dirham raffle to local and international charities. "It's not something bad to have increased shopping in Ramadan," said Mohammed Mahgoub, a commercial adviser for the campaign.

The more people buy, he says, the more they share. "If you buy a lot of food, you try to invite a lot of people, which is one of the aims of Ramadan, of people coming together."

Nada el Sawy contributed reporting from Dubai and Abeer Allam from Cairo.

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Somalia's President Calls for Ramadan Ceasefire

President calls for Ramadan ceasefire

Somalia's government has called on warring parties in the conflict-torn horn of Africa nation to stop fighting during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, a spokesman for the presidency said yesterday.

President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, a former Islamist rebel, said the ceasefire call was motivated by the need for peace during the religiously significant month.

"The president made this call since it is necessary to not stop people going to Islamic centres, worship Allah any time without fear, and we hope the opposition will accept it without condition," Abdulkadir Osman told Reuters by telephone.

Opposition groups said they would discuss the ceasefire call.

The President's U.N. -backed government has been facing a stubborn insurgency from the al Shabaab and Hizbul Islam rebels, dashing hopes of an end to 18 years of instability.

Western intelligence says the fighting and chaos is exploited by al Qaeda linked groups, exposing the entire region.

On Saturday clashes continued, as insurgents attacked a government-controlled Mogadishu checkpoint in the early hours.

"Al Shabaab men have attacked our positions in Ex-Control Afgoye (checkpoint). We repulsed the attackers and killed more than 10 men," Abdifatah Shaweye, deputy mayor of Banadir, told Reuters by telephone

Al Shabaab's information office denied the claim and said they took control of the base and killed nearly 10 soldiers from the government side.

Al Shabaab also said they had agreed to work together with Hizbul Islam fighters in the South Western region of Gedo.

"We had agreed to join all our forces and take orders from one command. The number of Hizbul Islam fighters (who) joined us are in the hundreds," Commander Bare Adan Khooje told Reuters.

About 100 people died last week in different parts of the country as pro-government militias and insurgents engaged in various battles.

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Saham

Five o'clock am at the hostel in Dubai. My alarm rings and I slap at it and it tumbles to the bottom bunk, careening off the head of the Australian passed out beneath me. He groans. I get up, shower, turn in my key, shoulder my bags, and walk out into the blistering heat of morning. Sweat is pouring down my arms as I struggle to the bus stop. I wait for 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 35 minutes without my bus passing, even though the schedule says three buses should have passed in that time frame. I take a taxi to the bus station, where I pass out on a threadbare couch in an alley around the corner from the station. At 7:15 our bus comes chugging to the stop. There are two other foreign passengers--one is a Japanese guy going to Muscat--and two Omanis, including the driver. The two Omani guys are reminding me of Zanzibar, with their white dishdashas and woven caps with intricate geometric designs. The driver speaks Swahili!

The road from Dubai to Muscat cuts through a wasteland--all heat and rocks and desert mountains jutting raggedly from the sand. I sleep fitfully. At the border the guard looks at my Omani visa for a LOOONG time and finally stamps it.
The driver drops me at a roundabout with no shade, and then a few minutes later my contact in Oman drives up and scoops me from the side of the road. Ali is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Bristol, an English teacher and former director of the Language Institute at Sultan Qaboos University. He takes me to his family's farmhouse in the village of Saham, where his cousin (or more accurately, his cousin's Bangladeshi servant) farms dates and keeps a few goats and cows.





For iftar, I eat a delicious spread: dates, sambusas, mandazi, and a kind of chicken porridge, then later fish curry and laban. Ali tells me I am the first American to pray in the village mosque. After isha prayer, the men gather and go from house to house, eating from plates of rice and lamb, fresh fruit, fried dough, and little cups of coffee. I join them, embarassed at how poor my Arabic is, but completely overwhelmed with the hospitality I am receiving. After eating again, the men trail off to watch the soccer tournament, or to play cards at the clubhouse. They teach me to play "sita'" a six-player version of spades with the trump changing every game. The trump or 'trophy card is called the "hukum." There is a lot of good natured arguing, and Ali gives me a piece of advice: "Treat every conversation as a learning opportunity."
The following night, the same ritual is repeated, and this time I meet Saleh, a retired government official whose mother is from Tanga, Tanzania. He speaks Swahili! We discuss how his family left Tanzania after the union between Zanzibar and Tanganyika. He was eight years old. His younger brother Mohamed is in the military in Oman, and speaks good English but no Swahili. He tells me that Swahili is not taught in schools in Oman. No surprise there.
Later, walking through the village and along the beach, I am struck by how many Omanis seem to have African ancestry. Are these Arabized Africans the descendants of Omani men who married African women, like Saleh's mother? Or are there distinct African communities descended from the first Africans brought to Oman by Arab slave-traders?
Bidding my goodbyes in halting Arabic on the third evening in Saham, I am asked by Mohamed for my number. He wants to put me in touch with a sheikh who speaks Swahili, and from who I can learn tajwhid. My adventure in Oman is just beginning. On to Muscat!

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Ramadan Kareem

Fasting is a ancient human ritual. It seems that through the suffering of denying ourselves food, we reap the benefits of a clearer mind. At least in theory. In practice, I got off the plane from Doha and started fasting with jet lag. Someone told me today I had lost weight, and I think I will probably lose even more in the coming month. But thats not so bad. I do wonder how I will deal with fasting in the Middle East heat? My guidebook tells me there are two times to avoid going to Dubai--during Ramadan and during late August. Well, Dubai, here I come.
One thing Ramadan makes you conscious of is the degree to which little urges dominate the rhythms and cycles of our lives. I mean, not to state the obvious, but our lives revolve around eating! Taking that cycle away takes some adjustment, and right now my stomach hurts, and I think I'm getting a cold, and there is some delicious leftovers in the frig, but still, I RISE, and I fast, and I try to pray.

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