DHIKR THROUGHOUT A DAY

Prof. Dr. Mahmud Es'ad COSAN

Aùzu billâhi minesh-shaytànir rajîm.
I seek refuge with Allah against Satan

Bismillâhir rahmânir rahîm.
In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Mercy-giving
 

Elhamdu lillâhi haqqa hamdihî was-salâtu was-salâmu alâ khayra khalqhî seyyidinâ muhammedin wa âlihî wa sahbihî wa men tebiahû biihsânin ejma'în. Emmâ ba'd.

Praise is due to Allah, The Truth.  The Prayers and peace be on the best of the creation our beloved Prophet Muhammad, his family, his companions and all of his sincere followers.

Dear Brothers and Sisters!  Respected Congregation of Muslims!

Our beloved Prophet, Muhammed Mustafâ (sallallàhu aleyhi wa âlihî wa selleme teslîmen kethîrâ) loved staying in the masjid after the fajr prayer and keeping himself busy with dhikr.  He used to do that and advised us to do so.

In a hadith among the collection of Imam Tirmidhî, which is one of the six authentic collections, Enes RA reported that the Prophet SAS said:

من صلى الفجر فى جماعةٍ ثم قعد يذكر الله حتى

تطلع الشمس ثم صلى ركعتين كانت كأجر حجَّةٍ

وعمرةٍ تامَّــةٍ تامَّــةٍ تامَّــةٍ (ترمذى عن انس)

(Men sallel fejra fî jamâatin thumme qaade yedhkurullàhe hattâ tatluash shams, thumme sallâ rak'ateyn, kânet lehû ke-ejri hajjetin wa umretin, tâmmetin tâmmetin tâmmeh) "If a person offers his fajr prayer in the mosque with the congregation, sits and keeps himself busy with dhikrullah until the sun rises above the horizon and then offers two units of salat, that person will be given the rewards of a Hajj and an Umrah completely, completely, completely."   There are other reports on this matter.

Hadrat Omar RA reported an incident about the same matter. Once the Prophet SAS sent a detachment of troops on pagan tribes in Madinah al-Munawwara for jihad.  In a short time, the troops returned to Madinah eal-Munawwarah with spoils and victory.  Everybody was happy for the victory and for the spoils which included flocks of sheep.  One of the companions commented:

"O mâshâ-Allah!  How nice! What a great reward that is earned in such a short time."  Some reports state that it was Hadrad Abubakr RA to make this comment.  Then the Prophet SAS said:

"Shall I inform you about better spoils and rewards than these ones?"

The companions replied: "Yes O Prophet of Allah!"

"If a person sits after the fajr prayer and keeps himself busy with dhikrullah, that is a better earning for him than the spoils of the war.  It has greater spiritual rewards."

Because of this good news, many great awliyaullah, the great scholars, upheld the practice of the Prophet.  They worshipped and did dhikr after the fajr prayer until the time of ishraq and offered the voluntary ishraq prayer.

It is stated as (thumma qa'ade yedhkurullàh) "then they sat by doing the dhikrullah." In Arabic, dhikr means remembrance; it is the opposite of forgetting. There are various forms of dhikr.  For instance, saying "Allah," saying "La ilaâha illallah," saying one of the beautiful names of Allah (Esma-i Husnâ), saying "Alhamdu lillah, Subhânallah, Allah-u akbar" and repeating these words with a rosary are all dhikr.  This is the first meaning of the dhikr that comes to mind.

Another meaning of dhikr is the Qur'an.  One of the names of the Qur'an is dhikr. Bismillâhir rahmânir rahîm:

انا نحن نزلنا الذكر وانا له لحافظون (الحجر:٩)

(Innâ nahnu nezzelnedh-dhikra wa innâ lehû lehàfizùn) "Verily We have revealed the dhikr and We are its protectors." (Qur'an 15:9) In this verse, the "dhikr" is the Glorious Qur'an.  The verse means, "We have revealed the Qur'an and we are going to protect it [till the Day of Judgement].

Yet another meaning of dhikr is salat.  In fact, it is a great collection of dhikr.  Its beginning, middle and end are all dhikr.  We start with "Allah-u Akbar!"  We continue with "subhànekallahumme" and praise Allah "wa bi hamdike... alhamdu lillahi rabbil alemîn..." It continues with the Qur'an.  Then come rukû and sujûd (bowing and prostration) and tahiyyat that have the dhikr.  Then come the salat and selâm.  Finally it ends with selâm.  From the beginning to its end, the salat is dhikr.

For these words to be considered as dhikr and valid before Allah, the person who does the dhikr should be obedient to Allah.  If a person is obedient to Allah, it means he remembers Allah and His orders.  He remembers Allah and gives up the disobedience.  If a person is disobedient, his utterance of the words above does not mean he is doing dhikr.  If he remembered Allah, he would not disobey or commit offences.

Dhikr is something that has to be with obedience.  The utterance of the dhikr words such as "Allah" "Lâ ilâha illallah" or one of the Beautiful Names of Allah, or other words is meant to remember Allah and help to keep that thought fresh in the mind.  That is why our scholars stated:

الذكر بالتذكر

(Edh-dhikru bit tedhekkuri) "Keeping Allah in the heart at all times is possible by saying the dhikr words by tongue.  As the person does dhikr by his tongue, the remembrance is instilled in the heart. It is similar to the statement:

العلم بالتعلم

(El'ilmu bit teallumi)  "The knowledge is acquired by studying."  The remembrance of Allah is achieved by uttering the dhikr words by tongue.  By practicing, a person reaches a state that is called dhikr-i mudâm; that is, he always remembers Almighty Allah.  Nothing would prevent him from remembering Allah. Bismillâhir rahmânir rahîm:

رجالٌ لاتلهيهم تجارةٌ ولابيعٌ عن ذكر الله (النور:٣٧)

(Rijâlun lâ tulhîhim tijâratun wa lâ bey'un an dhikrillâh) "Men whom neither commerce nor sale distracts from the remembrance of Allah..." (Qur'an 24:37)  He will reach that state and keep Almighty Allah in his mind.  His life will be similar to that the life of the Prophet SAS.

Our beloved Prophet SAS used to go to sleep with prayers and dhikr.  He would keep his miswaq (toothbrush) with him.  Whenever he woke up, he would use his miswaq, do dhikr, and make dua.  When he got up, he used to do dhikr and make dua.  While he was going to respond to the call of nature, he would do dhikr and seek refuge with Allah.  He would do dhikr and praise Allah when he was returning.  He would do dhikr and make dua when he made wudu.  He would do dhikr and make dua while he walk to the mosque.  He would do dhikr and make dua after he finished his salat.  He would do dhikr and make dua when he put his clothes on; he would do the same when he took his clothes off. He would do dikr and make dua before he ate his meal.  He would do dhikr and make dua when he finished his meal.

All of this indicates that the Prophet was with Almighty Allah at all times.  At every moment, he was in a state of true remembrance (dhikr-i haqîkî) and continuous remembrance (dhikr-i mudâm).  It indicates that the Prophet did not have even a moment of unawareness.  In fact, this should be the purpose for us, too.

That is why one of the principles of the tariqa is hûsh-der-dem--being aware of every breath of life; ash-shu'ûr fil enfâs--being conscious in every breath.  Naturally, one needs inhalation and exhalation to maintain his life.

As Suleyman Chelebi said:

Her nefeste Allah adin de müdâm,
Allah adiyla olur her ish tamâm!..

Say Allah at every breath continuously,
Every work is completed with the name of Allah.

The principle of our life, the purpose of our life should be remembering Allah at all times and not forgetting Him at all and awareness that we are His servants.  We are advised to be like that. There is also the principle khalwet der enjumen--being with Allah while being among people; it is having the "hand" in kâr (work) and "heart with yâr (beloved, i.e., Almighty Allah).  The Turkish version of the phrase is "Eli ishte, gönlü bilishte--his hand is at work, his heart is with the acquaintance, the friend (i.e., Allah)." Being in this state is desirable and the purpose.  This is the meaning of dhikr and remembrance.

That is why a person should keep himself busy with dhikr when he sits after the fajr prayer.  He could take the rosary in his hand and say the nice dhikr words or read Qur'an thus he would appreciate his time.  Right after the fajr prayer, the formal prayer (salat) is not performed until the sun rises above the horizon. That time period is called waqt-i kerahat (abominable time).  If a person misses the fajr prayer before sunrise, he cannot perform the prayer during that time.  He has to wait until the sun rises above the horizon.

The abominable time will expire about 25-30 minutes after sunrise.  It is described as "when the sun rises above the horizon about one length of a spear."  Now we do not carry spears; we would not know how big it would be.  However, when we look at the horizon, we can see how high the sun is.  If it is above the horizon and if we can look at the sun with no problem in the eyes, it would be ishraq time. If the sun is much above the horizon and if it is not possible to look at it, then the ishraq time is over, and the duhâ time has entered.

It is recommended to offer two units of salat when it is 25 or 30 minutes or a bit longer after the sunrise.  There is a Qudsî Hadith that Almighty Allah says: "O son of Adam! You offer two units of prayer in the early day, and I will keep you in a good state till the end of the day."

The two units of prayer mentioned in the hadith could be the ishraq prayer.  The customary daytime (nehâr-i orfî) starts after the sunrise.  That is what we understand from the daytime.  However, the canonical daytime (nehâr-i shar'î) starts with the dawn.  When the eastern horizon starts having the first light, the canonical daytime starts. The fasting starts at that time.  The time for the fajr prayer enters that time.  Because of this, some scholars stated that the two units of salat mentioned in the Qudsî Hadith refers to the two units of sunnah prayer before the fard prayer of fajr.

It does not really matter which one it is; there are other ahadith that recommend the ishraq prayer.  It is stated in various ahadith that offering this prayer causes the sustenance of a person to increase.  There are quotes as "For a person to stay in the masjid after the fajr prayer and keep himself busy with dhikr until the ishraq time would attract more sustenance for him than wandering on land to seek sustenance."

It is possible because Allah sends us the sustenance.  Everybody wants to be rich, but not everybody can be rich.  Everybody wants to fill his stomach, but some cannot.  Everybody wants abundance and plentitude, yet people in Africa are dying of hunger.  It is Allah who sends the rain, has the weed grow, sends the customer, and sends the sustenance.  Allah creates the causes and means.  When His servant acts in compliance with His orders and his consent, He guarantees the sustenance in abundance.

Instead of staying in the masjid after the fajr prayer, a person could go outside, start the business, buy something from the villagers, take it to the bazaar, and conduct business.  It is a business, and he expects benefits from it. He may think, "I have a family; I must earn my sustenance!"  It is possible; however, when he does dhikr in the masjid, Allah promises him more sustenance.  Allah keeps His promise absolutely. He is the sustainer of the Universe!  He would send a spider in the darkness of a basement its sustenance with wings. The sustenance of the spider goes to the basement and gets tangled in the web of the spider.

It is related from our elderly in the tariqa that it is a sign of blindness for a person to neglect the servitude, that Allah asks of him, by claiming that he is after earning a sustenance.  It is blindness because Almighty Allah already guarantees of the sustenance for all and the person fails to see that.

اجتهادك فى ما ضمن لك وتقصيرك عمن طلب منك

دليلٌ على انتماس البصيرة عنك

 (Ijtihâduke fî mâ dumine leke) "For you to run after the sustenance that is apportioned for you, (wa taksîruke ammen tulibe minke) and to neglect your obligations and servitude, (delîlun alentimâsil basîreti anke) is a sign that your vision is closed."  O man! O blessed creature of Allah! You follow the orders of Allah and observe what Allah will bless you with.  You carry out the orders of Allah first, and then do the other work.  To do everything in compliance with how Allah wants is the business of smart people.  When it is time for prayer, we should do the prayer.  When it is time to sleep, we should sleep.  When it is time to work, we should work.  We have to be aware of the proper time for everything.

People do the opposite:  They stay up and gamble when it is time to sleep.  They sleep when it is time to work.  They work when it is time to worship.  They do the things at the wrong times.  When the order is mixed up, it does not produce the desirable results.  Meanwhile they would do the prohibited things, too.

Then what shall we do?  We have to organize our day to the consent of Allah.  When does our day start?  In fact our day starts with the tehejjud (night vigil) prayer.  The Prophet said:

ركعتان من الليل خيرٌ من الدنيا وما فيها

(Rak'atâni minel leyl) "Two units of prayer from the night, i.e., tehejjud prayer, (khayrun mined dunyâ wa mâ fîhâ) is better then this world and everything in it."  Also there is a verse in the Qur'an: bismillâhir rahmânir rahîm:

ومن الليل وتهجد به نافلةً لك، عسى ان يبعثك

ربك  مقامًا محمودًا (اسراء:٧٩)

(Wa minel leyli wa tehejjed bihî nâfileten lek, asâ en yeb'aseke rabbuke maqàmen mahmûdâ) "And from part of the night, pray with it as voluntary prayer for you; it is expected that your Lord will resurrect you to a praised station" (Qur'an 17:79). Almighty Allah recommended the Prophet SAS to get up at night and offer tehejjud prayers.  In fact, one of the early-revealed verses of the Qur'an is the beginning of Surah Muzammil recommended the Prophet SAS the night vigil prayer: "When the half, one third, two thirds of the night is passed, get up and worship your Lord."  (Qur'an 73:1-4)

Having listened to these verses and being good followers, the companions of the Prophet SAS would enliven their nights by doing worship at night.  They would stay in prayer over long periods of night time. Later on the last verse of the Surah Muzammil (Qur'an 73:20) was revealed to make the night worship lighter stating that there may be illnesses, traveling and other causes so that one should recite what is easy.  That means there is worshipping at night in the Qur'an.

As the persons who seek the consent of Allah and who utter the words "Ilâhî ente maqsùdî wa ridàke matlûbî--O Allah! You are my purpose, and I seek your consent!" we realize the encouragement.  Since it is better than this world and everything in it and since Allah grants greater rewards, we must set our clocks to get up for the tahajjud prayer.  In Ramadhan we are used to getting up for the suhur meal, which has the barakah and is a sunnah of the Prophet SAS.  After Ramadhan we should maintain getting up at the suhur time inshâ-Allah and offer the tehejjud prayer. We should not miss the rewards.

The second thing we should do in the day is offering the Fajr prayer in the masjid.  Our scholars, the elderly in the tariqa, stated: "It is better to sleep the whole night and offer the Fajr prayer in the mosque than staying up whole night in voluntary worship and praying the Fajr at home."  It is because the Fajr is an important prayer.  The Isha prayer, too, is important.  The hypocrites cannot withstand these prayers because they would like the comfort and sleep.  It would be very difficult for them to come to the mosque at night and to wake up from their sleep.  The hypocrites cannot attend the Isha and Fajr prayers in the mosque.

Based on this fact, the believers will not be in a state of hypocrisy.  They would not like to resemble hypocrites.  The believers would like to be similar to the believers and the Prophet SAS.  That is why praying the Fajr in the mosque should be the primary concern of a believer.  A Muslim should get up for the tehejjud prayer and attend the Fajr prayer in the mosque.

Then he can go to work and seek his sustenance.  He should go to work early.

In the Islamic times, the believers would start the work early.  The marketplace would open early.  People would finish their business before the Asr time.  Everybody would return home before it would get dark.  In the past it was like that.  In many places, the work would be finished by noon.  Now things are different.  People go to bed real late and sleep in the morning.  They would not get up for the Fajr prayer.  They do not get up for tehejjud, nor do they for the Fajr prayer.  You hardly find any stores open when you go to the market at 9 or 10 o'clock. The store-owners go to bed late, so they get up late.  That is why the stores are closed.  Things are not the same as what used to be in Islamic societies
 

كان النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم قد قال.

(Kânen nebiyyu sallàhu aleyhi wa sellem qad qàle) "The Prophet SAS used to take a nap at the middle of the day, around noon time."  Here the word qàle is from the same root as qaylûle.  This nap is very good for the health, and it relaxes and revitalizes the body.  That is a great support for the night worship. A body that wakes up early needs some rest around the noon.  Taking a nap energizes the body.  The person will conduct his business in the afternoon and come home as the sun goes down.

It used to be our tradition.  At the Maghrib prayer time, everybody would come home.  Even after we became seventeen or eighteen, we would be scared to get home much after the sun went down.  It would be like committing a crime because the family would gather at home at the Maghrib prayer time.  It was possible that somebody might have fasted that day and we would eat dinner after the Maghrib prayer.  We had to be home at that time.

How would we plan our daytime? We must plan the day in a way that we offer our prayers with the congregation in the mosque.  We had some brothers who open their stores and when it is prayer time, he would tell the customers gently: "I am going to go to the mosque for the prayer.  Let's go together, or you could come back later."  He would close the store and go to the mosque.  The work of this world never finishes, but the time for the prayer would pass.  When its time passes, it is not possible to catch the same virtue of that prayer.

What we must be after is the consent of Allah and the righteous and rewarding deeds.  For this reason we should close our store and offer the noon prayer in the mosque.  It has twenty-seven fold more rewards.  Praying in the mosque has twenty-seven times more rewards than praying in a hurry on a rug or on a board by the counter in the store.  If the Friday prayers are held in the mosque, the rewards would be fifty-folds.  If a shepherd on the mountain or a farm worker in the field calls for adhan and prays in the field, he receives fifty-fold rewards too.  Almighty Allah has invisible creatures and they would gather around.  He would be declaring "Allah is the greatest!   That is how the rewards become fifty-fold in the field or on the mountain.

In brief, a believer will work in the morning, take a brief rest before noon and offer the noon prayer in the mosque.  He will continue his work in the afternoon and offer the late-afternoon (Asr) prayer in the mosque, too.

The Asr prayer is very important.  Almighty Allah took an oath as "wal asri" in the Qur'an.  One explanation of the word asr is the late afternoon prayer.  At this prayer time, people are in the middle of their worldly businesses.  It is the time business deals are about to end.  The merchants in the market start to gather their good at that time.  Everybody would be in some hurry.  It is the time people could find excuses to neglect the prayer.  One would say: "I need to go to the rest room.  I cannot make wudu right now."  He would not want to leave the business.  That is why the Asr prayer is very important, and Almighty Allah took an oath as "wal asri."

Of course there are other meanings of asr, but the late-afternoon prayer is very important.  Once somebody came to the Prophet in desperation and told the prophet his problem.  The Prophet SAS listened to him and said, "I thought you had missed the Asr prayer!"  He meant to say that the problem was not that important.  The Asr prayer is very important and we should offer it in the mosque.

We must come home early evening.  Dear Brothers and Sisters!  We have a bad custom in Turkey--we should know about our faults and correct them.  In Turkey, it looks as though there are no congregational Maghrib prayers in the mosques in Ramadhan.  O blessed people! Isn't Ramadhan a month of worship?  How come you do not go to the mosque for the Maghrib prayer in Ramadhan?  People fast and use it as an excuse not to go to the mosque.  It looks as though the congregational Maghrib prayer is eliminated in Ramadhan.  That is wrong!  What we should do is take something to the mosque to break the fast, offer there the Maghrib prayer with the congregation and go home and eat the dinner nicely.

........

Those who had performed Umrah in Ramadan know that Makkah al Mukarramah and Madinah al Munawwarah have a different atmosphere in Ramadhan.  Inside the masjid, there will be tables for breaking the fast.  Many people spread tables there.  Each wealthy person has a table.  The table cloth is spread 5m, 10 m, 20 m, or 30 m. Then date fruits, zamzam water and other food that are allowed in are placed on the spread.  As you enter the masjid, people come to you to take you to their table: "Please, Sir!  Come to our table."  You receive many invitations until you walk to your own table. You will have a hard time walking there.

As the time arrives, adhan is called. Everybody breaks the fast with date fruits and zamzam water.  Within five minutes, people break their fast and fold the spreads back.  Then the Maghrib prayer is performed in congregation. The congregational prayer is not neglected at all. In Turkey, on the contrary, the congregational Maghrib prayer in the mosque is neglected in Ramadhan.  That is not right.  We should go to the mosque, offer the prayer there and go home and eat dinner.

Offering the Maghrib prayer first and eating food afterwards is comforting.  Yesterday we stopped at a mosque at the time of iftar.  We offered the prayers in the mosques.  There were only two people in the mosque--the imam and an elderly man.  They did not open the main prayer hall; instead, they perform the prayer in a small room because hardly anybody shows up for the Maghrib prayer.  There are houses nearby, but it became a wrong tradition.  This is one of our wrong traditions.

Another wrong tradition is starting the congregational prayer right after the adhan.  In the locality I lived, it was like that.  My house was in the same block with the mosque.  If I left the house the moment I heard the adhan, I could almost miss the congregation.  They offer the sunnah in a hurry and start the fard.  You may even miss several units of prayer by the time you get to the mosque.  Why is this hurry?  Why did you call me to the mosque?  You said, "Hayya ales-salâh--come to the prayer!" from the minaret. I was at home, and you called me to the prayer.  O muedh-dhin!  You asked me to come to the prayer.  Here I am.  Why didn't you wait for me?

Muslim brothers in Saudi Arabia pay attention to this.  In Saudi Arabia, the Mufti's office decided that after the adhan, the muedh-dhin has to wait for some time for the congregation to arrive in the mosque.  There are signs in the mosques indicating when the congregational prayer starts:  "The noon prayer is held 30 minutes after the adhan; the Asr, 20 minutes after the adhan, etc."

Waiting for the congregation is nice.  In Turkey, we could do something similar, too: "Each prayer is to be performed some minutes after the adhan to allow people to make wudu and walk to the mosque."  Suppose a person was sleeping when he heard the adhan.  He has to get up, make wudu, and walk to the mosque.  Let such people make wudu and walk to the mosque before starting the fard.  This is a kind of hurry that we have.

Another hurry is offering the prayer fast.  That is also an innovation, a bid'ah.  It is wrong because it is stated:

العجلة من الشيطان

(El'ajeletu minesh-shaytàn) "Hurrying is from the Satan."  A person must be dignified and calm during the prayer.  Observing the proper manners in the prayer is a must.  According to some scholars, it is a fard.  Each part of the prayer must be done completely and properly.  The salat may not be done in a hurry because it is an important form of worship.  Each part of it must be done distinctly.

Once the Prophet SAS saw a man who performed the prayer in a hurry.  He called the man and said: "Repeat your prayer because you did not pray."  The person thought he had missed something.  He repeated the prayer in a hurry again.  The Prophet called him again and said the same thing: "Repeat your prayer because you did not pray."

The person repeated the prayer for the third time, but the Prophet called him again:  "When you stand up for prayer, stand up completely.  When you bow for rukû, let your body come to that position completely.  Do each part completely and properly."

Not performing the prayer like that is disobeying the sunnah of the Prophet SAS.  We should not offer our prayer in a way that we are in a race.

We have other shortcomings. A Muslim hears the call for the prayer, but fails to come to the mosque.  He offers the prayers at home.  In fact, the person who lives close to a mosque must attend the mosque as soon as he hears the call.

Once Abdullah ibn-i Ummu Mektum told the Prophet SAS: "O Prohet of Allah!  As you know I am a blind person.  If somebody holds my arm, I could come to the mosque.  It is hard to come to the mosque at night.  May I offer my prayers at home instead of coming to the mosque?"

The Prophet SAS said: "Alright!  You have an excuse." Yet the Prophet called him back and asked: "Can you hear the adhan?"

"Yes, I can."

"If you hear the adhan, you have to come to the mosque."

If a person hears the adhan and does not go to the prayer, he would be rejecting the call of Allah.  May Allah help us correct our mistakes and shortcomings.

We talked about sitting down after the Fajr prayer and occupying ourselves with dhikrullah.  We said we should offer two units of prayer after the kerahat time.  The imam recited the Qur'an beautifully, and I gave you these details.  The kerahat time is over.  My talk has been a form of dhikr; you have listened to it and it is a form of dhikr, too.  Studying the Islamic matters is a form of dhikr and has great rewards.  "It is better than this world and everything in it for a person to study a section of Islamic knowledge"  as the Prophet gave the good news.

We have talked about how we should carry out our worship and how we should appreciate our day.  We proceeded until the Maghrib time.  Of course there is the Isha time afterwards.  The Isha prayer should be performed in congregation at the mosque, too.  You may be tired, but you can rest afterwards.  There should not be any excuses.  You shall offer your Isha prayer in the mosque.

What is after the Isha prayer?  Our beloved Prophet SAS and his companions used to retire right after the Isha prayer.  They would not even want to talk to one another much in the mosque just in case the conversation would go on and on.  They wanted to go to sleep early so they could get up for the tehejjud easily.

In Arabic, prolonged conversations after the Isha prayer is called musâmeratul leyl.  It is the conversation of the night.  That is not right because it endangers the tehejjud prayer--even the Fajr prayer.

That is why a person must go to bed early and get up for the tehejjud energized.  We shall go to bed early, yet there is an advice by our elderly that we should remember: Make fresh wudu, offer four units of prayer and go to bed with wudu.  The angels record the whole night as worship for a person who goes to bed with wudu.  The angels see his body as light and descend where he is.  They gather around him immensely and pray Allah for that person: "O our Lord! This servant of Yours has slept with wudu.  Forgive him his sins and shortcomings."  Satan stays away from him, and his night will be a blessed one.  If he is to die at that night, he would leave this life with faith.

Knowing these facts, we should not stay up late.  Sometimes, we may want to see a specific program on the television, yet we should not lose the track of time.  We should make the wudu, offer four units of prayer and go to bed, so we could get up for the tehejjud prayer.

We should appreciate our day in this manner and try to earn the consent of Allah.

May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us means to do everything in accordance with the Qur'an, the Sunnah of the Prophet SAS, and the essence of Islam.  May he clear us from innovations, negligence, unawareness, laziness, deviation, and shortcomings.  May He save us from all ill characters.  May He equip us with good characters.  May He grant us opportunities to do deeds that are pleasant to Him.  May He make us his beloved servants.  May He meet us as His servants whom He is pleased with.  May He honor us with His beauty in the highest ranks of His Paradise.

Bihurmeti shehri ramâdhanel mubârak, wa bihurmeti habîbihî muhammedinil mustafâ wa bihurmeti esrâri sûretil fâtiha!..

February 13, 1995 / Ramadhan 13, 1415

Ulu Jami -- Kahraman Maras -- Turkey