The last 10 Days are here!

[Ansariyah]

‘Aa’ishah said: “When the last ten days (of Ramadan) would come, the Prophet would spend his night in worship, wake his family (at night), exert himself and tighten his Izar (waistcloth) .” [1]


This hadith is proof that the last ten days of Ramadan have a special virtue over any other (set of days), in which one should increase in obedience and acts of worship, such as prayer, making dhikr (remembrance) and reciting the Qur’an.

‘Aa’ishah has described our Prophet and role model, Muhammad , with four attributes:

1. He would “spend his night in worship”, meaning he would not sleep during it. Thus, he would remain awake throughout it in worship and he would liven his soul by spending the night in sleeplessness. This is since sleep is the brother of death. The meaning of “spend his night” is that he would spend all of it in the state of qiyaam (night prayer) and performing acts of worship that are done for the sake of Allah.

We must remember that the last ten days of Ramadan are fixed and numbered. As for what has been reported concerning the forbiddance of spending the entire night in prayer, which has been mentioned in the hadith of ‘Abduah ibn 'Amr, then it is in regards to someone who does that consistently throughout every night of the year.

2. He would “wake up his family” meaning his pure wives, the Mothers of the Believers, so that they may take part in the profiting of good, the dhikr (remembrance) and the acts of worship during these blessed times.

3. He would “exert himself”, meaning he would persevere and struggle in worship, adding more to his deeds than what he had done in the first twenty days (of Ramadan). He only did this because the night of al-Qadr occurs during one of these (last ten) days.

4. He would “tighten his Izar (waistcloth)” meaning he would exert himself and struggle intensely in worship. It is also said that it means he would withdraw from women. This seems to be more correct since it inclines with what was mentioned previously and with the hadith of Anas: “He would rollup his bed and withdraw from women (i.e. his wives).” [2]

There are two struggles of the soul that the believer faces during Ramadan: the struggle by day with fasting and the struggle by night with qiyam (night prayer). So whosoever combines these two and fulfils their rights, then he is amongst the patient - those who will “be given their reward in full without any reckoning.” [5]

These ten days are the last part of the month and a person's actions are based on his last ones. So perhaps, he will encounter the night of al-Qadr, while standing in prayer for Allah and thus have all his past sins forgiven.

From the unfortunate matters is to see that some people excel in righteous actions, such as prayer and recitation of the Qur'an, in the first part of the month, but then signs of fatigue and weariness begin to show on them afterwards, especially when the last ten days of Ramadan come in. And this in spite of these last ten days possesses a greater standing than the first ones. Thus, one must persevere in striving and struggling and increase his worship when the end of the month draws near. And we must keep in mind that a person's actions are based on his last ones.

Footnotes:
[1] Al-Bukhari (4/269) & Muslim (1174)
[2] See Lata'if-ul- Ma'arif, P. 219
[3] See al-Muwatta, Vol. 1, P. 154
[4] Muwatta of Imam Malik, Vol. 1, P. 156
[5] Surat-uz-Zumar: 15

[Uthman]