The last part of the night

One of your children who is staying abroad for a considerable amount of time, has finally decided to spend his holidays by you. The proposed date of his arrival to Mauritius has been fixed. You start waiting for him impatiently. You start counting the days. You find that the days are slowing down. You would have preferred that the awaited day was today. You want the days to pass by quickly. Yet, if the days pass by quickly, your life also will pass by quickly and the life of your child also will decrease. But you are not concerned about anything because you want to see your child in front of your eyes the soonest possible.

Those whose hearts are filled with love for Allah Ta’ala, await the last part of the night with such a fervour or even more than this. Since morning, they keep waiting for that last part of the night, where they will have a closer contact with Allah Ta’ala. They come into contact with Allah Ta’ala by falling in Sajdah in front of him and they wet their Musallah with their tears. This is a very valuable moment in their lives and in fact, it must be such for every Muslim.

According to a Hadith found in Saheeh Bukhari and reported by Hazrat Abu Hurairah (Radiyallahu Anhu), Rasulullah (Sallallaahu Alaihi Wasallam) said:

“Our Rabb Tabaraka wa Ta'ala descends in the last third of the night to the sky of this world every night and He says: Is there anyone making Dua to Me so that I may respond to him (his call)? Is there anyone asking Me so that I may give him? Is there anyone seeking for forgiveness, so that I may forgive him?” (Saheeh Bukhari)

That is why the pious people used to always stay awake and perform Ibaadah during this extremely auspicious and valuable time in order to present their sufferings and to ask Allah Ta’ala whatever they need.

May Allah Ta’ala make us understand the true value of these blessed moments and give us the will to devote some of our time for these moments that are beneficial for us in all ways instead of spending our night in activities that are harmful to others and will be harmful for us in Aakhirah.

An intelligent person engages himself in beneficial activities. In this sense, pious people are the most intelligent people because they do not cause harm to their future by being involved in harmful and futile activities.

[English version of "La dernière partie de la nuit" – Al Jamiat – Vol.3 No.7]