And in that moment… In that moment,
God himself listens to the tilawat (recitation of the Qur’an).
This is why the Qur’an refers to the recitation of the Qur’an at Fajr as Qur’an e Fajr.
The Ethereal Mechanis of Day and Night
The break of dawn. What is the break of dawn?
When the darkness of night
- now, this has nothing to do with the rising and setting of the sun.
Let me inform you of this.
If the shrouds of darkness are not lifted from the sky, even with the sun’s emergence, it shall remain dark.
For instance, you must have heard the incident regarding Bilal Habshi,
when the night was elongated
and people were restlessly awaiting the start of Fajr.
So, it wasn’t the sun which was held back,
the shrouds of darkness were simply not removed.
Now, a lot of people install thick curtains in their homes;
there are curtains so thick
that when drawn during the day, you cannot determine whether it is day or night.
Therefore, when the covers which God has placed on the sky are removed, that is what is known as Fajr.
In English, it is called dawn.
In Urdu, it is called ‘subah sadiq’, true morning.
And in that moment…
The tilawat (recitation of the Qur’an) done at that moment is heard directly by God.
This is why the Qur’an refers to the recitation of the Qur’an at Fajr as Qur’an e Fajr.
Now, it is one thing to recite the Qur’an and perform worship during tahajjud
- this is the time when the world is thickly shrouded with veils
and the lower selves and evil spirits all come out,
so if one recites the Qur’an or performs salah at this time,
it greatly affects the evil and infernal spirits, as if they are being struck.
It is also extremely daunting for the lower self.
Therefore, in order to encourage his nation, the Prophet (s) introduced tahajjud prayers.
Otherwise, it’s not like the Prophet’s (s) own lower self needed to be reformed.
So, it wouldn’t make sense for the Prophet (s) to offer tahajjud prayers except to encourage us to do the same.
So, that was the time for tahajjud
and then, the custom of the Prophet (s) was
to delay the Isha prayers as much as possible.
The Prophet (s) would lead the Isha prayers just as the time for Isha was to end.
At times, the Prophet (s) would delay the Isha prayers to the point
where right after completing the Isha prayer would begin the time for tahajjud prayers.
The reason for deferring the Isha prayers in this way was to utilise the divine light accumulated from the Isha prayers
at a time when the world was heavily cloaked in darkness.
At the break of dawn, when the veils of darkness dissipate and there is brightness everywhere
- it is so peaceful. It is so serene in that moment.
And up there, in the higher realms, it is always like that
because the veils have been removed there, so it is always serene.
Always.
You will find this in the ahadith,
as soon as dawn breaks and light begins to shine, you can no longer eat [when fasting].
The problem is that since we are not interested in the religion ourselves, we listen to whatever nonsense the clergymen cook up.
Now, if someone wishes to live like sheep in a herd,
they will simply go wherever the shepherd leads them.
And what do we do?
If one mosque announces a certain time for iftar,
the second will give a minute more
and the third will extend it by two more minutes.
Bulleh Shah said,
‘There are four mosques in my locality, which of them am I to follow?
Bulleh’s abode is in between them all, alas the misfortune of Bulleh!’
‘The Wahhabis live to my left, whilst the Deobandis to my right,
The Shias and Sunnis surround me, O this sectarianism!’
‘The people taunt Bulleh and command him to the mosque’
to which he says,
‘What have you attained from the mosque if you have not offered namaz with your heart?’
‘Your heart is engaged with your kids, whilst you prostrate in the mosque,
O wretched worldly one, you even attempt to deceive God!’
Actually, ‘wretched’ is my own addition…