After encountering the refusal of the Ministry of the Interior last week, Chems-eddine Hafiz the rector of the Great Mosque of Paris had seized the Council of State to authorize the opening of places of worship in France between 9 p.m. and 2 a.m. on the night of May 8 to 9. The highest French administrative court rejected this request, considering that “The health situation remains worrying”.
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This request was made because “It is the strongest time of Ramadan. Usually, mosques are crowded ”, clarifies Mohammed Minta, imam of the mosque of Décines-Charpieu (Rhône). In the Koran, there is a whole sura (chapter of the Koran), which bears the name of the Night of Destiny. This is sura 97 which reveals the “descent” of the sacred book: “The Angels and the Spirit descend on this Night, with the permission of their Lord, to settle everything. “
“The night the Koran was revealed to the Prophet”
Kader Bouazza, president of the regional council of Muslim worship (CRCM) of the Poitou-Charentes region and rector of the Angoulême mosque, explains the importance of this event: “This vigil celebrates the night when the Koran was revealed by the angel Gabriel to the Prophet. “ It is, according to him a night « inestimable » for believers.
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The celebration of Laylat al-Qadr (Night of Destiny) takes place on one of the odd-numbered nights of the last ten days of Ramadan, calculated according to the lunar calendar. This year it is celebrated during the 27e night of the month of fasting.
This vigil usually takes place at the mosque and lasts until dawn. All the faithful gather there to participate, together, in this religious feast. A highlight “Which takes place in prayer, in joy and spirituality”, completes Kader Bouazza. Normally, it is the imam who leads the prayer. Now, during the Night of Destiny “All the faithful can participate in the reading of suras. And living it together is as if we were among the angels coming down from Heaven ”, develops the president of the CRCM de Poitou-Charentes.
“A sleepless night where God answers all invocations”
Layat al-Qadr is celebrated in several ways: prayer, meditated reading of the Quran, dhikr (invocations) and alms. Muslims watch, pray and invoke their God internally until dawn because “Everything must happen that night in order to be absolved of his sins”, explains the head of the Angoulême mosque. And during this night: “God grants the faithful who have done good deeds a better reward than if they had done good for 83 years 4 months”, explains Imam Mohammed Minta.
It is also a strong moment for practitioners who finish reading the Koran, started at the start of Ramadan, on the Night of Destiny. “It is a victory to have read it from the first to the last sura”, enthuses Kader Bouazza.
Layat al-Qadr is in a way a night of piety that allows us to start from zero according to Kader Bouazza. Once delivered from their sins, believers enter the latter part of Ramadan with increased motivation: “Hunger and thirst, we forget it by the joy that drives us”, he insists.
After this night vigil, Muslims enter what Kader Bouazza calls “The home stretch of Ramadan”, which will end when the fast is finally broken, Eid-El-Fitr, scheduled for May 12 this year. “And after that, it’s deliverance”, according to the president of the CRCM.
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