10 for the last 10 nights
1) Try and stay awake during the odd nights.
If you can’t that’s fine as well. But try and stay awake as much as you physically can. Highly recommend a 90-minute nap in the day to stay fresh.
2) Be in a state of humility with Allah
Realise our true state and look inwards into our many shortcomings.
Imam al-Ghazali says part of manners with Allah is to have ‘Humility in awe of him, brokenness under a sense of shame’.
3) At the same time, have considerable hope in Allah’s mercy
Allah reveals in a hadith Qudsi:
أنا عند ظن عبدي بي، إن ظن خيراً فله…
“I am as my slave thinks of me, if he thought well of me, it is for him…” (Bukhari). Have a strong balance between hope and fear.
4) Limit all forms of screens (phones, TV’s etc)
It’s tempting to check social media at night (I’m also guilty!) but what is supposed to be a quick 2-minute browse easily becomes a 15 minute video or random discussion.
Ideally remove, or at least reduce.
5) Constantly recite the well known du’a:
اللَّهُمَّ إِنَّكَ عَفُوٌّ تُحِبُّ الْعَفْوَ فَاعْفُ عَنِّي
“O Allah, You are oft-forgiving and You love to forgive, so forgive me”.
The Prophet (saws) specifically recommended this du’a to Aisha (ra) if we catch laylatul-qadr.
Also, don’t forget to forgive people in your heart as well as per the principle ‘Treat others as you wish to be treated by Allah’.
6) Avoid long iftar parties
I’m not saying don’t go to an iftar (though I would recommend avoiding on odd nights). But try to limit to the necessary.
Some of these iftars go on for ages waiting for your favourite ice cream and if it’s a night of Laylatul-qadr, it would be a shame it was wasted.
7) Maximise Maghrib – Fajr
Do whatever you can. Qur’ān, prayer, dhikr, helping someone, charity and good deeds. Don’t belittle anything if you have the right intention.
Don’t hold back – give it your best shot.
8) Have a shower between Maghrib and Isha
Ibn Rajab cites a narration that the Prophet (saws) would bathe between the two Adhaans. Have 2 intentions – one to follow a sunnah and the other to be fresh and presentable.
Anas ibn Malik (ra) would bathe and perfume himself on the nights it was hoped to be Laylatul Qadr.
9) Involve the family and encourage them
Sufyan al-Thawri said ‘When the last ten nights come, it is beloved to me [for one] to spend the night in Tahajjud, striving in it and waking the family for prayer, if they can bear it’.
10) Have a mindset of the last Ramadan
None of us can guarantee we will make the next Ramadan.
Try to cleanse your heart of ill-feeling to others and keep it pure. Worship as if you won’t have another chance.
May Allah accept from us all and forgive us our sins.