Question: Why is the closeness and comfort of man in the presence of God and Paradise conditioned by life in the world? What would happen if man were created and lived unconditionally in Paradise and understood God?

Answer: If your intention in asking this question is that some people enter Paradise without living in the earthly world and without being tested and tried, such beings already exist and are in Paradise; such as the houris and angels who are in charge of the affairs of Paradise. In this case, basically, no human being would have been created and no human being would have existed. Because a human being is a being who is created from the dust and clay of the earth and has free will and with his own free will determines the degree of his existence and the level of his perfection and happiness. If a being is told that the limit and degree of your existence and perfection are such and such and your place and abode in Paradise is such and such, such a being is no longer free and has not determined his place and abode by his own will and desire. Therefore, he is not a human being, but an angel or something else.

We are talking about the creation of a human being who is created from worthless soil; but no specific size is determined for his perfection, but he is given the ability, talent, and permission to grow and perfect as much as he wants with his own will and desire. He can choose and ascend to any degree and position he wants. Such a being with power and talent can only be created on the earth, which is the place of power and talent; not in heaven. Heaven is not a place of action, growth, freedom, etc., but rather a place of reward and goodness, and it is impossible to sin there; one of the aspects of the existential value of man is that he can sin, but for the sake of God's pleasure, he steps on his own desires and does not sin. Therefore, life in the earthly world is a necessity for man to be human, and there is no escape from it.

According to the verses and narrations, which night of Ramadan is the Night of Power?

Answer: By putting together some verses of the Quran, it becomes clear that the Night of Power is in the month of Ramadan. However, it is not stated in the Holy Quran which night of Ramadan it is.

In verse 185 of Surah Al-Baqarah, we read: “The month of Ramadan in which the Quran was revealed.” From this verse, we can understand that the Holy Quran was revealed in the blessed month of Ramadan. On the other hand, in the first verse of Surah Al-Qadr, we read: “Indeed, We sent it down on the Night of Power.” By putting these two verses together, it is clear that the Night of Power, in which the Quran was also revealed, is in the blessed month of Ramadan. (1)

However, the Holy Quran has not said anything about which night of Ramadan the Night of Power falls on, and the narrations narrated from the Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them) regarding the determination of the Night of Power can be divided into five categories:

The first category: Narrations that consider the Night of Power to be one of the nights of the last ten days of Ramadan. (2)

The second category. Narrations that say: Look for the Night of Power in one of the three nights: the nineteenth, the twenty-first, and the twenty-third. (3)

The third category. Narrations that say: The Night of Power is in one of the two nights: the twenty-first and the twenty-third. In a narration, Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) was asked about the Night of Power, and he said: It is in two nights: the twenty-third and the twenty-first. The narration says that I asked the Imam to determine one of these two nights for me. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: What is wrong with performing deeds on two nights that are one of the nights of the Night of Power?! (4)

Group Four. Narrations that consider the twenty-third night to be the Night of Power. In a narration from the Messenger of God (peace be upon him), we read: The Night of Power is the twenty-third night. (5)

In another narration, we read that a person named Abdullah bin Unais Juhani came to the Prophet (peace be upon him) and said: “O Messenger of God! I am a man whose home is far away. Order me to come and stay in Medina for one night.” The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Come on the night of the thirty and twenty-third.” (6) “Come on the night of the twenty-third.”

Group Five. Narrations that indicate that the nineteenth, twenty-first, and twenty-third nights each play a role in determining the fate of people and their affairs; but the fundamental and final role is related to the twenty-third night.

In a narration from Imam Sadiq (AS), we read: “The decree (destiny) is on the nineteenth night, the firming (firming) is on the twenty-first night, and the signing (making it final) is on the twenty-third night.”(7)

A point that needs to be mentioned in the end is that although in the narrations some nights of Ramadan have been introduced as possible nights of Qadr, and the possibility of the twenty-third night being the Night of Qadr is considered the highest, the Night of Qadr has not been determined definitively for reasons of convenience.

One of the reasons given in the narrations for not determining the Night of Qadr precisely is that if one night were determined definitively, people would be content with that one night and deprive themselves of the grace of worship on other nights, and therefore, in order for people to have more time and opportunity to worship, this night has not been determined definitively.

In a narration, we read that Imam Ali (AS) was asked about the Night of Power. He said: (8) “God conceals it from you in order to help you and give you respite, because if He had announced it to you, you would have acted on that night and otherwise abandoned worship.” (9)

Footnotes:

1. Ayatollah Misbah Yazdi, Quranic Studies, Qom, Imam Khomeini (RA) Educational and Research Institute, 1380, Vol. 1, (p.) 90.

2. In a narration, we read that Imam Baqir (AS) was asked about the interpretation of the verse: “Indeed, We have revealed it on a blessed night.” (2) The Imam said: Yes. That is the Night of Power. That night, every year, in the month of Ramadan and in its last ten days. Yes, it is the Night of Power, and it is in every year in the month of Ramadan in the last ten days. Kulayni, Muhammad ibn Ya’qub, Kafi, Tehran, Dar al-Kuttub al-Islamiyyah, 1407 AH, vol. 4, (p. 157). 3. In a narration, Imam Sadiq (a.s.) was asked about the Night of Power. He said: “Seek it on the nineteenth, twenty-first, and twenty-third.” Tabarsi, Fazl bin Hassan, Majma al-Bayan fi Tafsir al-Qur'an, Tehran, Nasser Khosrow Publications, 1372, vol.10, p.787.

4. "Fi Laylatin: the night of the thirty and twenty-one, and one and twenty-one... and we are the ones who act on the night of the night of all of us?!" the same

5. "Lailat-ul-Qadr-Lailata-Thalath-i-e-Eshreena" Seyyed Ibn Tavus, Al-Iqbal al-Amal Al-Hasna, Qom, Publications of the Islamic Propaganda Office of Qom Seminary, 1415 AH, Vol.1, (S) 375.

6. "O Messenger of God, this is a great man of the house, the night of his descent" Abd al-Razzaq San'ani, Al-Msnaf, Beirut, Al-Muktab al-Islami, 1403 A.H., vol.4, (p.) 250.

7. "Al-Taqdeer in the night of nine and ten, and Ibram in the night of one and twenty, and signing in the night of the third and the tenth" Kilini, Mohammad Bin Yaqoub, Kafi, Tehran, Dar Kitub-e-Islamiyya, 1407 AH, Vol. 4, (p.) 159.

8. “Allah only conceals it from you for your own sake, for if He had known it, you would have acted upon it and left behind other things.” Allama Majlisi, Bihar al-Anwar, Beirut, Al-Wafa Foundation, 1404 AH, vol. 94, p. 5. 9. For more narrations related to the Night of Power: see Mohammadi Ray Shahri, Mah Goda (translated by Javad Muhaddisi), Qom, Dar al-Hadith, 1383 AH, vol. 2, from (pp.) 774 to (pp.) 794.

Answer: The Night of Power is the night in which the Quran was revealed:

“[Qadr/1] We sent it down [the Quran] on the Night of Power!”

And this night is better than a thousand months:

[Qadr/3] The Night of Power is better than a thousand months!

Perhaps these two characteristics are characteristics that did not exist before Islam. Because the Quran was certainly not revealed before the Holy Prophet (PBUH), and perhaps thanks to the revelation of the Quran, the honor and dignity of the Night of Power has increased to the point that it is better than a thousand months. Therefore, some believe, according to a hadith, that the Night of Power is specific to the nation of the end of time.

In the commentary of the example, he says: “It is clear from numerous narrations that this is one of the divine blessings upon this nation, as is stated in a hadith from the noble Prophet (PBUH) who said: “Allah has given my nation the Night of Power, and none of the previous nations had this blessing.”[1][2] It is worth mentioning that after the Prophet (PBUH) and the revelation of the Quran, the Night of Power has been repeated every year. In the commentary of the example, he says: “The interpretation of the present tense verb (تَنَزَّلُ) which indicates continuity, as well as the interpretation of the nominal sentence “سَلامٌ هِي حَتَّي مَتْلَعِ الْفَجْرِ” which indicates continuity, also testify to this meaning. In addition, many narrations, perhaps even of a tawatir nature, confirm this meaning.”[3]

However, the Night of Power has other characteristics that are not exclusive to the end-times nation. Rather, it is necessary for every era. Like the destiny of the servants being determined, or the descent of angels upon divine proof, hence the hadiths have pointed out that the Night of Power has existed since the beginning of creation:

Imam Jawad (peace be upon him) says: God - may God be glorified and exalted - created the Night of Power at the beginning of the creation of the world, and on that night He created the first prophet and the first successor who should be (Adam and Seth) [predestined their existence], and decreed that there would be a night in every year in which the interpretation and explanation of matters would be made until such a night in the following year. Whoever denies that night has rejected the knowledge of God Almighty, because the prophets, messengers, and narrators of hadith do not stand up and do not stand up except by means of a proof that reaches them on that night, or by a proof that Gabriel (peace be upon him) brings to them (on other nights) (because they acquire the plan of leading the people and some special knowledge on that night).

The narrator says: I asked: Gabriel or other angels Will the hadith scholars also come? He said: Regarding the prophets and messengers, there is no doubt about it, and regarding others, it must have been a proof for the people of the earth from the first day of the creation of the earth until the end of the world that God Almighty would reveal the interpretation of matters on that night to His most beloved servants.[4]

[1]. In Al-Manthur, Volume 6, Page 371.

[2]. Tafsir Al-Numnu, Vol. 27, p. 190.

[3]. Tafsir Al-Numnu, Vol. 27, p. 190.

[4]. Al-Kafi, Vol. 1, p. 250.

According to the fatwas of the jurists, it is obligatory to learn the part of Sharia law that we often deal with. Also, a person must either be a mujtahid and derive the laws from evidence himself, or imitate a marja' of taqlid, or be certain through precaution that he has fulfilled his Sharia duty; for example, not doing an act that some mujtahids consider haram and some permissible, or doing an act that some mujtahids consider obligatory and some permissible.

What are Shariah rulings?

Shariah rulings are religious laws related to human duties. Shariah rulings are divided into two types: obligatory and conditional: obligatory rulings directly state human duties; such as the ruling that one should pray or not drink alcohol. Conditional rulings are indirectly related to human duties; such as the ruling that praying in impure clothing is invalid.

Shariah rulings are derived from Shariah evidence, which includes: the Quran, Sunnah, reason, and consensus. A person who has the ability to deduce rulings from this evidence is called a mujtahid. Today, Shariah rulings are presented in books of explanation of issues that contain the opinions of the religious authorities.

Based on the fatwas of the religious authorities, it is obligatory to learn the rulings that one deals with most often.

The Prophet (Imran ibn Husayn) says: The first two verses of this Surah were revealed on one of the nights of the battle with the Banu Al-Mustaliq, who were a group from the Khuza'ah tribe, while the Muslims were moving [towards the battlefield]. The Messenger of God (peace be upon him) called out to the Muslims and they mounted their horses and circled around the Prophet (peace be upon him). The Prophet (peace be upon him) recited these verses to them and [had such an effect on them that] the Muslims were never seen weeping more than that night. When the night passed [they had become so indifferent to the world and the life of the world that] they had not yet lowered their saddles and pitched a tent, some were weeping and some were sitting sadly and lost in thought. The Messenger of God (peace be upon him) said to them: "Do you know what that Day (of Judgment) is?" They said: "Allah and His Messenger know best." He said: "That Day is the Day on which Allah revealed to Adam (He says: “Send the people of Hell from among your children to the Fire.” Adam (says): “From which group and how many?” God Almighty says: “Out of every thousand people, nine hundred and ninety-two people to the Fire and one person to Paradise.” This statement was hard on the Muslims and they wept and said: “O Messenger of God (! So who will be saved?”) The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Greetings to you! For among you are Gog and Magog, who will fill whatever they enter; you are among the nations [in terms of number] like a white hair on the [skin] of a black bull, or a bump on the leg of a young cow, or a hollow in the flank of a camel.” Then he said: “I hope that you will be a quarter of the people of Paradise.” The Muslims said: “Allah is Great.” Then he said: “I hope that you will be a third of the people of Paradise.” Then he said: “I hope that you will be two-thirds of the people of Paradise, because the people of Paradise are one hundred and twenty rows, and eighty rows of them are from my nation.” Then he said: “Seventy thousand people from my nation will enter Paradise without being called to account.”

الصّادق (علیه السلام)- عَنِ الْحَسَنِ‌بْنِ‌عَلِیِّ‌بْنِ‌سَوْرَهًَْ عَنْ أَبِیهِ عَنْ أَبِی‌عَبْدِ‌اللَّهِ (علیه السلام) قَالَ: مَنْ قَرَأَ سُورَهًَْ الْحَجِّ فِی کُلِّ ثَلَاثَهًِْ أَیَّامٍ لَمْ تَخْرُجْ سَنَتُهُ حَتَّی یَخْرُجَ إِلَی بَیْتِ اللَّهِ الْحَرَامِ وَ إِنْ مَاتَ فِی سَفَرِهِ دَخَلَ الْجَنَّهًَْ قُلْتُ فَإِنْ کَانَ مُخَالِفاً قَالَ یُخَفَّفُ عَنْهُ بَعْضُ مَا هُوَ فِیه

Imam Sadiq (Ali ibn Surah) narrated from Imam Sadiq (A.S.) that the Imam said: “Whoever recites Surah Hajj once every three days, will go on pilgrimage to the House of God in that year, and if he dies during this journey, he will enter Paradise.” I asked: If he is from the Sunnis [what reward will he have?] The Imam said: “Some of his punishment will be reduced.”

Tafsir Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) Vol. 9, p. 562, Thawab al-A’mal, p. 108 / Nur al-Thaqalayn / Al-Burhan.

The United Nations agency for children, UNICEF, has warned that “one million” Palestinian children in Gaza are “struggling to survive” amid Israel’s blockade of aid shipments and power supply to the besieged strip.

“One million children in Gaza are struggling to survive without basic necessities,” UNICEF said in a post on X on Monday.

The UN agency noted that hundreds of thousands in Gaza “lack clean water and sanitation services.”

Noting that desalination plants are operating at a much reduced capacity, UNICEF said water is a “basic human right that no one should be denied.”

Speaking from Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, UNICEF regional director Edouard Beigbeder said “it is urgent to allow at least some water and electricity” into the strip.

UNICEF said only “a lasting ceasefire” and “unrestricted” aid access can truly save lives.

Last week, Israeli media said the regime’s energy and infrastructure minister Eli Cohen ordered the Israel Electric Company to stop transmitting electricity to Gaza “immediately.”

Power has already been cut off for over 16 months, since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023.

The UN’s special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, Francesca Albanese, warned of Israel’s decision to cut the flow of electricity to Gaza, saying it will impact water supply to the besieged strip.

The Israeli decision means “no functioning desalination stations, ergo: no clean water”, she said.

Israel launched the campaign of genocide in Gaza on October 7, 2023. It has killed at least 48,577 Palestinians there so far.

In January, the Israeli regime was forced to agree to a ceasefire deal with Hamas given the regime’s failure to achieve any of its objectives, including the “elimination” of the Palestinian resistance movement or the release of captives.

The 42-day stage of the truce, which was marred by repeated Israeli violations, expired on March 1, but Israel is refraining from stepping into talks for the second stage of the agreement.

Press TV’s website

The Israeli military has killed at least 356 Palestinians, mostly children and women, throughout the Gaza Strip’s entire expanse during a large-scale violation of Tel Aviv’s ceasefire agreement with the Gaza-based resistance movement Hamas.

Reports said those killed in included at least 77 people in Khan Younis in southern Gaza and at least 20 people in Gaza City in the north. 

Hundred of others were also wounded during the rampant bloodletting, Palestinian news agency Sama reported on Tuesday.

According to the agency, the raids did not spare any part of the already war-battered and mostly devastated coastal sliver, targeting residential structures, schools, and refugee centers.

Reporting on the fresh deadly escalation, Qatar’s Al Jazeera television network reported that explosions had rang out throughout Gaza’s northeastern areas, where the regime’s spy aircraft and warplanes have been engaging in extensive overflight.

The ceasefire took effect in January in the hope of ending the regime’s 15-month-plus war of genocide against Gaza that began after Hamas and its fellow resistance groups from the Palestinian territory launched a historic operation against the occupied Palestinian territories.

The operation saw the fighters venture deep inside the territories, encircling strategic Israeli bases and ensnaring 240 Zionists, including some American-Israelis.

Since initiation of the ceasefire deal, the regime has been routinely violating it besides blocking the entry of vital aid items into Gaza, including foodstuffs, medicine, and water, in an attempt to pressure Hamas into releasing those of the captives, who remained in the group’s captivity, in one batch.

Hamas has released 25 living captives and the remains of eight others in exchange for more than 2,000 Palestinian prisoners during the implementation of the first phase of the deal.

The movement has denounced Tel Aviv’s efforts at sabotaging the agreement, urging that release of the remaining captives is conditioned upon implementation of a second phase.

Earlier, the regime’s Ma’ariv newspaper reported, citing its sources, that Tel Aviv had turned down a proposal for, what it called, “selective release” of the American captives.

The sources said the regime has told the United States that diplomatic efforts towards enabling release of the remaining captives had ended.

They also said the regime’s so-called “security cabinet” had allowed its prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and minister for military affairs Israel Katz to determine the time for resumption of the genocide.

Netanyahu’s office, meanwhile, alleged that the regime had resumed its military attacks on Gaza after, what it termed as, Hamas’ turning down Washington’s proposals for extension of the ceasefire.

This is while Hamas has been constantly engaging with Qatari and Egyptian mediators towards keeping up the ceasefire, despite the disruptive Israeli efforts.

More than 48,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have perished during the genocide in addition to hundreds more who have been killed as a result of the Israeli violations of the deal.

Trump's green light

The White House says Israel consulted with US President Donald Trump's administration before launching its overnight wave of strikes in Gaza.

"The Trump administration and the White House were consulted by the Israelis on their attacks in Gaza tonight," Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

New forced displacement

The Israeli military’s spokesman Avichay Adraee ordered residents of the several Gaza areas to “evacuate immediately”, saying their neighborhoods will become “dangerous combat zones”.

Adraee said civilians in the areas of Beit Hanoon, Khirbet Khuza’a, Abasan al-Kabira and Abasan al-Jadida should head to shelters in western Gaza City or Khan Younis.

Hamas: Israel exposes captives to 'unknown fate'

Reacting to the most recent massacres, Hamas voiced reprehension over Netanyahu and his “Nazi” administration’s resuming their aggression and genocidal war against defenseless civilians in the Gaza Strip.

“We hold the criminal Netanyahu and the Nazi-Zionist occupation fully responsible for the repercussions of the treacherous aggression on Gaza, and for the defenseless civilians and our besieged Palestinian people, who are subjected to a brutal war and a systematic policy of starvation,” it added.

The regime, the group lamented, had decided to “overturn the ceasefire,” exposing the captives to an “unknown fate.”

Hamas has previously reported the death of scores of the captives as a result of incessant and indiscriminate Israeli bombardments of Gaza.

“We demand that the mediators hold Netanyahu and the Zionist occupation fully responsible for violating and overturning the agreement,” the group asserted.

Hamas also urged the Arab world, including its major institutions, as well as notable international organizations to take a firms stance concerning the aggression.

The United Nations and its Security Council has to press Tel Aviv into abiding by the UNSC Resolution that mandates an end to the Israeli aggression against Gaza and complete withdrawal of all Israeli forces from the territory, the group underscored.

It finally called for global protests, urging that “the free people of the world have to raise their voice in rejection of the resumption of the Zionist war of extermination against our people in the Gaza Strip.”

Netanyahu's lifeline to escape internal crises

Senior Hamas official Izzat al-Rishq said, “Netanyahu has decided to resume the genocidal war, considering it a lifeline to escape his internal crises.”

“The enemy will not achieve through war and destruction what it failed to achieve through negotiations.”

He added that, “Mediators are required to reveal the truth about Netanyahu’s betrayal of the ceasefire agreement and to hold him solely responsible for fueling the fire in Gaza and the region.”

Al-Rishq asserted that, “Military pressure and brutal aggression will not break the will of our people and our resistance.”

Press TV’s website

Palestinian groups have blasted Israel for resuming its genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, as the regime conducts its deadliest aerial assaults on the besieged territory since a January ceasefire.

The condemnations came on Tuesday, after the Israeli strikes killed over 350 Palestinians and injured 1,000 others across Gaza in a blatant violation of the truce with the Hamas resistance group.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered the air raids because of a lack of progress in the talks aimed at making Hamas release Israeli captives without a troop withdrawal from Gaza. Netanyahu's office said in a statement that “Israel will, from now on, act ... with increasing military strength."

Hamas said it viewed the Israeli attacks as a unilateral cancellation of the Gaza ceasefire, warning that the strikes expose the captives “to an unknown fate.”

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad resistance movement said the renewed aggression will neither give Israel the upper hand over the resistance nor extricate Netanyahu and his regime from the crises they are escaping from.

"Rather, it will further weaken them and accumulate more failures, leaving them humiliated and submissive," it added.

The Islamic Jihad, which is based in Gaza, also noted that Israel will not achieve what it has been unable to achieve during the genocide thanks to the steadfastness of oppressed Palestinians and the bravery of resistance fighters.

Meanwhile, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) said the occupation violated the Gaza truce by its brutal strikes with prior planning and American partnership.

"All international parties must act immediately to stop the war of extermination resumed by the ... war criminals." it pointed out.

The group also urged Arab people and those seeking freedom to condemn Israeli atrocities and besiege the embassies of the occupying entity and the United States.

It further called on the Arab League to work towards the lifting of the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip and ending the war of extermination against Palestinians.

Additionally, the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement held the US administration responsible for the Zionist regime’s resumption of its genocide in Gaza.

Netanyahu and his criminal cabinet, it said, "will not succeed in breaking the will of our people and their resistance, just as they have failed throughout more than 15 months of genocide and ethnic cleansing."

Mediators failed to 'deter Zionist arrogance': Ansarullah

Yemen's Ansarullah resistance movement condemned in the strongest terms fresh Israeli Gaza raids and horrific massacres, saying they were conducted amid unlimited American support for the usurping regime.

The group's political bureau censured the parties mediating and guaranteeing the Gaza ceasefire for failing to "deter Zionist stubbornness and arrogance."

Israel launched its brutal Gaza onslaught on October 7, 2023, after Hamas carried out a historic operation against the usurping entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

The Tel Aviv regime failed to achieve its declared objectives of freeing captives and eliminating Hamas despite killing more than 48,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, in Gaza.

Israel accepted Hamas’s longstanding negotiation terms under the three-phase Gaza truce, which began on January 19.

Later, however, Israel refused to move forward to the second stage of the ceasefire and blocked the entry of all humanitarian aid into Gaza in breach of international law.

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