Hawzah News Agency – The month of Ramadan enlightens and cleanses hearts and souls by fasting, engaging in dhikr, dua and divine prayers, by reciting the Holy Quran and by engaging in many other virtues which religious people benefit from. In fact, from the Night of Qadr onwards, the religious people who engage in fasting begin a new year. During the Night of Qadr, their fate for the whole year is recorded by the divine angels who record our actions. During the Night of Qadr, one enters a new year, a new stage and in fact, a new life and birth. From this night onwards, one begins to take a path with his provisions of piety.
Dear brothers and sisters, you should appreciate the value of these nights and these hours. You should pray for yourselves and ask God in a beseeching manner to answer your prayers, and you should ask Him to answer the prayers of other people as well. In these nights – nights like last night, like tomorrow night and like the 23rd night – many voices will be raised in supplication everywhere in the world of Islam and in every place where the people believe in this concept: “Many voices and cries will be raised towards you with words of various kinds” [Iqbal al-A’mal, Vol.1, page 346]. In these nights, voices will be raised everywhere and many tears will be shed. They pray for themselves and for others. One of your prayers should be to ask Allah the Exalted to answer the prayers of those believers who pray in these nights. You should ask this from God.
Prayers should be said in an attentive manner. I would like to say that some of the gatherings in which prayers are recited are really sweet and lovely gatherings. In such gatherings, the reciter does not recite duas only for the sake of the listeners. He recites them for himself as well. Some reciters are like this. They themselves are touched by duas. When the reciter feels that he is speaking to God and that he is present before the God of the world and when he feels the dua, the audience will feel it as well. There are also some cases – which are very few in number, of course – in which the reciter recites duas in a very inattentive manner. Sometimes, we see some of these reciters on TV. They only sing certain things and they do not pay attention at all. They do not feel the duas at all. When they do not feel the duas, their audience will not feel them either. They cannot make themselves shed tears, nor can they do something to make their audience shed tears. They cannot touch the hearts of their listeners because their own hearts have not been touched. Duas should not be recited like this.
Praying is a way of speaking to Allah the Exalted. As our magnanimous Imam (r.a.) said, “Praying is an ascending Quran.” This means that it is a way of speaking to God. When you read the Holy Quran, it is God Who is speaking to you. However, when you pray, it is you who are speaking to God. When you read the Holy Quran, this is a descending Quran. In other words, it is Allah the Exalted Who is speaking to you and Who is clarifying the truth for you. It has been descended from above. And when you pray, it is you who are speaking to God. During prayer, it is your voice which will ascend. If you pray well, your prayers will be heard: “And hear my prayers when I say them for you and hear my voice when I call you.” This is a prayer that we read in Dua Sha’baniyyah. In this prayer, we ask God to listen to our prayers. There is one manner of praying which is not heard by God. We read in a dua, “I seek refuge in You from a self which cannot be satiated, from a heart which does not show humility and from a prayer which is not heard.”
We say to God that we seek refuge in You from a prayer which is not heard. In other words, Allah the Exalted does not pay any attention to such prayers. “And from a daily prayer which does not bring me any benefit.” Well, “daily prayers help every pious individual to get close to God.” [al-Kafi, Vol. 3, page 265]. Daily prayers should help us get close to God. If they do not help us get close to Him, then they are of no value. Of course, this does not mean that we should not say them anymore. We should not say to ourselves, “Now that they do not bring me any benefit, I will not say them any longer.” This should not be the case. You should say them and fulfill your duty. However, you should do something to turn your daily prayers into beneficial prayers. You should say them in an attentive manner and with your hearts present.
This opportunity to fast is a very valuable opportunity for you. It can soften your hearts to a great extent and it can make them humble with the result that you can speak to God. Duas should be read like this. The duas that are particular to Ramadan dawns, to the Nights of Qadr and to all nights in general – not only to these nights – are very valuable. Apart from the teachings that exist in these duas, the feeling of humility that we get from these duas is very valuable in itself.
Ayatollah Khamenei
