The Night of Power

Ramadan is finally wrapping up but not before one last supernight! The Ummah (Holy Group of Believers) believe that this is the holiest of all nights in the Muslim calendar.

I have attached some transcripts from the USC Compendium of Muslim Texts. If you wonder why I read this you must learn a valuable lesson taught by Sun-Tsu and von Clausweitz. "To beat an enemy you must first understand him." Two powerful military minds 1000 years and an entire continent apart knew this simple axiom and so do I. Make no mistake, I consider radical, fundamentalist Islam to be the enemy. Here is the transcript describing the meaning of this night.

This chapter (surah) was revealed in Makkah, and its basic theme is honoring the revelation of this blessed book, the Holy Qur`an. The Night of Power or honor is a special gift only to the community (Ummah) of Islam. The night is one which even the angels in the heavens see as worthy of witnessing. The night is so rich with holiness, as the night when good deeds are returned, and is equal to a thousand months in the sight of Allah.

In a report by Abi Hatim and Al-Wahidi, by way of Mujahid, the Messenger (saas) mentioned that there was a man among the Israelites who devoted his life to the cause of Allah for a thousand months. The companions were amazed and impressed, but were saddened because they knew there would be no way that they could reach this status of devotion. So Allah (SWT) revealed this surah to inform them that He had just blessed this Ummah with the Night of Honor, which is equal to a thousand months.

This is the night that some of the most fanatical will try and become martyrs to their cause. The mullahs will get some of them wound up supertight and they are reckless. That's OK with me. Reckless equals dead in combat.

There are so many things about this religion that we spoof but that they consider to be above reproach. The cartoon flap is a good example. Another is that you cannot say Muhammed in print unless you add this (PBUH). I wondered just what the hell that meant until it dawned on me one day. PBUH means "Peace Be Upon Him". They don't say this in day to day speech but it is in the newspapers and magazines.

On the personal side I gotta say, "its' friggin miserable weather here". It is late October and it is still over 100 degrees. At least I am not in Djibouti. Some of the guys who are assigned there tell me that they have two seasons. They have Summer and Hell. Add the humidity in and it is like Texas in June here. In Djibouti it is like Texas in August right now and they think that it is "Getting nice outside."

I added these pics I took a few weeks back. This is the same mosque about 15 minutes apart. I wish i had gotten the sun at the perfect angle between the minarets but I took what I could.