The Night of ''Tujoh Leko''

(Ramadhan at Bussorah Street)

My mother used to tell me that my sister, Nora, was born on ''Malam Tujoh Leko''. As I understand it, ''Malam'' is a Malay word for night and ''Tujoh'' is a Malay word for the number seven. However I honestly do not have the slightest idea of the meaning on the word ''Leko''. When I was a little girl, I did remember asking my mother the meaning of the phrase. She told me ''Malam Tujoh Leko'' describes the night before the dawn of the twenty-seventh day of Ramadhan. During that time, I did not understand my mother's explanation. As I grew up and learned about Islam, I gradually began to understand more about my religion.

According to Islam, the ''Azan'' (calling for prayers) for ''Sholat Maghrib'' (Maghrib prayers) at about 7.00 p.m. (Singapore time) denotes the beginning of a new day. Hence, on the night of the date 26th Ramadhan is the beginning of the twenty-seventh day of the fasting month. Yesterday night was the night of ''Tujoh Leko''. Recalling the time I used to live in Pondok Kalompang Gubuk, during this night, the phrase ''Malam Tujoh Leko'' was almost on the lips of everyone living in the same pondok with my family. It seems to me that they regarded this night to be very special because they were extremely excited doing strange things that I could not comprehend at that time. I found their behaviours to be very peculiar during this night. They used to stay up late as if it was a night meant not for sleeping.

When I reached my adulthood, after completing a formal education in Islamic studies, only then I realized that the night of ''Tujoh Leko'' was actually associated with the night known as ''Lailat-ul-Qadr''. Upon the dawn of this realization, the question that always lingers in my mind was answered. I concluded the reason behind the expression seen on my Mum's face beaming with smile of happiness, every time she mentioned about the night my sister was born, was all this while due to the thought that she had gave birth to a daughter on ''Lailat-ul-Qadr'', a special night bestowed to the Ummah of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing be upon him) by Almighty Allah.

However, no one knows the exact night of Lailat-ul-Qadr. Not even Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing be upon him). Some say it is the twenty-seventh of the month and others say it varies from year to year, but always among the last ten days of Ramadhan. What is clear is that it falls on one of the nights during the last ten days of the fasting month. In a Hadith narrated by Aishah (r.a.), Imam Bukhari reported that Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing be upon him) said; ''Search for the night of Qadr in the odd nights of the last ten nights of Ramadhan.''. Hence, it can be concluded that ''Lailat-ul-Qadr'' is once in a year, every year, in one of the nights during the last ten days in the month of Ramadhan.

So, what is ''Lailat-ul-Qadr'' all about? Why is it so special that the Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him) had instructed his Ummah to seek for it. The whole episode on the greatness of this one night which has been described with several descriptions such as ''The Night of Power'', ''The Night of Destiny'', ''The Night of Decree'', ''The Night of Grandeur'', ''The Night of Majesty'' and ''Honourable Night'', interest me a lot. It was even intoxicating to me, when the lecturer who once taught me on the subject Qur’an and Hadith during my course of study, said to the class that, “Lailat-ul-Qadr'', the Night of Power, is better than the nights in a thousand months. At that moment, my thoughts were demanding for logical explanations to the queries in my mind about this night that was projected to be very powerful.

During that period of time, I simply could not comprehend the greatness of this one night to be better than all the other nights. How was it be possible for a single night to be better than the nights of a thousand months? What is so special about ''Lailat-ul-Qadr''? What made that night superior than every other night in a thousand months? My questions were answered as I listened attentively to my lecturer as he explained to the class about what happened on that one night, the night that was named ''Lailat-ul-Qadr''. At the end of the lecture, everything became crystal clear to me and I finally fully understood the significance of this Majestic Night!