The Meeting — Laylatul Qadr and the Meeting with God
Saturday, 14 March 2026
On the most decisive night of the year, you are asked to arrive with nothing to show for it. Imam Ali, peace be upon him, once divided worshippers into three kinds: those who serve from desire, the worship of merchants; those who serve from fear, the worship of slaves; and those who serve from gratitude, the worship of the free. A saying attributed to him goes further — "I did not worship You from fear of Your fire, nor desire for Your paradise, but found You worthy of worship." Ayatullah Bahjat called this the story of the moth and the flame: no argument explains the pull to someone who has not felt it. A narration describes two joys belonging to the one who fasts — at breaking the fast, and at meeting the Lord — with a condition: gorge at iftar and you may trade the second for a larger version of the first. The Ramadhan supplications teach the posture required to meet God at all: not a record of good deeds, but confession of bankruptcy — nothing in hand, and the nothing itself the entrance requirement. What draws a person to prostrate before dawn once reward and punishment are both left behind? What the evening covers Three kinds of worship. Imam Ali's division into merchants, slaves and the free — why only the third has no transaction to explain. The moth and the flame. Ayatullah Bahjat's reading of "I found You worthy", which offers no reason at all. Two joys, one condition. The narration of the faster's joy at iftar and at meeting God, and what overeating costs. Arriving bankrupt. The Ramadhan supplication in which the servant brings no deeds to the door — the emptiness itself is the qualification.
In this session
اللَّهُمَّ أَهِلَّهُ عَلَيْنَا بِالْأَمْنِ وَ الْإِيمَانِ وَ السَّلامَةِ وَ الْإِسْلامِ وَ الْعَافِيَةِ الْمُجَلَّلَةِ وَ دِفَاعِ الْأَسْقَامِ [وَ الرِّزْقِ الْوَاسِعِ ] وَ الْعَوْنِ عَلَى الصَّلاةِ وَ الصِّيَامِ وَ الْقِيَامِ وَ تِلاوَةِ الْقُرْآنِ اللَّهُمَّ سَلِّمْنَا لِشَهْرِ رَمَضَانَ وَ تَسَلَّمْهُ مِنَّا وَ سَلِّمْنَا فِيهِ حَتَّى يَنْقَضِيَ عَنَّا شَهْرُ رَمَضَانَ وَ قَدْ عَفَوْتَ عَنَّا وَ غَفَرْتَ لَنَا وَ رَحِمْتَنَا
O Allah, renew this month upon us with security and faith, and safety and Islam, and great well-being, and protection against illnesses, and assistance in prayer and fasting and night vigils and the recitation of the Quran. O Allah, keep us safe for the month of Ramadan, and receive the month of Ramadan from us in soundness, and keep us in safety therein until it passes from us, while You have pardoned our sins and granted us Your forgiveness and mercy.
Mafatih al-Jinan, Acts of the Year, Acts for the First Night and Sighting of the Crescent of Ramadan, Line 2
