Celebrating Laylat al-Qadr

Laylat al-Qadr is a special night for Muslims around the world. It is the night of power when Allah revealed the first verses of the Quran to the Prophet Muhammad pbuh. We do not know the exact date of Laylat al-Qadr, we only know that it is one of the last 10 days of the month of Ramadan and it is an odd numbered night (21st, 23rd, 25th, 27th or 29th). This night is very special because it is said to be worth as much as 1000 months, or 83 years. The angels come down from the heavens and are among us, although we cannot see them. Muslims carry out lots of acts of worship during the last 10 days of Ramadan in the hope of gaining the blessings of the night of power. They pray, read Quran, make dua and do other acts of worship.

Laylet al-Qadr worksheets

The Quran was first revealed to the Prophet Muhammad while he was in the Cave of Hira in Mecca. He would spend the whole of the month of Ramadan in the cave in solitude, thinking and praying. One night, the Angel Jibreel came to him and said, "Recite!" He explained that he did not know how or what to recite. Again the Angel said to him, "Recite" and he started to recite the first verses of the Quran.  

              

The children coloured in some worksheets about the Quran and the cave of Hira and I told them the story of the first revelation. I got the worksheets from this book of Ramadan activities for children. It is an excellent book for young children and we have been using it a lot this Ramadan.

Jar candle holders craft

Next, we painted some glass jars to use as candle holders. The children decided to use glitter glue to paint their jars. We made the glitter glue ourselves by mixing some glitter with PVA glue. 

The children each chose a jar and got stuck in with painting.

The look of concentration on their faces!

The finished jars looked fantastic!

We had these beeswax candles the children had made on a recent workshop on bees. I thought these would be perfect to place in our glass jars.

To stick the candles to the base of the jars, we lit the candle and allowed some drops of hot wax to fall to the base of the jars. Then we stuck the candles onto the hot wax. It cooled quickly and secured the candles to the base.

Telescope craft

The children asked to do more painting with glitter glue so we then made some telescopes out of cardboard tubes. These are to look out for the Ramadan moon at night.

When the glitter glue had dried, the children stuck little star stickers on their telescopes.

Baking cookies

I wanted to make this night really special, one that the children would remember, so we then decided to bake some cookies to eat during our celebrations. We do a lot of baking and it is something the children and I really enjoy.

Here are the finished cookies. Don't they look delicious!

Camping in the cave of Hira

After dinner, it was time to set up. We put up a tent to represent the cave of Hira. We placed some comfy floor cushions inside the tent and our creations outside it.

We had the cookies and some pineapple to snack on while we read stories about Ramadan and Laylat al-Qadr.

We lit the candles in the jars which created a lovely atmosphere.

We read a wonderful book called Ramadan moon which is all about the excitement of waiting and watching for the moon so we know when Ramadan will begin and when Eid day will be.

We also had our moon phase dial, which we had made for our Moon project, so we could see which phase the moon was in that night. Take a look at this post to see how we learnt about the Moon and its phases.

The children looked through their telescopes to see if they could spot the moon. Unfortunately, they didn't spot it that night as it was still too light and they became too tired to stay up until it got dark.

Alhamdulillah poster

I explained to the children that on Laylat al-Qadr it is important to make dua. We looked at the book, 'Duas for kids' and talked about the dua 'Alhamdulillah' in particular. Alhamdulillah means 'praise be to Allah' and we use it to thank Allah for what he has given us. I asked the children what they were thankful for and D made this wonderful poster about all the things she is thankful for.

To finish off our celebrations, we played some nasheeds, Islamic songs, and the children had fun singing and dancing. We had so much fun celebrating Laylat al-Qadr and I will leave the tent up for the next few days so we can celebrate again if the children would like. I think this will become a Ramadan tradition for us, a tradition that will continue for years to come!

Have you ever celebrated Laylat al-Qadr with your children?

Additional articles of interest

Reasons for fasting in Ramadan

How to homeschool during Ramadan

Incorporating Islam into our homeschool

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