Perseverance — Page 143
Part II – My Life as a Muslim 143 religious concepts. However, due to my close acquaintance with the Second Khal ī fah ra , I was regularly asked to discuss my learnings and this had the unfortunate result of exposing some shallow misunderstandings of certain topics. For example, one teacher explained to me the concept of Laylat- ul-Qadr [ Night of Destiny ] mentioned in the Holy Qur’ ā n. The teacher said that this night occurs on one of the odd nights in the last ten days of Rama da n, which is commonly believed amongst Muslims. If a Muslim happens to find this night, all of his/her prayers will be answered. That day, Huzoor ra asked me, “What did you learn today in school?” I responded with what the teacher taught me about Laylat-ul- Qadr. When he heard this explanation, he said, “No, that’s all wrong. Who taught you that?” I provided the name of the teacher and the Second Khal ī fah ra then proceeded to explain to me the correct teaching. He gave me an example: If one man gets up during that odd night and prays that God would give him one lady by name, and another man gets up on the same night and prays to God for the same lady in marriage; then a third man gets up on the same night and prays for the same woman in marriage; how could all three men get their prayers answered? When news of this incident came back to the teacher that I had named him to the Second Khal ī fah ra , that teacher was careful not to engage in detailed conversations with me thereafter. On another occasion the Second Khal ī fah ra asked me what part of the Holy Qur’ ā n I was reading. I responded that I was reading the second part (there are 30 parts of the Qur’ ā n). He was surprised