Ramadan is the ninth month of Islamic calendar and is considered as the month of blessing and mercy. The Holy Quran which forms the basic source of guidance and teaching for Muslims was revealed in this month. In the second hijri, fasting was made obligatory for Muslim adults, men and women. Of all the Islamic months, Ramadan is the holiest.

All leading Muslim scholars have written prolifically about the blessings that Allah bestows upon the believers during this month. With the arrival of the month, the Satan gets fettered. This is done in order to help the Muslims do good deeds and be in a better position to control their worldly desires, which must be kept under check while fasting.Every good deed is rewarded seventy times more in Ramadan than the reward of the same deed in another month. The reward for a normal Nafl prayer is raised to the reward for an obligatory Farz prayer.

Every moment of this month is so precious that it must be spent seeking for Allah’s mercy and blessings. The whole month is divided into three sets of ten days, called decades. In this article, an overview of the last decade of Ramadan, which is particularly important as the decade for freedom from hell, is presented.

If you look at the religious importance of the last decade, it appears to precede the significance of the other two decades. The first decade is the period of mercy and the middle decade is the period of forgiveness, and finally, the third decade combines the blessings of the first two by being the period of freedom from hell, which requires both Allah’s mercy and Allah’s forgiveness.

In the last ten nights of Ramadanlies the Night of Qadr. The significance of this night can be understood from the fact that there is a whole chapter in the Quran which is dedicated for this night. In that chapter (Surah Al-Qadr), the Holy Quran tells us that this night is more significant than a thousand months:

“Behold: We revealed this Quran on the Night of Power. And what do you know the Night of Power is? The night of Power is better than a thousand months. The angels along with the spirit descend in it by the permission of their Lord with all kind of decrees. All peace is that night until the rise of dawn.”

The presence of this nightin the last decade makes it somewhat more noteworthy than the other two decades. The night of Qadr is the night in which the Holy Quran was revealed from the heavens. Since the exact night on which Lail-at-ul-Qadr lies is unknown, Muslims spend all the odd nights of the last decade. There are special duas (supplications) for this night and for the last decade.

This is the significance of the last decade of Ramadan. Given its high importance, Muslims must spend it worshipping and practicing good deeds.