The Night of Qadr

by Hassan Janmohamed

Laylatul Qadr is a night with light, grace, mercy.
blessing, goodness, spiritual safety and felicity that
which is unique in any respect. Imam Baqir (as) was
asked if he knew which night Laylatul Qadr was, and
replied: “How do we not know it whereas the angels go
round us therein?” (1)

When angels came and greeted Abraham (as)
(Qur’an 11:69), and gave him glad tidings of a son
(Isaac), it is said that all this world was worthless in
comparison with the delight that Abraham (as) took
in that greeting. Now consider that the Night of
Qadr is one on which Angels come to the believers,
in groups, and greet them. How delightful it is!

When Abraham was thrown into the fire by Nimrod,
Angels came and greeted him and made him safe. So
doesn’t the Fire of Hell, with Angels’ greeting to
believers on the Night of Qadr, become cool and a
means of safety for the believers? (2)

EXPLANATION:

WHY IS IT CALLED THE NIGHT OF QADR?

A lot of ideas are stated:

(1) The most common opinion: Because all the affairs
and the destinies of men for a year are determined
that night. 44:3-4 serves as witness to this idea: We
sent it down during a night: For We (ever) wish to warn
(against Evil). On that (night) is made distinct every affair
of wisdom. This meaning harmonizes with numerous
narrations saying: On that night the affairs and destinies
of men are determined; sustenance, the end of lives and
other affairs are made distinct and clear.

(2) It is of great importance and honour, as stated in
22:74: No just estimate have they made of Allah....

(3) The Qur’an, with all its grand rank, was descended
to the grand Apostle of Allah by the means
of His grand angel on this night.

(4) The person who keeps vigil on that night obtains
a grand rank.

(5) One of the meanings of /qadr/ is 'restriction' used
in 65:7: and the man whose resources are restricted.
There descend so many angels on that night that the
expanse of the Earth is restricted and does not have
enough room for all of them.

WHICH NIGHT IS THE NIGHT OF HONOUR?


The Night of Honour is definitely in the month of
Ramadan since the verses of the Qur'an attest to
this. eg 2:185 says: Ramadan is the (month) in which
was sent down the Qur'an... , and in Sura Qadr it says:
Surely We sent it down on the Night of Honour.
But, which night does it refer to? Commentators and
literalists point to a night on the calendar, but there
is no agreement as to which it is. The 1st, 17th, 19th,
21st, 23rd, 27th, or 29th night of Ramadan have all
been suggested.

But the most popular narration is that it is in the last
ten nights, emphasizing on the 21st to 29th night.
The evidence is referred to in a narration that the
Prophet (saw) kept vigil and was busy praying all the
last ten nights of Ramadan. But, in numerous narrations,
from Ahlul-Bait, the 23rd night is emphasized,
while the narrations of Sunni scholars tend toward
the 27th night.

A narration from Imam Sadiq (as) denotes that the
Night of Honour is the 21st or 23rd night of Ramadan,
and when a man insisted and asked that if he
could not worship on both of them, then, which one
he would choose, he (p.b.u.h.) replied: How easy is
two nights for what you seek!. (3)

A further narration from Imam Sadiq (as) says: Determining
the proportions is in the Night of Honour, the
19th night; its confirmation is on the 21st night, and its

signing is on the 23rd night. (4) Thus, the senses of all
narrations gather together. However, a kind of mystic
ambiguity covers the Night of Honour and the
reason will be discussed later.

WHY IS THE NIGHT OF HONOUR A MYSTERY?


Many commentators believe that the Night of Honour
is hidden so people consider all the nights as
important, because Allah has hidden His pleasure in
all kinds of obedience and worship so that people
practise all of them, and He has hidden His wrath in
sinning, in general, so that they avoid all kinds of sin.

He has hidden His votaries among all members so
that everyone will be honored. He has concealed the
supplication to which He listens among all supplications,
and devotees refer to all of them when they
call on Him. He has hidden /ismi-a'zam/, His Greatest
Name, among His several universal names so that
they will remember and consider all the divine names
of the Lord. The time of their death is hidden so that
they will always be prepared. And this is a fitting
philosophy.


WAS THERE THE NIGHT OF HONOUR FOR FORMER
NATIONS?


The verses of this Sura appparently show that the
Night of Honour is not specialized to the time of the
descent of the Qur'an and the period of the Call of
the Messenger of Islam, but it repeats annually until
the end of this world.

The application of the verb /tanazzala/, in the Sura,
which is in the future tense and indicates the continuity
of the verb, and also using: Peace! It is till the
rising of the dawn, which is a noun phrase, shows
perpetuality. Besides, there are also many narrations
which, perhaps, on the frequency of successive transmission
attest to the idea. Now, the question is that
whether the old communities, too, had it or not.

Many narrations suggest this is of the divine blessings
endowed to this group of people, Muslims. In a tradition,
the holy Prophet (saw) is narrated to have said:
Surely Allah has bestowed on my community the Night of
Honour which He did not give to any of those (peoples)
who were before them (5) In commenting on the
above verses there are some other narrations that
indicate the same idea.

HOW IS THE NIGHT OF HONOUR BETTER THAN
A THOUSAND MONTHS?

This night being better than 1000 months is for the
value of worshipping and keeping vigil on that night.
The narrations on the virtue of the Night of Honour
and worship on it are abundantly mentioned in both
Sunni and Shia books, certifying this meaning. Furthermore,
the descent of the Qur'an on this Night
and the descent of the divine blessings and Grace in
it cause the night to be better than a thousand
months.

Imam Sadiq (as) told Ali bin Abu Hamzah Thamaly:
Seek the virtue of the Night of Honour on the 21st and
23rd night and do say one hundred rak'at prayers on
either of them and if you can, do keep vigil both nights till
the break of dawn, and perform ritual bathing therein.
Abu-Hamzah says he asked Imam Sadiq if he could
not pray so many prayers standing, what should he
do. He replied: Pray in the sitting position. He then
asked if he could not do that, what should he do.
The answer: Pray in bed, and it does not matter if you
sleep a little at the beginning of the night and then begin
praying because, in Ramadan, the gates of Heaven are
open, Satans are bound in chains and the deeds of the
believers are accepted. What a good month Ramadan
is! . (6)

WHY DID THE QUR'AN DESCEND ON THIS
NIGHT?

We should be aware of the moments that our fate
forms and not spend the time in negligence and
sleeping, otherwise our destiny will be regretful.
As the Qur'an is a book of destiny and leads to the
path of happiness and guidance, for Man, it should be
sent down on the Night of Honour, the night of
determining fates. What a nice connection there is
between 'the Qur'an' and the Night of Honour! And
how meaningful their relation with each other is!

SUPPLICATION :
O Lord! Bestow on us such a wakefulness and acknowledgement
that we take sufficient benefit from the virtue
of the Night of Honour.
O Lord! We hope, only, that our predestined fates be
determined based on Your Grace.
O Lord! Do not put us among those who are deprived
from this month, because it is the worst deprivation.

REFERENCES
(1) Borhan, Commentary, vol, 4, p. 488, tradition 29.
(2) Tafsir-i-Fakhr-i-Razi Commentary, vol. 32, p. 36.
(3) Nur-ath-Thaqalayn, vol. 5, p. 625, Tradition 58.
(4) Nur-ath-Thaqalayn, vol. 5, p. 626, Tradition 62.
(5) Durr-aI -Manthur, vol . 6, p. 371.
(9) Nur-ath-Thaqalayn, vol. 5, p. 626, tradition 58.