سورة القدر

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Mufaddal said: In the presence of Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) the blessed verse إِنَّا أَنْزَلْنَاهُ فِی لَیْلَةِ الْقَدْرِ [Surely We revealed it on the grand night] was mentioned. He said: "How manifest is its excellence over the other surahs!" I said: "What is its excellence?" He said: "On that night the wilayah (guardianship) of Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) was sent down." I said: "On the Night of Qadr which we hope for in the month of Ramadan?" He said: "Yes! It is a night in which the heavens and the earth were measured out, and the wilayah of Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) was decreed and determined therein."

Imam Sajjad (peace be upon him): It is narrated from Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) that he said: When Imam Sajjad (peace be upon him) recited this verse: إِنَّا أَنْزَلْنَاهُ فِی لَیْلَةِ الْقَدْرِ [Surely We revealed it on the grand night], he would say: "Allah the Mighty and Majestic has spoken the truth; He sent the Quran down on the Night of Qadr."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: The Tawrat was revealed on the sixth night of the month of Ramadan. The Injil was revealed on the twelfth night. The Zabur was revealed on the eighteenth night of Ramadan. The Quran was sent down on the Night of Qadr.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): The number of months with Allah is twelve months, in the Book of Allah on the day He created the heavens and the earth. So the foremost of the months is the month of Allah, the month of Ramadan, and the heart of the month of Ramadan is the Night of Qadr. The Quran was sent down on the first night of the month of Ramadan, so welcome this month with the recitation of the Quran.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): That is the Quran, which on the Night of Qadr was sent down all at once and in its entirety to the Bayt al-Ma'mur, and then over the course of twenty years it was revealed to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family).

Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him): Allah sent the Quran down all at once from the Preserved Tablet to the lowest heaven on the Night of Qadr; then Jibril (peace be upon him) revealed it gradually to Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) over the course of twenty-three years.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): The Quran was sent down on the twenty-third of the month of Ramadan.

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): The Quran was not sent down except on the Night of Qadr.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): The meaning of al-Layl (the night) is Fatimah (peace be upon her), and the meaning of al-Qadr is Allah. So whoever truly knows Fatimah (peace be upon her) has attained Laylat al-Qadr. And indeed she was named Fatimah because people are incapable of gaining true knowledge (ma'rifah) of her.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): As for this verse: لَیْلَةُ الْقَدْرِ خَیْرٌ مِنْ أَلْفِ شَهْرٍ [The Night of Qadr is better than a thousand months], it means Fatimah al-Zahra (peace be upon her).

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): It is narrated from Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said to me: "O Ali! Do you know what the meaning of the Night of Qadr is?" I said: "No, O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)!" The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said: "Allah, Blessed and Exalted, on that night decreed and measured out what will come to pass until the Day of Resurrection, and among what Allah the Mighty and Majestic decreed was your wilayah, and also the wilayah of the Imams from your progeny, until the Day of Resurrection."

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): Indeed Allah chose from among the nights the Night of Qadr.

Imam Baqir and Imam Sadiq (peace be upon them): Muhammad ibn Muslim said: I asked Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) or Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) about the sign of Laylat al-Qadr (the Night of Decree). He said: "Its sign is that a pleasant breeze blows on that night, and if it is in the cold season, that night becomes warm, and if it is in the hot season, that night becomes cool and pleasant in air." And the Imam (peace be upon him) was asked about Laylat al-Qadr, and he said: "On that night, the angels and the scribes descend to the lowest heaven and write down what pertains to the matter of the coming year and what befalls the servants; and this matter is deferred with Allah the Exalted, and His will is in it, so He advances whatever of it He wills and delays whatever of it He wills. He erases and He confirms, and with Him is Ummul Kitab."

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): Hasan narrated from the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) that he said concerning Laylat al-Qadr: Laylat al-Qadr is a mild night, neither hot nor cold; the sun rises on its morning without any shu'a' (the bright ray that appears in the sky near sunrise).

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Laylat al-Qadr is the beginning and the end of the year.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): The meaning of Laylat al-Qadr is that Allah the Exalted decrees on that night the appointed terms and the sustenances, and whatever of death or life, drought or prosperity, hardship or ease, good or evil there will be in that year.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Dawud ibn Farqad said: I heard a man ask Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) about Laylat al-Qadr and he said: "Inform me about Laylat al-Qadr — was it, or is it, in every year?" The Imam (peace be upon him) said: "If Laylat al-Qadr were lifted, the Quran would be lifted."

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)— Abu Dharr (may Allah have mercy on him) said: I asked, "O Messenger of Allah! Is Laylat al-Qadr (the Night of Decree) something that exists in the time of the prophets, in which the command descends upon them, and when they pass away it is taken away?" The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said, "No! Rather this night remains until the Day of Resurrection."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): When a person performs an act, he should persist in it for a year, and after that he may leave it if he wishes to choose another remembrance or supplication in its place. And this [persisting on the act for a year] is because Laylat al-Qadr, which occurs in that year, is when Allah brings about whatever His will and pleasure dictates [and by means of this supplication and act which is also performed on Laylat al-Qadr, his deed is accepted, his supplication is answered, and his decreed matters are made good].

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): That night is Laylat al-Qadr, and it comes every year in the last ten days of the month of Ramadan.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): The estimation and reckoning takes place on the nineteenth night, and on the twenty-first night it is recorded, and on the twenty-third night it is confirmed; if Allah wills.

Imam Hasan (peace be upon him)— Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) said: When Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) passed away, Hasan ibn Ali (peace be upon him) stood up in the mosque of Kufa, praised and glorified Allah, and sent blessings upon the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family). Then he said: O people, on this night a man has passed away whom the first ones did not surpass and the last ones will not attain. He was the banner-bearer of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), with Jibra'il on his right side and Mika'il on his left side. He would not return from a battlefield except that Allah granted him victory and triumph. By Allah, he left behind, of the white and red wealth of the world, nothing but seven hundred dirhams, and that too was left over from his stipend, and he intended with that money to buy a servant for his family. By Allah, he passed away on the night in which Yusha ibn Nun, the successor of Musa, passed away, and the same night on which Isa ibn Maryam was raised up to the heavens, and the same night on which the Quran was sent down.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): It is narrated from Ishaq ibn Ammar that he said: I heard people ask Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): "Are the provisions distributed on the night of the middle of the month of Sha'ban?" He said: "By Allah, no! This matter takes place only on the nineteenth night of the month of Ramadan, the twenty-first night, and the twenty-third night. On the nineteenth night two matters are joined together, on the twenty-first night every firm matter is separated, and on the twenty-third night what Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, wills in this regard is brought to pass; and that night is the Night of Qadr, concerning which Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, said: خَیْرٌ مِنْ أَلْفِ شَهْرٍ [better than a thousand months]." I said: "What is the meaning of the saying that two matters are joined together?" He said: "On that night Allah gathers together what He wills of His bringing forward and putting back, and His will and decree." I said: "And what is the meaning of the saying that it is brought to pass on the twenty-third night?" He said: "That (the gathered matter) has the manner of its fulfilment separated out on the twenty-first night, and for Allah the Exalted there is bada (alteration) in it; then when the twenty-third night arrives, Allah brings it to pass, and thus it becomes definitive, and in it no bada takes place from Allah, the Blessed and Exalted."

The Imams (peace be upon them): The supplication of the last ten days of the [blessed] month of Ramadan: ... and on the third night [of this ten-day period] you say: "O Lord of the Night of Qadr, who made it better than a thousand months...".

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): Seek the Night of Qadr in the last ten days of the [blessed] month of Ramadan, and on the odd nights (as opposed to the even ones).

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): The questioner said: "How am I to know that the Night of Qadr occurs every year?" The Imam (peace be upon him) said: "When the month of Ramadan comes, recite Surah al-Dukhan a hundred times every night, and when the twenty-third night arrives, this matter will be unveiled to you."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Whoever sleeps on that night — the night on which every firm matter is decided in wisdom, which is the twenty-third night of the blessed month of Ramadan — will not go to Hajj that year.

Imam Baqir and Imam Sadiq (peace be upon them): Zurara said: I asked the Imam (peace be upon him) about the nights of the month of Ramadan in which performing ghusl is recommended. He said: "The nineteenth night, the twenty-first night, and the twenty-third night." And he said: "The twenty-third night is Laylat al-Juhani." And in a hadith it is narrated that a person said to the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): "My house is far from Madinah, so specify and command me a night on which I should enter Madinah," so the Prophet commanded him to enter on the twenty-third night.

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Abd al-Wahid ibn al-Mukhtar said: I asked Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) about Laylat al-Qadr. He said: "It is on one of the two nights, the twenty-third and the twenty-first." I said: "Specify one of them for me." He said: "Perform your deeds on both nights, for [Laylat al-Qadr] is one of the two."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Shihab ibn Abd Rabbih said: I said to Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Inform me of Laylat al-Qadr. He said: "The twenty-first night or the twenty-third."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): It is narrated from Ali ibn Abi Hamza al-Thumali that he said: I was in the presence of Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) when Abu Basir said to him: "May I be your ransom! Which night is the one on which what is hoped for is hoped?" He said: "On the twenty-first or the twenty-third." He said: "If I do not have the strength for both nights, then what?" He said: "How easy are two nights for what you seek." I said: "It may be that we see the crescent moon where we are, but someone comes to us from another land and reports contrary to that." He said: "How easy are four nights — seek what you want in four nights." I said: "May I be your ransom! Is Laylat al-Juhani the twenty-third night?" He said: "So it is said." I said: "May I be your ransom! Sulayman ibn Khalid narrated that the delegation of pilgrims [the group destined to perform Hajj] is recorded on the nineteenth night." His holiness (peace be upon him) said to me: "O Aba Muhammad! The delegation of pilgrims, and deaths, and calamities, and provisions, and matters like these until the same time next year, are recorded on Laylat al-Qadr. So seek it on the twenty-first and the twenty-third night, and pray one hundred rak'ahs in each of these two nights, and if you are able, keep vigil in them until daybreak, and perform ghusl in both." I said: "If I cannot do so while standing?" He said: "Pray sitting." I said: "And if I still cannot?" He said: "Pray on your bed, but do not let sleep reach your eyes at the beginning of the night; for the gates of heaven are opened in Ramadan, and the satans are chained, and the deeds of the believers are accepted. Ramadan is a good month, and in the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) this month was called al-Marzuq (the one granted provision)."

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): It is narrated from Imam Ali (peace be upon him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) used to awaken his family during the last ten nights of the month of Ramadan.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Ishaq ibn Ammar says: A group asked Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): "Are provisions distributed on the night of the middle of the month of Sha'ban?" He said: "By Allah, no! This matter takes place on the nineteenth, twenty-first and twenty-third nights of the month of Ramadan; in this way, that on the nineteenth night the two groups meet one another, and on the twenty-first night all firm matters are separated from one another, and on the twenty-third night whatever Allah the Mighty and Majestic wills is fixed and confirmed as a definite decree — and this night is Laylat al-Qadr (the Night of Decree), about which Allah says: it is better than a thousand months." I said: "What is the meaning of your saying that the two groups meet one another?" He said: "That is, on that night Allah gathers together various matters — putting forward, putting back, will and definite decree." I said: "What is the meaning of confirmation on the twenty-third night?" He said: "On the twenty-first night matters are separated from one another and doubt has access to them, but on the twenty-third night they are confirmed and become definite, and doubt has no access to them."