A Commentary on the phrase Wa ja‘al-ta fi-hi laylat al-Qadr

وَجَعَلْتَ فِيهِ لَيْلَةَ الْقَدْرِ

And You placed therein the Night of Determination

شَهْرُ رَمَضَانَ الَّذِي أُنزِلَ فِيهِ الْقُرْآنُ…

“The month of Ramadan is one in which the Qur’an was sent down ....” (2:185).

إِنَّا أَنزَلْنَاهُ فِي لَيْلَةِ الْقَدْرِ

“Indeed, We sent it down on the Night of Greatness” (42:4).

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لَيْلَةَ الْقَدْرِ

The Night of Greatness

The word qadr is sometimes employed to signify ‘adhamah (greatness). So great is this night that the human being is challenged about its comprehension. Allah, the Exalted, says in the Qur’an:

“And what will show you what is the Night of Greatness?” (97:2).

In his Qur’anic exegesis al-Mizan, ‘Allamah Tabataba’i commenting on this verse says:

“This is a metonymy (kinayah) signifying the loftiness of the value of this night and the greatness of its station”1

لَيْلَةَ الْقَدْرِ

The Night of Greatness

The word qadr is sometimes employed to signify al-taqdir (determination): Allah placed in this holy month a night in which the affairs of people for the entire year are determined. In a Hadith narrated from Fadi Ibn Shadhan, Imam ar-Ridha’ (‘a) explaining Laylat al-Qadr, says:

وَيُقَدَّرُ فِيهَا مَا يَكُونُ فِي السَّنَةِ مِنْ خَيْرٍ أَوْ شَرٍ أَوْ مَضَرَةٍ أَوْ مَنْفَعَةٍ أَوْ رِزْقٍ أَوْ أَجَلٍ، وَلِذَلِكَ سُمِّيَتْ لَيْلَةَ الْقَدْرِ

And in it is determined what will happen that year: the good, the evil, the harm, the benefit, the provision and one’s life span; and for this reason it was named the Night of Determination2.

Is Determination Compulsion?

It is imperative to know that when we speak of taqdir and the determination of virtues, evils, rewards, punishment, etc. that will transpire throughout the year, we do not speak of something that evades the volition of the human being and his effects. That which is determined for the year is the result of one’s struggle and achievement on the Night of Determination. And it is drawn from the pre-eternal knowledge of Allah and does not contradict the human will and choice.

Therefore if, for example, one struggles on the Night of Determination, seeks divine forgiveness, prays and asks for material and spiritual advantages of life, Allah will destine for one with whatever one deserves throughout the year. Obviously, that does not mean that his volition will lose its value in that period. Rather, he would have earned a level that would enable him to volitionally perform specific things that would have its respective positive results. Hence, it is incorrect to question that if for example, lots of divine bounties are written for one, but later during the year one performs deeds that deprive one from such bounties, will one’s destiny change?

This is because due to one’s struggle on the great nights one has attained such a level that one would always do things that would facilitate divine bounties. Likewise, is the situation with one who was heedless on the great nights: since one has not acquired a desired level of perfection, one can be inclined to deeds of evil, and of afflictions, etc.

Hence what is given to the divine receptacle is from the pre-eternal source of divine knowledge which completely accords to what will transpire throughout the year. It is not a compulsion and coercion, but a definite foresight provided by Allah who has the Mother of the Book (Umm al-Kitab) which never changes.

لَيْلَةَ الْقَدْرِ

The Night of Greatness

In our traditions we are taught to observe night vigil during three specific nights: the nineteenth, the twenty-first and the twenty-third of Ramadan. Which, then, is specifically the Laylat al- Qadr?

According to a tradition, the twenty-third is explicitly known as the Night of Qadr.

Sufyan Ibn as-Simti narrates:

قُلْتُ لأبي عَبْدِ اللهِ (ع) أَفْرِدْ لِي لَيْلَةَ الْقَدْرِ، قَالَ: لَيْلَةُ ثَلَاثٍ وَعِشْرِين

I asked Aba ‘Abdillah [as-Sadiq] (‘a): Specify for me which night particularly is Laylat al-Qadr? He said: The twenty-third night3.

In another tradition, Imam al-Baqir (‘a) is asked: How do I know that Laylatul Qadr takes place every year? And he replied:

إِذَا أَتَى شَهْرُ رَمَضَانَ، فَاقْرَأْ سُورَةَ الدُّخَانِ فِي كُلِّ لَيْلَةٍ مِائَةَ مَرَّةٍ، فَإِذَا أَتَتْ لَيْلَةُ ثَلَاثٍ وَعِشْرِينَ، فَإِنَّكَ نَاظِرُ إِلَى تَصْدِيقِ الَّذِي سَأَلْتَ عَنْهُ

When the month of Ramadan arrives, recite Surat al- Dukhan [chapter 44 of the Qur’an] a hundred times every night, and when the twenty-third night arrives, indeed, you shall behold the verification that you asked about4.

However, this does not mean that the nineteenth and twenty-first nights have no significance. Each of the three nights has a decisive role to play. Consider the following hadith:

عَنْ عَبْدِ الْوَاحِدِ بْنِ الْمُخْتَارِ قَالَ: سَأَلْتُ أَبَا جَعْفَرٍ (ع) عَنْ لَيْلَةِ الْقَدْرِ - قَالَ: فِي لَيْلَتَيْنِ: لَيْلَةِ ثَلَاثٍ وَعِشْرِينَ وَإِحْدَى وَعِشْرِينَ، فَقُلْتُ: أَفْرِدْ لِي إِحْدَاهُمَا، قال: وَمَا عَلَيْكَ أَنْ تَعْمَلَ فِي لَيْلَتَيْنِ هِيَ إِحْدَاهُمَا

‘Abd al-Wahid Ibn Mukhtar narrates: I asked Aba Ja‘far [Imam al-Baqir (‘a)] about Laylat al-Qadr and he said: It is in two nights, the twenty-third and the twenty-first.

I then asked: Specify for me which of them is the particular night? He replied: What is the issue if you worship in the two nights, one of which is the [very] night?5

If we look at other traditions we shall come to realise that the nineteenth and twenty-first nights serve as preliminaries to the twenty-third. Consider the following hadith:

عَنْ زُرَارَةً قَالَ: قَالَ أَبُو عَبْدِ اللهِ (ع) : التَّقْدِيرُ فِي لَيْلَةِ تِسْعَ عَشْرَةَ، وَالْإِبْرَامُ فِي لَيْلَةِ إِحْدَى وَعِشْرِينَ، وَالْإِمْضَاءُ فِي لَيْلَةِ ثَلَاثٍ وَعَشْرِينَ

Zurarah is reported to have narrated from Imam al- Sadiq (‘a): Determination (al-taqdir) is on the nineteenth night, establishment (al-ibrani) is on the twenty-first night, and signing off (al-imda’) is on the twenty-third night6.

This tradition apparently informs us that the twenty-third night is the pinnacle and it is the night when the final resolution is given. Hence one must try to continue one’s struggle before that. In fact, struggle and preparation begins from the very first night of the holy month of Ramadan or even much earlier!

لَيْلَةَ الْقَدْرِ

The Night of Greatness

The insightful scholars have written in their works that the reality of Laylat al-Qadr is Yawm al-Qiyamah (the Day of Judgement). The former is the descent of the reality of the latter. In his Forty Traditions, Imam Khumayni, under his discussion on the exegesis of Surat al-Tawhid and some verses of Surat al-Hadid, says:

According to the creed of gnosis, the descending levels of existence until the lowest point - which is the plane of concealment of the sun of existence by curtains of finitude and differentiation (ta‘ayyunaf) - constitute the reality of the Night of Determination and the beginning of the Day of Resurrection is from the first stage of return of mulk (the terrestrial realm) to malakut (the celestial realm) and removal of the curtains of ta‘ayyunat to the ultimate levels of manifestation and return, which is the complete appearance of the Greatest Resurrection (Qiyamat al-Kubra)7.

Comprehension of Laylat al-Qadr therefore is perhaps in appreciating the reality of the Judgement Day.

لَيْلَةَ الْقَدْرِ

The Night of Greatness

In his mystical masterpiece Misbah al-Hiddyah, Imam Khumayni says:

Our Shaykh and teacher in divine knowledge and teachings, the perfect gnostic, Mirza Muhammad ‘Ah Shah Abadi Isfahan!, may God make the days of his blessings last, in reply to my question about the manner of divine revelation in the very first meeting that I was honoured with his presence, said, among other things, thus: the Ha’ (it) in the divine words, ‘Inna anzalnahu fi Laylat al-Qadr (Indeed, We revealed IT on the Night of Determination)’ is an allusion to the unseen reality (al-haqiqah al-ghaybiyyah) sent down in the Muhammadan structure (al-Bunyah al- Muhammadiyyah), which is the reality of the Night of Determination8.

• 1. ‘Allamah Tabataba’i, al-Mizan, v. 20, p. 332.
• 2. Shaykh as-Saduq, ‘Ilal ash-Sharayi‘, v. 1, p. 270.
• 3. Sayyid Ibn Tawus, Iqbal al-A‘mal, v. 1, p. 206.
• 4. Shaykh al-Kulayni, al-Kafi, v. 1, p. 196.
• 5. Al-‘Amili, Wasa’il ash-Shi‘ah, v. 10, p. 360.
• 6. Shaykh al-Kulayni, al-Kafi, v. 4, p. 159.
• 7. Imam Khumayni, Forty Hadtih (Eng. Trans), p. 660.
• 8. Imam Khumayni, The Lamp of Guidance Into Vicegerency & Sanctity, pp. 24-25