Laylat al-Qadr: Why Allah Concealed Its Date and What Descends Upon Hearts

Occasion: Transcription of a khatira delivered on the night of the twenty-seventh of Ramadan 1442 AH, May 8, 2021, before the ʿIshāʾ prayer Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

Praise be to Allah, and prayers and peace be upon the servant of Allah, His Prophet and Messenger, our master and our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and Companions, with abundant peace. O Allah, we ask You and seek refuge in You from all evil, its immediate and its delayed, and we ask You, our Lord, for the things that make Your mercy obligatory and the resolutions of Your forgiveness, for a share of every righteous deed, safety from every sin, success in attaining Paradise and deliverance from the Fire. We ask You, O Allah, to have mercy on our weakness, to overlook our slips, to prepare for us right guidance in our affair, and to preserve for us what You have placed in our hearts of faith.

This is a blessed night, which many of the people of knowledge consider to be Laylat al-Qadr, and they have evidences and indications for that. However, we see that when Allah, Blessed and Most High, concealed its date from His servants, it was for a purpose, and its purpose is good for the people; no harm, injury or withholding is intended by it.

Why Was Laylat al-Qadr Left Indefinite?

Many people think that if Allah did not tell them its date, it is as though He wanted to withhold good from them and not give it to them, as though He were saying to them: I will not tell you about Laylat al-Qadr. And this is unreasonable. The wisdom of its being left indefinite is greater than Allah, the Most High, telling about it.

Imagine simply, and this is something often repeated, that Allah told people the date of Laylat al-Qadr. People would come on this night and exhaust themselves in worship, then when the night ended they would return to what they had been, so the tools of evil in society would not cease. So what is the benefit of worship? The Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, says that He tries us, meaning that He tests us to see which of us is best in deed. So the whole purpose is the state of development that takes place in a person's life; if a person is able to develop, that shows that worship has a basis and an effect.

That is why we see that whoever's prayer does not restrain him from immorality and wrongdoing, it is said of him that he has no prayer in the intended sense.^[1] And we see that the Ḥajj is a barrier against sexual relations and wrongdoing, so whoever performs Ḥajj and does not engage in sexual relations or wrongdoing returns like the day his mother bore him, as the Prophet ﷺ told us. So the purpose behind worship is the development of the self step by step: it moves from one level to another, then to a higher level, until it reaches the summit of purification, which we call tazkiyah.

So the five prayers come to achieve this purpose: you pray your Fajr, your Ẓuhr, your ʿAṣr, your Maghrib and your ʿIshāʾ, and the end of the day comes as though you had no sin. The Prophet ﷺ told us that the five prayers are expiations for what is between them, and likewise Friday to Friday, though the kinds of expiation differ. The upshot is that five times a day I am in a personal, individual meeting between me and Allah; I say: Allāhu akbar, and no one hears my voice reciting al-Fātiḥah as long as I am attached to Allah, glory be to Him. So when I finish that, a kind of psychological maturity takes place, and psychological purification takes place.

But the mental side remains, and it needs an external support. That is why you find the Prophet ﷺ saying: «الصلوات الخمس والجمعة إلى الجمعة» (the five prayers and Friday to Friday). So what is Friday's part in this? It is the place of intellectual reception; you sit to receive from the imam: do this and do not do that, this is right and this is wrong, this is lawful and this is unlawful, so he directs the movement of society for you, draws your attention to the new developments in life, and adjusts the grounds of thinking. This is the role of the imam who comes to me on Friday to teach me something new. So the Prophet ﷺ combined the five prayers and Friday to Friday; so we understood that the purpose of worship is that we develop ourselves, and if no development takes place there is no need for worship to exist, as though it had no effect and no existence.

Had Allah told us the date of Laylat al-Qadr specifically, no kind of development would have taken place within society. Why? Because the one who practices immorality, may Allah honor you, would come on Laylat al-Qadr to worship and expiate, then return to his work. And the thief comes on Laylat al-Qadr repentant, then you imagine that the patterns of corruption in society continue and even increase, because I know that I have a night in which I expiate everything before it.

An example of that is the credit card: a man enters the restaurant and likes the food, so he eats what he wants; can you stop him? No, because he knows that the bill will be drawn from the card at the end, even if he does not pay on the spot. Likewise, if Laylat al-Qadr were known, forgiveness would become like the swiped card, then he would return in the morning as he was. So the wisdom of leaving it indefinite is much greater than that.

Standing in Prayer in Ramadan: What Has Gone Before, and What We Expend

We have a group of ḥadīths that we go along with one after another to see the effect of this worship and the development that takes place. The Prophet ﷺ mentions that whoever stands in prayer in Ramadan out of faith and seeking reward, what has gone before of his sins is forgiven. In the sentence there is a pause: why did you come? Why did you come in the nights of Ramadan or in the last ten? If I put it in my mind that I came so that what has gone before be forgiven me, then I am remembering what has gone before, as though it were a mental inventory of the sins that have passed before I step forward. And whoever tires himself in the nights of Ramadan, thirty nights, striving until he expiates the sin that has passed, will not persist in another sin; if it were set before him a second time, his soul would be indifferent to it and would not incline to it. Like one who quit smoking some time ago: however much people sit smoking around him, he says: no, I no longer do that.

So imagine thirty nights in which people stand in prayer while thinking completely about the sins that have passed. Every night we supplicate: O Allah, forgive us our sins and our excess in our affair and make our feet firm. Make our feet firm on what? On the new method, on the other way, contrary to what a person's covenant with himself had been in the unlawful, the evil deed or the disobedience. So I came today to realize this ḥadīth: whoever stands in Ramadan. And Ramadan is much, thirty nights, so you stand thirty consecutive nights without interruption or slackening.

But when we speak about the one who stands in Ramadan, we take into consideration that I pray the eight rakʿahs and the Shafʿ and the Witr with the imam; I do not pray four rakʿahs in haste and then leave, or pray two rakʿahs and sit. I came to be tired, I came to the mosque to feel the effort, to feel that I am the owner of an effort I expended for Allah, glory be to Him, so I deserve, by the permission of the Lord of Might, that Allah forgive me my sins on the basis of what has gone before of this expended effort. The Prophet ﷺ mentions fasting out of faith and seeking reward, and standing in prayer out of faith and seeking reward, and what has gone before of his sin is forgiven in both texts.

"The Month of Ramadan in Which the Qur'an Was Revealed"

And in the words of the Prophet ﷺ is an encouragement to attend the mosques at this time of the year, the month of Ramadan. And look: the Lord of Might says ﴿إِنَّا أَنزَلْنَاهُ فِي لَيْلَةِ الْقَدْرِ﴾ (Indeed, We sent it down during the Night of Decree),^[2] and this is a specification of the night. So we say: I will celebrate the revelation of the Qur'an on Laylat al-Qadr. But we do not know Laylat al-Qadr! No problem; ten nights, then we go along with one and skip one, so five nights remain: the twenty-first, the twenty-third, the twenty-fifth, the twenty-seventh and the twenty-ninth. And we are done. Then the other text says to us: no, you have what widens the circle of thought, which is His saying, the Most High, ﴿شَهْرُ رَمَضَانَ الَّذِي أُنزِلَ فِيهِ الْقُرْآنُ﴾ (The month of Ramadan in which was revealed the Qur'an).^[3]

So take note: whoever wants to say, "Then I will hold fast to the Noble Qur'an only in the month of Ramadan," we say to him: look at the rest of the verses that speak of the virtue of the Qur'an for the ummah at all times. A person comes out of the small circle to a circle wider than it, until he sees himself. And where do we arrive? We arrive at the level at which we see the saying of the Mother of the Believers ʿĀʾishah (may Allah be pleased with her) when she said: «كان خلقه القرآن» (His character was the Qur'an).^[4] That is, he was a Qur'an walking on the earth. See how the Qur'an can walk: if the Qur'an enjoins mercy, it is present in the Prophet; if it enjoins fulfilling a promise, it is present; commitment, it is present; generosity, it is present; and if the Qur'an forbids immorality, it is present. By what the Qur'an commands, the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ moves.

Sūrat al-Qadr: Linguistic and Spiritual Indications

Let us return to the matter of specialness, where the Lord of Might, glory be to Him, says: ﴿إِنَّا أَنزَلْنَاهُ فِي لَيْلَةِ الْقَدْرِ ۝ وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا لَيْلَةُ الْقَدْرِ ۝ لَيْلَةُ الْقَدْرِ خَيْرٌ مِّنْ أَلْفِ شَهْرٍ ۝ تَنَزَّلُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ وَالرُّوحُ فِيهَا بِإِذْنِ رَبِّهِم مِّن كُلِّ أَمْرٍ ۝ سَلَامٌ هِيَ حَتَّىٰ مَطْلَعِ الْفَجْرِ﴾ (Indeed, We sent it down during the Night of Decree. And what can make you know what is the Night of Decree? The Night of Decree is better than a thousand months. The angels and the Spirit descend therein by permission of their Lord for every matter. Peace it is until the emergence of dawn)^[5].

It is the night the Lord of the worlds chose for the Noble Qur'an to be sent down in. And we want to understand its standing; so He says: Laylat al-Qadr is better than a thousand months. In the Arabic context it could have been said: "We sent it down on Laylat al-Qadr, which is better than a thousand months," so why did He repeat the phrase «ليلة القدر»? To emphasize the greatness of its standing and importance.

Then consider: if I tell you that I will give you something better than this, to what extent? I did not set the ceiling. I say to you: what do you want? You mention a sum, and I say: I will give you more than it. So where does the giving end? At the limits of my capacities. If the speaker owns nothing, the ceiling of his speech vanishes, and people say: this man is laughing at us. But if you know he is a wealthy man of wide means, your ceiling stops at what he is able to do. So when our Lord says "better," where does our ceiling stop? You reach up to the sky and you still go on. And I am, at this stage, with the word "better"; even if we stop at the thousand, Allah, glory be to Him, did not say a thousand but said better.

And as to the question: why a thousand? And why this number in particular? Because when people count money they count a great deal, but when they count deeds and acts, there He said to him: seek forgiveness for them or do not seek forgiveness for them; if you seek forgiveness for them seventy times^[6]. Is a thousand times what is meant? It is not so. And seventy was used because it was the farthest they knew of counting. So this was their proverbial example. Is the number real or figurative? What prevails in the mind is that it is figurative, and Allah knows best; if He intended the letter then it is the letter, and if He intended an indication then it is an indication, and praise be to Allah in every case.

"The Angels and the Spirit Descend"

Then why the superiority? Because it is due to something additional that happens through the blessing of the presence of worship on this night. If people worship their Lord, glory be to Him, with good worship on Laylat al-Qadr, what happens? The angels attend because of their presence. O Allah, send down upon us tranquility from You, O Lord, and make us among those whom Your tranquility has enveloped.

And the Qur'an says «تَنَزَّلُ» and its origin is «تتنزّل», so what is the difference between «تنزل» and «تتنزّل»? «تنزل» means descending once. «تتنزّل» indicates repetition and succession, so the number was unending, and the descents had no limit.

And in His saying ﴿وَالرُّوحُ﴾ (and the Spirit), what is meant by it is Jibrīl, upon our Prophet and upon him be prayers and peace, they said. But why does Jibrīl descend? We know that the function of the angels is to descend with revelation, so is he descending with another revelation? Have I become a prophet without knowing it? He said: No, but he celebrates his first descent that was with the Prophet ﷺ; for Jibrīl, peace be upon him, used to descend to the Prophet to review the Qur'an with him in Ramadan, and he did not refrain from descending until the Day of Resurrection.

"For Every Matter": The Heart Is a Vessel

Then ﴿مِّن كُلِّ أَمْرٍ﴾ (for every matter); what is the story of the matters? We said there, in Sūrat al-Dukhān, ﴿فِيهَا يُفْرَقُ كُلُّ أَمْرٍ حَكِيمٍ﴾ (Therein is made distinct every precise matter)^[7], so we link "for every matter" in Sūrat al-Qadr with what is in al-Dukhān. It is as though the Lord of Might, glory be to Him, sends down the angels with all kinds of goods which have no count and whose kinds have no limit. So what is required of us, then, is that you come and open your hand and say: O Lord, let Him fill it. But if I am sitting at home, or asleep, or watching television, or busy, the vessel is closed. Where do we put the giving? Do we put it in a full cup? Or in a cup that does not exist? There must be a vessel, and the vessel must be ready to take in; so if Allah deposits something in it, it will be prepared.

That is why I ask of myself and of all people: if we want the descents of the Lord of the worlds on this night, then let our hearts be purified in the most complete way, O Lord. Why? Because this empty cup may have something in it, however very little, so everything I pour into it is spoiled because of something small. It is as though the Lord of Might, glory be to Him, is telling me that if I want to obtain every good from Allah, and that He bless it for me and that it increase, then the vessel must be purified. And the vessel that receives the gifts of the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, is the heart.

"Peace It Is Until the Emergence of Dawn"

﴿تَنَزَّلُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ وَالرُّوحُ فِيهَا بِإِذْنِ رَبِّهِم مِّن كُلِّ أَمْرٍ ۝ سَلَامٌ هِيَ حَتَّىٰ مَطْلَعِ الْفَجْرِ﴾ (The angels and the Spirit descend therein by permission of their Lord for every matter. Peace it is until the emergence of dawn). So we return and say: the matter of the psychological, spiritual and mental peace that the Lord of the worlds wants for creation. Allah, Mighty and Majestic, brings into existence in the year a night that is peace upon creation.

Someone may say: how is there peace upon creation when we exist now, and there is a report that one person killed another in such-and-such a place, or a car caused an accident, or such-and-such happened? Do we believe that or not? We say: O people, we are speaking about the vessel that took in. And among people is there one who takes in this peace until Allah makes him inherit it within himself? As for the non-Muslim, he does not take in the matter of peace at all, and is not psychologically prepared to receive this peace.

And this is a very simple example, and forgive me for this example: if we imagine that we have a wedding or a party now, and the people are all delighted, and in the corner a child is crying, he cries because he does not have the mental capacity to realize that there is joy. Likewise the one outside the framework of the message, who does not worship Allah, Blessed and Most High, may not recognize at all the matters of peace that the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, establishes until the emergence of dawn.

And the timings that exist are those tied to our ummah, because we are people of worship from the entry of Maghrib, or the entry of night, to its close: we have the Maghrib prayer, the ʿIshāʾ prayer, the night prayer, tahajjud, remembrance, the time before dawn, the Divine descents, seeking forgiveness and asking Allah, Blessed and Most High. We Muslims have a night full of work.

That is why He says, glory be to Him, ﴿سَلَامٌ هِيَ حَتَّىٰ مَطْلَعِ الْفَجْرِ﴾ (Peace it is until the emergence of dawn) on this blessed night. I ask Allah, Blessed and Most High, to grant us its good, to grant us righteousness in it, to grant us good deeds in it, and to grant us guidance and its means. O Allah, āmīn, O Lord of the worlds.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: A ḥadīth with approximately this meaning is narrated that does not appear to be established as raised to the Prophet (and the better known is that it is stopped at Ibn ʿAbbās, may Allah be pleased with them both); the meaning is taken from His saying, the Most High, ﴿إِنَّ الصَّلَاةَ تَنْهَىٰ عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالْمُنكَرِ﴾ (Indeed, prayer prohibits immorality and wrongdoing) [al-ʿAnkabūt: 45]. The speaker did not attribute it and did not recite the verse, and it should be reviewed. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Qadr [al-Qadr: 1]. ^[3]: Editor's documentation: [al-Baqarah: 185]. ^[4]: Editor's documentation: The saying of ʿĀʾishah (may Allah be pleased with her) «كان خلقه القرآن» (His character was the Qur'an) occurs in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim and elsewhere, in the context of her answer to one who asked her about the character of the Prophet ﷺ; the speaker conveyed it by meaning, in abbreviated form. ^[5]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Qadr [al-Qadr: 1–5]. ^[6]: Editor's documentation: The reference is to His saying, the Most High, about the hypocrites ﴿إِن تَسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ سَبْعِينَ مَرَّةً فَلَن يَغْفِرَ اللَّهُ لَهُمْ﴾ (If you ask forgiveness for them seventy times, never will Allah forgive them) [al-Tawbah: 80]; the speaker did not recite it verbatim but alluded to it. ^[7]: Editor's documentation: [al-Dukhān: 4].