097- AL-QADR
POWER
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
# Truly We sent it down in the Night of Power. # And what shall apprise thee of the Night of Power? # The Night of Power is better than a thousand months. # The angels and the Spirit descend therein, by the leave of their Lord, with every command; # peace it is until the break of dawn.
Commentary
# Truly We sent it down in the Night of Power.
#And what shall apprise thee of the Night of Power?
1–2 It refers to the Quran. According to several commentators, these verses indicate that the Quran was revealed in its entirety at once. This is understood to be the first stage of revelation from the Preserved Tablet (85:22) to the lowest heaven, that of this world, or more specifically to the House of Might (bayt al-ʿizzah), which is in the lowest heaven; see also 44:3–5c. The second stage of revelation is then understood to have occurred gradually over a twenty-three-year period from 610 to 632. For a discussion of the second stage of revelation, see 17:106c; 25:32c. There are over forty interpretations of what is meant by the Night of Power. According to Mujāhid, it is “the night of ḥukm,” “the night of judgment/decree”, meaning that on this night God decrees (qaddara) all things for the following year, or meaning God’s Decree for the whole of creation, or both. Others do not see a necessary relation to God’s Decree, saying that this night is so named to convey its honor and greatness. Others say that the name relates to the power of acts of obedience and worship performed during it, which have “a great power and a tremendous reward” (see the introduction to the sūrah). The rhetorical question in v. 2 is an emphatic expression of the utter holiness of this night, implying that true knowledge of it is beyond human understanding and belongs only to God.
# The Night of Power is better than a thousand months.
3 The merit for acts of worship performed during this night is greater than that for those performed during a thousand other months. Here and in other verses (e.g., 22:47; 32:5), a thousand need not be taken literally, but as emphasis. According to some, the meaning of a thousand months is “all time”.
# The angels and the Spirit descend therein, by the leave of their Lord, with every command;
4 Cf. 44:3–4. On this night the angels descend to bless and bring peace to the believers, although many aḥādīth affirm that this function is not restricted to this night, but only more effulgent in it. Most interpret the Spirit as a reference to the Archangel Gabriel, who is the angel of revelation; others say it is a reference to a type of angel, those who are the most noble of them (Sh), which some say are the angels at the lote tree of the boundary (see 53:14–15c); others say this verse refers to a special group of angels whose only function is to descend on this night; still others say the Spirit refers to another archangel. It can also be seen as a reference to God’s Mercy (raḥmah); also see the discussion of “Spirit” (rūḥ) in 78:38c. Therein (fīhā) could also be taken to mean “among them,” meaning that the Spirit descends with the angels. By the leave of their Lord is interpreted by some to mean “by the Command of their Lord”, as in 19:64, where the angels say, We descend not, save by the Command of thy Lord. With every command, or “with every decree,” has many interpretations. The most prevalent is that it means on account of everything that God has ordained (qaḍā) for the following year; see 44:3–5c. An alternate reading of this verse is min kulli imriʾin, meaning, “for every human being”.
# peace it is until the break of dawn.
5 Many say this verse refers to greetings of peace that the angels bestow upon those who spend this night in prayer. Others say it indicates that this night itself is naught but peace, which is interpreted to mean that there is no evil in this night whatsoever. Some say it indicates that there is peace in everything that God decrees or ordains for the following year during this night. It can also be seen as conveying the pregnant quietude that precedes the emergence of the Divine Word in the human world and by analogy the stillness of heart required for the true remembrance of God.
(Source: The study Quran, by Sayyed Hossein Nasr and 4 others)
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