What Quran Says about Night of Qadr
This is according to University of Tehran scholar Majid Maaref, speaking at a recent forum at the University of Islamic Sects about the status of the Night of Qadr. Here are excerpts from his remarks at the forum:
There are verses in the Quran referring to the Night of Qadr. In Surah Al-Baqarah, God says: “The month of Ramadan is the month in which the Quran was revealed.” (Verse 185)
In order to clarify whether the Quran was revealed on one night or different nights, God says in Verse 3 of Surah Ad-Dukhan, “… We have revealed the Quran on a blessed night to warn mankind.”
In order to show the importance of this blessed night, an entire Surah, namely Surah Al-Qadr, has been revealed about it: “We revealed the Quran on the Night of Destiny. Would that you knew what the Night of Destiny is! The Night of Destiny is better than a thousand months. On this Night, the angels and the spirit descend by the permission of their Lord with His decree (to determine everyone's destiny). This Night is all peace until the break of dawn.” (Verses 1-5)
Verse 3 shows the value of this night, which is better than a thousand months. Then God says the angels descend on this night.
It seems these are the verses of the Quran that talk about the Night of Qadr. Of course there is another verse, namely Verse 2 of Surah An-Nahl, which seems to be about it as well. “He sends down the angels with the Spirit (Gabriel) by His command to those of His worshipers whom He chooses, (saying:) ‘Warn, there is no god except Me, therefore fear Me.’” This verse is very similar to the one in Surah Al-Qadr.
Verse 2 of Surah An-Nahl says that God sends down angels with the Spirit to carry His orders to whichever of His servants He wants. This verse has an additional point, though, and that is the fact that the angels descend on human beings not on lifeless nature.
