Laylat al-Qadr: Difference between revisions

Shiite exegetes appeal to apparent meanings of verses of [[Sura al-Qadr]] (Qur'an 97) to show that the Night of Qadr was not only the night in which the Qur'an was revealed in the period of the Prophet (s); it repeats every year. This is confirmed by many hadiths, which are believed by some people to be [[mutawatir]]. However, the precise time of the Night of Qadr is not known, and there is no specification of the time of the Night of Qadr in Quranic verses and hadiths. However, it is emphasized by many hadiths that the Night of Qadr occurs in the [[Ramadan month]].

In Shiite hadiths, one of the tree nights, [[Ramadan 19]], [[Ramadan 21|21]], and [[Ramadan 23|23]], is said to be the Night of Qadr, and of these three nights, the latter is allegedly more likely to be the Night of Qadr. According to other hadiths, destinies are written on the night of Ramadan 19, are finalized on the night of Ramadan 21, and are ultimately confirmed on the night of Ramadan 23.

Two other possibilities about the time of the Night of Qadr are the nights of [[Ramadan 27]] and [[Sha'ban 15]].

The majority of Sunnis appeal to a hadith from the Prophet to show that the Night of Qadr is one of the last ten nights of the Ramadan month, and the night of Ramadan 27 is more likely to be the Night of Qadr. Accordingly, Sunnis supplicate and stay vigilant on this night. Some Sunnis maintain that the Night of Qadr was repeated every year only during the lifetime of the Prophet (s), but there is no Night of Qadr after his demise. According to some others, the Night of Qadr is not a specific night every year; instead, a different unknown night is the Night of Qadr each year. They believe that in the year in which prophet Muhammad (s) was appointed as a prophet, the Night of Qadr occurred in the Ramadan month, but it might occur in other lunar months in other years.

Only one night of every year is the Night of Qadr. However, because of different horizons of countries (e.g. Iran and Arabia), the Ramadan month begins at different times in different locations, and thus, nights of [[Ramadan 19]], [[Ramadan 21|21]], and [[Ramadan 23|23]] will also differ in these countries. With regard to this conflict, [[jurist]]s believe that differences in horizons of different countries does not imply that there are different Nights of Qadr, and people in each region of the world should determine the Night of Qadr and other sacred times, such as [[Eid al-Fitr]] and [[Eid al-Adha]] in accordance to their own horizons. According to [[Ayatollah Makarim Shirazi]], a night is the shade of a half of the Earth, which moves with Earth's rotation which takes twenty-four hours. Thus, the Night of Qadr can be a complete rotation of the Earth; that is, twenty-four hours of darkness covering the whole Earth. Thus, the Night of Qadr begins from a region and then continues for twenty-four hours covering the whole Earth.

There is a hadith from [[Imam 'Ali (a)]] according to which, in the last ten days of the Ramadan month, the Prophet (s) took his sleeping sheets with him to the [[mosque]] and practiced [[I'tikaf]] there, and although the mosque of [[Medina]] had no ceiling, he did not leave the mosque even when raining. It is quoted that the Prophet (s) [[Ihya'|stayed awake]] on Nights of Qadr and splashed water on faces of sleepy people.

Lady Fatima (a) worshiped God in the Night of Qadr until morning and had her children and family stay up the night and worship, and she compensated for their sleeping problem by eating less and sleeping during the day. The Infallibles (a) were presented in mosques and stayed [[vigilant]] in Nights of Qadr. According to a hadith, Imam al-Sadiq (a) was very sick in one the Night of Qadr. Notwithstanding this, he asked his companions to take him to the mosque where he could worship.

The mustahab (recommended) acts for the nights of Qadr are divided into two types:  

# Acts which are common to the three nights such as [[Ghusl]], [[vigil]] (Ihya'), [[prayer of Laylat al-Qadr]], Reciting [[Qur'an 44|sura 44]] and [[Qur'an 97|sura 97]] of the Qur'an, reciting [[al-Jawshan al-Kabir supplication]], [[ziyara of Imam al-Husayn (a)]] and [[holding the Qur'an on the head]].

# Particular acts for each night, which are extensively mentioned in ''[[Mafatih al-jinan]]'' and other supplication books.

Shi'as practice the rituals of the Night of Qadr every year in mosques, [[tekyeh]]s, shrines of Imams or [[Imamzada|children of Imams]], [[Husayniyya]]s or their own houses. They stay vigilant the whole night until dawn and worship God. The most important practices of the Night of Qadr include [[congregational prayer]]s, recitation of the [[Iftitah Supplication]], [[Abu Hamza al-Thumali Supplication]], and [[al-Jawshan al-Kabir]], and collective supplications while they keep volumes of the Qur'an on top of their heads. Other rituals of the night include donations of dawn food and breakfasts, payment of their [[nadhr]] for the dead, feeding the poor, and emancipation of financial prisoners.

Since the martyrdom of Imam 'Ali (a) occurs in the last ten days of the Ramadan month, Shi'as mourn in these nights.  

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* Turbatī. ''Hamrāh bā maʿṣūmān dar shab-i Qadr''. [n.p]. [n.d].

* Furāt al-Kūfī, Abu l-Qāsim Furāt b. Ibrāhīm. ''Tafsīr furāt al-kūfī''. [n.p]. [n.d].{{end}}