Majority of scholars regard this surah as madani according to abu hayyan while ibn

abbas , aisha and many others as quoted by imam suyuti maintain it is madani. It
being placed just after surah al alq indicate that the revelation itself began in a
destiny making night. Ibn abi hatim reports a mursal hadith from mujahid that there
was a warrior from among the children of Israel who carried weapons for a thousand
month without laying them down, therefore this surah was revealed to inform the
companion that the night of qadr is better in reward than the battle fought by this
warrior. Another narration from muhajid who cites ibn jarir that there was a
worshipper who would worship Allah the whole night and as day comes he would
fight in the path of Allah and this continued for a thousand consecutive months.
Some traditions reports that nabi saw made dua to Allah that he gave a shorter
lifespan to his ummah and hence Allah revealed the surah of Qadr. This shows
superiority of this ummah and Al Qadr is a special night.
Al qadr literally means dignity , greatness or honour. It is called al Qadr because it
is a night of greatness, dignity and honour. Abu bakr warraq mentions that the
name of al qadr has been chosen by Allah because one becomes a man of dignity
and honour after seeking pardon and doing righteous acts during this night.
Qadr also means predestination and it is mentioned that the destiny of every
individual is given to the relevant angels to be implemented for a complete year. Ibn
abbas mentions that the 4 angels in charge of cosmic planning are: israfil, mikaeel,
israeel, Jibreel. In surah dukhan Allah mentions the blessed night where the wise
things are decreed. According to the mufassir this refers to the night of Al Qadr.
Some scholars say that this night refers to the 15 th of shabaan. This can be
reconciled by the fact that the the intial decree are decided on the night of shabaan
and records are handed over to the angels on the night of Qadr.

Date of the night of Qadr.

The Quran explicitly mentions that the night of Qadr occurs in ramadhan.
It is mentioned in surah baqarah that the Quran was brought down in
ramadhan. There are 4 authentic opinions about the exact date as there
are dispute and debates among scholars. Mazhari states that the most
authentic opinion is that it occurs during the last 10 days of ramadhan
with no specific date. According to authentic traditions it is in the ten odd
nights. Imam malik, imam ahmad, and many others maintain this opinion
and imam shafi also agree but he also had the opinion that the night is
fixed and does not alternate as recorded by ibn kathir. Both bukhari on
authority of aisha ra and muslim on the authority of ibn umar ra records
that nabi saw said to look for al qadr in the last 10 nights of ramadhan
and the hadith in muslim specify that these are odd nights.

Value and importance of night of Qadr.

The Quran mentions that it exceeds 1000 months which is equivalent to 83
years. Therefore the precise number is known to Allah alone. Both bukhari
and muslim record a famous hadith that he who spends the night of al
Qadr in worship , all his sins will be forgiven. Ibn abbas narrates a hadith
that mentions that all the angels residing at the LOTE TREE OF THE
UTERMOST BOUDARY descend under the leadership of jibreel and greet
every believer, man or woman except one who takes wine or pork. Another
narration reports that one who is deprived of this night is deprived of all
good(ibn majah). Imam Qurtubi reports on the authority of aisha ra that
the following supplication was taught by nabi saw: Allahumma innaka
'afuwwun karim tuhibbul 'afwa fa'fu anna ya karim.
The night of Qadr is trule a huge favor of Allah the almighty as it allows
this ummah to surpass all the previous ummah in good deeds despite
them living hundreds of years.
It is to be noted that forgiveness of sins refer only to minor sins and
scholars are unanimous that the major sins require tawbah.
Revelation:
Verse 1 mention that the Quran was revealed in this night. This can have 2
meanings:

That the entire Quran was revealed from the preserved tablet then brought
little by little by jibreel.
According to some narration the first revelation , the 4 verses of surah IQRA
were revealed during the month of Ramadan in the cave of Hira.

It is reported by Imam ahmad that nabi saw said : the scriptures of prophet Ibrahim
were revealed on the 1st of ramadhan, the thora on the 6th , the injeel on the 13th ,
zabur on the 18th and the Quran on the 24 th, all in ramdhan. This hadith is hasan
according to as suyuti. The scholars mention that the Quran was brought down
from the preserved tablet to the baytul izza in that night.
Verse 4 mentions that the angels descend and the spirit descend. Ibn kathir reports
a narration that on the night of Qadr the jibreel as descnd on the earth with a huge
throng of angels who prays for those engage in zikr and salah. Some scholars
interpret the verse as to mean the night is a security from every evil, harm and
calamity.
Ibn kathir on the authority of mujahid explain that the expression the night of Qadr
is better thatn a thousand month should be understood by the fact that although
there will be other night of Qadr throughout the 1000 months , however this
expression excludes the future nights of Qadr. It is to be remembered that the night

of Qadr will vary from location to location. To achieve rewards on the noght of Qadr
it will be enough to perform isha and fajr in jamaat although one will be greatly
rewarded for performing additional ibadah. This is based on the hadith of sahih
muslim on authority of uthman ra that performing salah in jammat will give the
blessings on spending half the night in devotion and performing fajr in jamaat will
give blessings of the other half.

Ill effects of argument

Bukhari reports on authority of sayyuduna ubaadah that once nabi saw came out of
his room to inform the people of the night of Qadr and found two companions
arguing. HE then told them that because of their argument the date of the night had
been lifted from his mind.
Wisdom from not specifying the date of the night of Qadr.
Scholars have cited the following reasons for the night of Qadr being unspecified:

If it was specified many people would single out this night to perform ibadah
and thus neglecting the other nights.
Many people cannot avoid sin and would be sinning despite knowing how
sacred It is.
Many people would concentrate on extra ibadah only on this night

Imam Bayhaqi reports that when the day of Eid comes Allah informs the angels that
he has forgiven those who fasted and has accepted there supplications and
replaced their sins with good deeds. Some commentators have said that Satan
cannot instigate people to do wrong on this day.