Origin of Laylatul-Qadr

28-12-2004 | IslamWeb

Question:

Are the following statements regarding Laylat Al-Qadr are authentic:
"Allaah's Messenger, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, looked back at the previous communities and saw that his community lived for a much shorter period in comparison to them. He was concerned about how his community would be able to gain as many rewards as those of the previous communities.
So when Allaah the Exalted saw the concerns in the heart of His beloved, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam. Then he sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, was given Laylat Al-Qadr, which is more virtuous than a thousand months." Imaam Maalik, may Allaah have mercy upon him, Muatta) It is similarly narrated from Ibn Abbaas, may Allaah be pleased with him, that the Prophet, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, mentioned before his companions about a man of the previous communities, who had done Jihad in the way of Allaah for a thousand months:
"Then Allaah's Messenger, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, became wary about his community and in this concern, made the following invocation: O my Lord, as a result of the low life span of my community, their deeds will also be low. Upon this, Allaah gave Laylat Al-Qadr." [Imaam Alaud-din Ali bin Muhammad al-Khazin, Tafsir al-Khazin [4:39].
One narration has it that the Prophet, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, mentioned before his companions, the virtues of great personalities, such as Ayyub, Zakariyya, Hazqil and Yushi, may Allaah exalt their mention, and stated that they worshiped Allaah for so many years and that they never disobeyed Allaah.
The companions who were present there, developed great desire to do the same. Imaam Qurtubi writes that at that moment, angel Jibreel came and said: "O Prophet Muhammad, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, your community are shocked about the eighty upon eighty years of worship made by these people. Allaah has given you more," and the chapter, "Inna Anzalnahu Fi Laylat Al-Qadr" were recited. Upon this, the face of Allaah's Messenger, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, became radiant with happiness." [Imaam al-Qurtubi, Tafsir Qurtubi, 20:130]

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.

 

The narrations that have been mentioned in the question are mentioned in many books of Tafseer (translation of the meaning of the Qur'an), books of Prophetic narrations and books of the interpretation of the meaning of these narrations. Some have been mentioned by the questioner and some have not been stated. However, we have not come across an uninterrupted chain of narrations and the majority of those who stated them related them as indirect speech or with a weak chain of narrations. For instance it is reported in Maalik's Muwatta' that he heard a trustworthy scholar saying: "Allaah had shown to the Prophet the life span of the people before his generation, or that He showed him what He wished of their life span. So he considered that the life span of his nation was too short for them to perform as many good deeds as those performed by the previous nations due to the longer period of time they had lived. So Allaah blessed His Prophet with a night that is better than one thousand months (i.e. Al-Qadr)." But these narrations are about the excellence of good deeds and not regarding the belief or the lawful and forbidden matters. Mentioning all the different narrations and studying their chain of narrators is time consuming. We do not have sufficient time for that due to the great number of urgent questions that we receive, so we apologise for any inconvenience to you.    

Allaah knows best.