Sūrah Al-Qadr The Night of Power: Tafsīr al-Ṭabarī The Source Commentary

Surah Overview

DetailInformationClassificationSignificance

SurahالقدرMakkī 5 versesThe Night of Power in which the Quran descended; described as better than a thousand months with descending angels

Key DisagreementIs Laylat al-Qadr fixed to the 27th night specifically, hidden among all odd nights of the last ten, or moving yearly?Night specificationAl-Ṭabarī: hidden within the last ten odd nights of Ramaḍān not fixed to a single date based on ʿĀʾishah chain and its multiple supporting transmissions

Competing OpinionsIbn ʿAbbās: 27th night (letters of "laylat al-qadr" counted as 27); Ubayy ibn Kaʿb: 27th night with high certainty; ʿĀʾishah chains: hidden, seek it in the last tenFixed vs. hiddenAl-Ṭabarī acknowledges the 27th night has strongest individual chain (Ubayy) but prefers the hidden-night position from ʿĀʾishah's chains via the Prophet's own practice of continuous seeking

MethodologyProphetic practice (iʿtikāf) used as evidence the Prophet's own continuous seeking in the last ten nights implies the night is not known with certaintySunnah as evidenceAl-Ṭabarī: if the 27th were definitively fixed, the Prophet would not have kept iʿtikāf throughout all ten nights

Key Themes from Al-Ṭabarī

Al-Ṭabarī opens with the question of "al-qadr" whether the word means "power/greatness" (referring to the night's high status) or "decree" (referring to divine decrees being distributed on that night). He records Mujāhid's position that "qadr" = "greatness" and Qatādah's that it = "divine decree." Al-Ṭabarī prefers the decree meaning via a chain analysis: the phrase "yufraqu fī-hā kull amr ḥakīm" in Ad-Dukhān (44:4) "Every wise matter is decided on it" is read as referring to the same night and confirms the decree meaning.

On "better than a thousand months" (97:3), al-Ṭabarī records a chain from Mujāhid about a righteous Israelite warrior who fought for a thousand months in the way of Allah, and the Muslims felt ashamed they could not match such dedication so Allah gave them one night equalling that entire duration. Al-Ṭabarī notes this chain is mursal (lacking a Companion link) but preserves it as a widely-circulated account while favouring the simpler reading: the night's worship exceeds all comparative time-based calculation.

لَيْلَةُ الْقَدْرِ خَيْرٌ مِّنْ أَلْفِ شَهْرٍ Laylatu l-qadri khayrun min alfi shahr The Night of Power is better than a thousand months. Al-Ṭabarī: "better" here is comparative and absolute worship performed on this night exceeds in divine reward what one would accumulate in a thousand months of ordinary worship. The comparison is not to diminish a thousand months but to elevate this one night beyond all quantitative time-based calculation.

تَنَزَّلُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ وَالرُّوحُ فِيهَا بِإِذْنِ رَبِّهِم مِّن كُلِّ أَمْرٍ Tanazzalu l-malāʾikatu wa r-rūḥu fīhā bi-idhni rabbihim min kulli amr The angels and the Spirit descend in it by permission of their Lord regarding every matter. Al-Ṭabarī: "al-rūḥ" (the Spirit) is Jibrīl named separately for honour and distinction. The descending "from every matter" means the angels bring the decrees for the coming year provisions, lifespans, events pre-recorded from the Preserved Tablet.

Qadr as decree: Al-Ṭabarī prefers the "divine decree" meaning over "greatness" by cross-referencing the parallel verse in Ad-Dukhān (44:4) via isnād analysis.
Iʿtikāf as evidence: Al-Ṭabarī uses the Prophet's own practice of spending the entire last ten nights in the mosque as proof that the night's date is hidden seeking a known date requires no such prolonged vigil.
27th night acknowledged: The Ubayy ibn Kaʿb chain supporting the 27th night is acknowledged by al-Ṭabarī as strong but interpreted as a most-probable assessment rather than definitive knowledge.
Mursal chain preserved: The Israelite warrior narrative (Mujāhid chain) is recorded despite its mursal status al-Ṭabarī preserves widely-circulated chains even when methodologically incomplete.
Annual decrees: The angels' descent "from every matter" is read as the distribution of the year's divine decrees the night is the moment of pre-ordination materialising into the created order.

Surah Overview

Key Themes from Al-Ṭabarī

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