القدر
Surah Al-Qadr
The Power · Surah 97 · Meccan · 5 verses
1إِنَّآ أَنزَلۡنَٰهُ فِي لَيۡلَةِ ٱلۡقَدۡرِ ١Lo! We revealed it on the Night of Predestination.InsightElmalılı points out that the Qur’an is referred to only as ‘it’, without being named: it is so well known that there is no need to say its name. This is a sign of the Qur’an’s greatness.2وَمَآ أَدۡرَىٰكَ مَا لَيۡلَةُ ٱلۡقَدۡرِ ٢Ah, what will convey unto thee what the Night of Power is.InsightAccording to Elmalılı, this question conveys the greatness of that night: left to human reason alone, its nature and worth could not be known. Allah, who sent down the Qur’an, is also the One who makes this night known.3لَيۡلَةُ ٱلۡقَدۡرِ خَيۡرࣱ مِّنۡ أَلۡفِ شَهۡرࣲ ٣The Night of Power is better than a thousand months.InsightAccording to Elmalılı, the number ‘thousand’ is not meant to set a limit but to express abundance. The good of that night is too great to be measured by number or amount. Allah knows how good it is.4تَنَزَّلُ ٱلۡمَلَـٰٓئِكَةُ وَٱلرُّوحُ فِيهَا بِإِذۡنِ رَبِّهِم مِّن كُلِّ أَمۡرࣲ ٤The angels and the Spirit descend therein, by the permission of their Lord, with all decrees.InsightElmalılı says the verb carries the sense ‘they descend one after another’, ‘descend and descend’. Most commentators hold that the Spirit is Gabriel. For Elmalılı, the apparent meaning is that they descend to the earth and to those blessed with the Night of Power.5سَلَٰمٌ هِيَ حَتَّىٰ مَطۡلَعِ ٱلۡفَجۡرِ ٥(The night is) Peace until the rising of the dawn.InsightAccording to Elmalılı, that night is peace from beginning to end. The angels keep greeting the believers with peace. It is a night of safety from everything feared, a night in which peace is announced.