Bismillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Raheem

What is Laylatul Qadr (The Night of Power)

“Verily! We have sent this (Qur'aan) down in the Night of al-Qadr. And what will make you know what Night of Qadr is? The Night of al-Qadr is better than one thousand months. In it the angels and the Spirit (Angel Jibreel 'alaihis-salaam) descend, by the Permission of Allah, with all decrees. Peace it is until the appearance of dawn.”
[Soorah al-Qadr (97): 1-5]

"The Mesenger of Allah (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) was shown the lifetimes of ummahs. He saw that lifetime of His ummah was shorter than the others. So He was concerned for his ummah not being able to do as much deeds as the previous ummahs who had longer lives. Thereupon, Allah (swt) bestowed Him Laylat-ul Qadr and made that night better than the other ummahs’ one thousand years. Thus, the short lifetime of the ummah gets longer by Laylat-ul Qadr."
(Muwatta Imam Malik)

“Whoever stays up (in prayer and remembrance of Allah) on the Night of Qadr fully believing (in Allah’s promise of reward for that night) and hoping to seek reward (from Allah alone and not from people), he shall be forgiven for his past sins.”
(Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmidhi)

When is Laylatul Qadr (Night of Power)

Imam al-Nafrawi al-Maliki mentions in his al-Fawakih al-Dawani fi Sharh Risalat Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani that the position of Imam Malik, Imam Shafi`i and Imam Ahmad, and the majority of the scholars is that Laylat al-Qadr is not a specific night. Rather, it moves around.

"Most of the scholars, from the Salaf and the Khalaf agree that Laylat-ul-Qadr can occur on any night of the year, even outside the month of Ramadhan. However, the conclusion of the erudite scholars is that the exact night changes every year. Most years it is in Ramadan while on rarer occasions it occurs outside of Ramadan.

In the years that it is in Ramadan, most of the time it occurs in its last ten days, On less frequent occasions, it occurs in the middle ten days (11-20). In the years that it occurs in the middle ten days, it occurs more often on the 17th or 19th.

In the years that it occurs in the last ten days, it occurs more often in the odd nights (rather than the even nights). In the years that it occurs in the odd nights, it is more frequent that it occurs on the 27th of Ramadhan."

This has been transmitted from many of the Companions of the Prophet (Allah bless him & give him peace), including 'Abdullah Ibn Mas`ud (Allah be pleased with him). It is one of the reported positions of Imam Abu Hanifa, and also the opinion of Imam Malik, ash-Shafi'i, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Ibn Arabi (whose position is quoted by Ibn Abidin with support), Abu’l Hasan al-Shadhili, Sha`rani, and many other knowers of Allah.

Summary

  • One thousand months of about thirty days each are About 80 years.
  • One should recite Qur'an and do many other acts of worship that have extensive rewards e.g. serving parents, making up missed prayers, praying optional prayers, making dhikr, etc. so that this great amount of good deeds may be multiplied 30,000 times over.
  • Most years you can look in the last twenty days of Ramadan and you will find it for sure.