Does
the Night of Decree come on a fixed night every year or moves through the last
ten nights?
The scholars
differ in regard to this. The correct opinion, however, is that it moves from
year to year through the last ten nights. So it may be on the twenty-first in a
year; twenty-ninth in another year; twenty-fifth night in another year and
twenty-forth night in another year and so on. This is because it is not
possible to reconcile all the ahaadeeth
reported concerning it except by adopting this view. And the wisdom behind the
fact that it moves is that if it were to be on a specific night, a lazy person
will not perform prayer except on that night. However, if it moves then each night
becomes the likely night in which Laylatul-Qadr will occur thereby making a
person to observe prayer throughout the last ten nights.
Signs
of Laylatul Qadr
The Night of
Decree or Majesty has signs that are associated with it and signs that will
occur after the night ends. As regards the signs that are associated with it,
they are:
1.
There will be intense illumination
and light on this night. Presently, this sign can only be perceived by someone
in a land far away from lights.
2.
There will be excess light on that
night.
3.
A believer will have tranquility of
heart and expansion of breast. He will find comfort, tranquility and expansion
of breast that night more that the way he experiences it during other nights.
4.
The wind on this night will be
serene. Meaning that there will be no violent wind or thunder therein. Rather,
the weather will be suitable.
5.
Allaah may show a person the night
in the dream just as it occurred to some of the Prophet’s companions.
6.
A person will find pleasure in
praying on this night more than the rest nights.
As regards the
signs that occur after the night ends, one of them is that the sun will rise on
the following morning white without rays contrary to its usual way at other
times.
What
are the odd nights of the last ten nights of Ramadaan?
They are
twenty-first, twenty-third, twenty-fifth, twenty-seventh and twenty-ninth. These
are the five nights that it is more likely to be. But this does not mean that
it cannot occur except on the odd nights; rather it can occur on the odd nights
and other than it.
Source: al-Jaami’
li Ahkaam Fiqh as-Sunnah, vol. 2, pp. 290 and 292 by Shaykh Muhammad Saalih
al-Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him)
