A Lesson about the Sublime Night (Laylatul Qadr)
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, Who does not resemble the creation. To Him belong the endowments and the befitting perfections and commendations. I ask Allah to raise the rank of Prophet Muhammad, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, and to protect his nation from that which he fears for them.
Allah the exalted said in Surah al Qadr (Ayah 1):
﴿إِنَّآ أَنزَلنَاهُ فِي لَيلَةِ القَدرِ﴾ سورة القدر / 1.
which means We (Allah) have revealed the Quran during the Sublime Night.
The Messenger of Allah, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, said: the Quran was revealed during the Sublime Night the 24th night of Ramadan and the Torah was revealed after six nights of Ramadan have passed and the Injil was revealed at the lapse of 18 nights of Ramadan. This was Narrated by al Bayhaqiyy.
The entire Quran was revealed at once during the Sublime night which was then the 24th night of Ramadan as the Hadith indicates. This Hadith also reveals that that the Sublime Night is not restricted to the 27th night of Ramadan but rather it can occur on the first night or any other night of Ramadan, however, mostly it occurs during the last ten days of Ramadan.
When the Quran was first brought down in one batch it came down to the lower sky to a place called Baytul ^Izzah. That took place the first year the Prophet, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, was revealed as a messenger. Thereafter Jibril started bringing down portions of it onto the Prophet, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, as per the Divine orders. The morning after it came down in one batch to Baytul ^Izzah, the first five Ayahs of Surah al ^Alaq came down onto the Prophet, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam. After that the Quran came down onto the prophet, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, in portions; sometimes an entire Surah would come down but not the entire Quran in one batch.
The meaning of the saying of the prophet, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, is that the Sublime Night mostly occurs during the last ten days of Ramadan. The Sublime Night is not a night specified to the nation of Muhammad, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, but rather it occurred at the time of the previous prophets. What is specific to the nation of Muhammad among other meritorious specificities, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, is that they fast during the month of Ramadan whereas with the previous nation Ramadan was not their fasting month.
The nation of prophet Muhammad, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, were specified with many merits among which is that they are the first nation to enter paradise before other nations enter. Also they are the last of the nations to come about, hence no nation will observe their shortcomings in this world.
Since we are the last of the nations in this world Allah told us about the news of the previous nations. Allah the exalted narrated to us in the glorious Quran the story of evil and corruption and harm committed by the nation of Musa toward their prophet. Also Allah narrated to us the shortcomings of nations other than the nation of Musa.
Allah has not disconnected the nation of prophet Muhammad, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, from the previous nations; the prophet, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, said you were preceded by seventy nations except for one so you were the seventieth. He also informed us that his nation is the best of the nations and most accepted by Allah because their prophet is the best of the prophets; Allah the exalted bestowed upon our prophet Muhammad that which he did not bestow upon any of the other prophets and this is because he is the best of the prophets and messengers; and this is why his nation is the best of the nations.
There were pious people among the previous nations but not as many as in this nation of Muhammad. The nation of Muhammad has more jurisprudents and highly righteous people, however, their ages are less than those of the other nations. The high status is based on merit and not length of age. Had the status been based on longer age then Adam and Nuh and al-Khader would have been the best of prophets. The scholars said about al-Khader that he was a highly righteous person and some said he was a prophet; al-Khader was one whom Allah gave a long age. Absolutely the best of the individuals is prophet Muhammad then Ibrahim then Musa then ^Isa then Nuh then the rest of the prophets. The best of the nations of the prophets is the nation of prophet Muhammad, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam,
We ask Allah to grant us seeing the Sublime Night while awake or in our sleep and to bestow upon us the ability to perform plenty of worship throughout the year.