CHAPTER XCVII.: ENTITLED SURAT AL QADR (NIGHT OF POWER). Revealed at Makkah. - Mohammed, The Quran, vol. 4 [1896]
Edition used:
A Comprehensive Commentary on the Quran: Comprising Sale’s Translation and preliminary Discourse, with Additional Notes and Emendations (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, and Co., 1896). 4 vols.
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CHAPTER XCVII.
ENTITLED SURAT AL QADR (NIGHT OF POWER).
Revealed at Makkah.
INTRODUCTION.
“The word ‘al Qadr,’ ” says Sale, “signifies ‘power,’ and ‘honour’ or ‘dignity,’ and also the ‘divine decree;’ and the night is so named either from its excellence above all other nights in the year, or because, as the Muhammadans believe, the ‘divine decrees’ for the ensuing year are annually on this night fixed and settled, or taken from the ‘preserved table’ by God’s throne, and given to the angels to be executed. On this night Muhammad received his first revelations, when the Qurán, say the commentators, was sent down from the aforesaid table, entire and in one volume, to the lowest heaven, from whence Gabriel revealed it to Muhammad by parcels, as occasion required.”
Muir, in his Life of Mahomet, vol. ii. p. 138, note, says that that which was sent down to Muhammad was more likely “a clear and vivid view of divine truth, which that night burst upon his mind.”
Probable Date of the Revelations.
All authorities agree that this chapter belongs to the earliest Makkan period. Noëldeke places it immediately after chap. xciii.
Principal Subjects.
| verses |
| The Qurán or a divine illumination vouchsafed to Muhammad on the night of al Qadr | 1 |
| The night of al Qadr described and lauded | 2-5 |
IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.
∥ Verily we sent down the Qurán in the night of al Qadr. (2) And what shall make thee understand how excellent the night of al Qadr is? The night of al Qadr is better than a thousand months. Therein do the angels descend, and the spirit of Gabriel also, by the permission of their Lord,with his decrees concerning every matter. (5) It is peace until the rising of the morn.
Titles (by Subject) 