Question:
Pls forgive my ignorance and confusion but could someone pls help me with the difference between Nurul Quran and Lailatul Qadr ( in relation to the revelation of the Holy Quran)?
Answer:
Nurul Quran is an expression in Arabic that means “the light of the Qur’an.” The Qur’an is a light as mentioned in Surat al-Nisa’ 4:174 and al-Shura 42:52, as were all the heavenly Scriptures that were sent such as the Torah (al-Ma’ida 5:44, al-An`am 6:91) and the Gospel (al-Ma’ida 5:46). The Qur’an and spiritual light are also important elements of the meanings of Laylatul Qadr as shown below.
Laylatul Qadr is an Arabic expression (i) mentioned in the Qur’an, in Surat al-Qadr (Sura 97), “thus named [i.e. ‘the Night of immense price’] because of its eminent honor, or [‘the Night of apportionment’] because of the apportionment of all important matters in light of the verse {in it is distributed every wisdom-related matter} (al-Dukhan 44:4)” (Baydawi), and (ii) referred to in the opening of the latter Sura as well, as discussed below.
Imam al-Baydawi said in his Tafsir:
إِنَّا أَنْزَلْناهُ فِي لَيْلَةِ الْقَدْرِ الضمير للقرآن فخمه بإضماره من غير ذكر شهادة له بالنباهة المغنية عن التصريح كما عظمه بأن أسند نزله إليه، وعظم الوقت الذي أنزل فيه بقوله:
وَما أَدْراكَ مَا لَيْلَةُ الْقَدْرِ لَيْلَةُ الْقَدْرِ خَيْرٌ مِنْ أَلْفِ شَهْرٍ وإنزاله فيها بأن ابتدأ بإنزاله فيها، أو أنزله جملة من اللوح إلى السماء الدنيا على السفرة، ثم كان جبريل عليه السلام ينزله على رسول الله صلّى الله عليه وسلم نجوماً في ثلاث وعشرين سنة.
{Verily We sent it down on the Night of immense price!}:
“The pronoun [‘it’] refers to the Qur’an. He amplified it by its pronomination without literal mention as a testimony to its renown which constitutes sufficiency from the need to be explicit, just as He magnified it by ascribing its sending down to Himself, and He magnified the time in which it was sent down by saying:
{And what shall make you know what the Night of immense price is? The Night of immense price is better than a thousand months},
“and its being sent down in it is that (i) He began to send it down on it; or (ii) He sent it down in one block from the Tablet to the nearest heaven over the Safara (Angelic Scribes), then Jibril (upon him peace) would send it down on the Messenger of Allah (upon him blessings and peace) piecemeal over twenty-three years.”
The opening of Surat al-Dukhan is glossed thus by Imam al-Qushayri in his Tafsir:
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ
حم (1) وَالْكِتابِ الْمُبِينِ (2)
الحاء تشير إلى حقّه والميم تشير إلى محبته. ومعناه: بحقي وبمحبتى لعبادى، وبكتابي العزيز إليهم: إنّى لا أعذّب أهل معرفتى بفرقتى «1» .
{In the Name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Most Merciful.
Ha Mim! By the Manifest Book!}
“The ‘ha’ refers to His Haqq (right) and the mim refers to his Muhabba (love). Its meaning is, ‘By My Right and by My love for My servants! and by My Glorious Book sent to them! Verily I shall never punish the people of knowledge of Me with separation from Me.”
إِنَّا أَنْزَلْناهُ فِي لَيْلَةٍ مُبارَكَةٍ إِنَّا كُنَّا مُنْذِرِينَ (3) فِيها يُفْرَقُ كُلُّ أَمْرٍ حَكِيمٍ (4)
فِي لَيْلَةٍ مُبارَكَةٍ» : قيل هي ليلة القدر، وقيل هي النصف من شعبان وهي ليلة الصّك » .
أنزل القرآن من اللوح المحفوظ إلى السماء الدنيا كلّ سنة بمقدار ما كان جبريل ينزل به على الرسول صلى الله عليه وسلم .
وسمّاها: «لَيْلَةٍ مُبارَكَةٍ» لأنها ليلة افتتاح الوصلة. وأشدّ الليالى بركة ليلة يكون العبد فيها حاضرا بقلبه، مشاهدا لربّه، يتنعّم فيها بأنوار الوصلة، ويجد فيها نسيم القربة.
{Verily We sent it down on a blessed night–verily We are ever warning–on which is distributed every wisdom-related matter.}
“It was said that the blessed night is Laylatul Qadr, and it was also said it is that of mid-Sha`ban, namely, Laylatul Sakk (Night of the Deal).
He sent down the Qur’an from the Preserved Tablet to the nearest heaven every year to the extent of what Jibril brought down of it to the Messenger, upon him blessings and peace, and He named it {a blessed night} because it is the night of the opening of spiritual linkage; and the most intense of nights in blessing is a night in which servants are present with the heart, witnessing their nurturing Lord, basking in the lights of spiritual linkage therein, and finding in it the breeze of nearness.”
Hajj Gibril Haddad
