589 – Muʿāwiyah ibn Abī Sufyān (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet ﷺ, speaking about the Night of Decree, said: “It is the twenty-seventh night.” Narrated by Abū Dāwūd (1). The stronger opinion is that the report is mawqūf, and scholars have differed over identifying the night, numbering forty separate views, all of which I have listed in Fatḥ al-Bārī.
Hadith grading
The report is mawqūf, yet it carries the force of a marfūʿ narration. Ibn Ḥajar said: “Abū Dāwūd transmitted it as marfūʿ, and both he and al-Mundhirī remained silent about it, while al-Nawawī declared it sound in al-Majmūʿ. What is preferable, however, is to halt it at Muʿāwiyah, though it still takes the ruling of being traced back to the Prophet, because such a statement is not based on personal opinion; it can only be received through hearing.”
Vocabulary
• “In the Night of Decree (Laylat al-Qadr).” The word qadr is a verbal noun. They say, “Allah qaddara (decreed) a thing qadran or qadran”—both pronunciations occur; likewise qaddarahu taqdīran—all with the same meaning. Laylat al-Qadr therefore means “the night in which affairs are decreed and settled.” Others hold it was named so because of its greatness and honor. Al-Azhari said: “It is the night of greatness and nobility,” and people say, “So-and-so has qadr with the ruler,” meaning esteem and rank.
Points derived from the hadith
- The hadith indicates that Laylat al-Qadr is the twenty-seventh night, for the wording presents the matter with certainty and finality.
- The author, Ibn Ḥajar, cited forty opinions on the issue in Fatḥ al-Bārī, which can be classified