Importance of Lailatul Qadr [The Night of Power] in Islam in the light of Quran & Ahadees

Surah Al-Qadr is the 97th Surah of Quran. Below is the translation of this Surah mubarakah:

[Qadr 97:1] We have indeed sent down the Qur’an in the Night of Destiny.

[Qadr 97:2] And what have you understood, what the Night of Destiny is!

[Qadr 97:3] The Night of Destiny is better than a thousand months.

[Qadr 97:4] In it descend the angels and Jibreel, by the command of their Lord – for all works.

[Qadr 97:5] It is peace until the rising of dawn.

From the above translation of surah qadr it appears that:

1. This is the night when Quran was sent down to earth from heavens/Lohe Mehfooz
2. Laila tul qadr has tremendous importance in the life of a Muslim.
3. Laila tul qadr is better than thousand nights. This means that sawab/reward of saying prayers/salah on this night is greater than the reward of saying prayers for nights of thousand months.
4. In this night the angels and Gibrail - the Chief of all the angels descend to the earth with the permission of Almighty .
5. It is the night of peace until the day light appears.

The importance of Surah Al-Qadr is also very much obvious from the study of sayings of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him):

1. On laila tul qadr the Almighty comes to the first heaven and pronounces: "Is there anyone who seeks forgiveness, I will forgive him. I will give him what he desires."
2. Ullamah (Islamic scholars) say that on laila tul qadr a moment comes when all the things e.g. trees, walls, earth, waters etc turn into light. They all become white. Even the water become like milk. On this moment the dua of the every Muslim is accepted by the Lord.
3. The Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) commanded his companions to search this night in the odd nights of last ten nights of Ramazan ul Mubarik. This means the night of power (laila tul qadr) may falls on 21^st, 23^rd, 25^th, 27^th or 29^th of Ramazan.
4. Some companions of the holly Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) were of firm belief that it falls on 27^th night of each Ramadan.
5. The Holly Prophet (Peace be upon him) was aware that on which date of Ramazan the night of laila tul qadr used to occur but he saw few companions were quarreling. So the Holly Prophet was caused to forget it. So he ordered his Ummah to search for the this great night of power in the last ten odd nights of Ramadan
6. The holly Prophet (Peace be upon him) along with his companions used to perform aitikaf to find the night of power (laila tul qadr) in the last 10 nights of Ramadan. The Muslims starts their aitikaf on 20^th day of Ramadan after the Asr prayer and before Nimaz-e-Maghrib.
7. The importance of night of power [laila tul qadr] is greater than thousand months' nights. This means that if someone spends whole the night saying prayers, he will be rewarded the sawab of worshiping Almighty for the nights of one thousand months.

Once the Holly Prophet (Peace be upon him) mentioned about a man of Bani Israil who used to pray in nights and he continued this practice for one thousand years. This made the companions sad as they thought that in this way the men of Bani Isail would get more sawab/reward as the lives of the people of Ummah of holly Prophet (peace be upon him) were much less and normal man lived just 60/70 years. On this, the surah al-qadr was revealed on the heart of Holy Prophet (Peace be upon Him) which gave glad tiding for the companions that they have one night that is better than thousand months' nights. This means that prayers on this night will enable a Muslim to earn the reward of prayers of 83 years and four months.

Signs of Laila tul qadr

1. According to sayings of Prophet (Peace be upon him) and the experience of companions of holy Prophet (PBUH) on the laila tul qadr the moon used to rise like a half/piece of plate. What I understand from this opinion is that the moon would not have the light.
2. The sun used to rise without rays as if it is a brass dish until it rises up.
3. The sun looks like a moon in its fullness in the early morning.
4. This would be a quite night.
5. The night of laila tul qadr would neither be hot nor cold but temperate. The sun after the laila tul qadr would rise being feeble and red.
6. It would be shining night.
7. Moon’s light would be clear.

The Holly Prophet (Peace be upon him) taught the following prayer/dua to the mother of the Momineens Hazrate Aisha especially for the laila tul qadr

Allahumma inaka afuwun tohibul afwa fafo anni.

O Allah you are forgiving and loves to forgive. Please forgive me.

Other prayers a Muslim could offer on laila tul qadr are:

To recite Quran.

To offer salato salam on the Holly Prophet.

Say salatul tasbeeh.

Seek repentance from Lord.

There are certain other prayers prescribed in the books of Ahadees.