al-Amīr ʿAbd al-Qādir b. Muḥyī al-Dīn al-Jazāʾirī · Kitāb al-Mawāqif fī baʿḍ ishārāt al-Qurʾān ilā al-asrār wa-l-maʿārif
المواقف
The Book of Stations
Mawqif 150 · The blessed night and the Night of Decree
See the print: Damascus 1966, p. 336, Damascus 1966, p. 337, Cairo, vol. 1, PDF p. 322, Cairo, vol. 1, PDF p. 323, Cairo, vol. 1, PDF p. 324 (archive.org)
قَالَ تَعَالَى: إِنَّا أَنْزَلْنَاهُ فِي لَيْلَةٍ مُبَارَكَةٍ إِنَّا كُنَّا مُنْذِرِينَ، فِيهَا يُفْرَقُ كُلُّ أَمْرٍ حَكِيمٍ»
He, Most High, has said: “Indeed We sent it down on a blessed night; indeed We have ever been warning. Therein every wise matter is made distinct” (Q 44:3–4).
الضَّمِيرُ فِي قَوْلِهِ: «أَنْزَلْنَاهُ» عَائِدٌ عَلَى الْكِتَابِ الْمُبِينِ، وَهُوَ الْقُرْآنُ الْعَظِيمُ مِثْلَ قَوْلِهِ: «إِنَّا أَنْزَلْنَاهُ فِي لَيْلَةِ الْقَدْرِ»
The pronoun in His words “We sent it down” refers back to the Clear Book, which is the Mighty Qurʾān, as in His words: “Indeed We sent it down on the Night of Decree” (Q 97:1).
فَاللَّيْلَةُ الْمُبَارَكَةُ هِيَ لَيْلَةُ الْقَـدْرِ، وَلِبَرَكَتِهَا نَزَلَ الْقُرْآنُ فِيهَا،
So the blessed night is the Night of Decree, and it was because of its blessing that the Qurʾān came down in it;
وَهِيَ الَّتِي يُفْرَقُ فِيهَا كُلُّ أَمْرٍ حَكِيمٍ، مَحْكُومٍ مُبَيَّنٍ بِجَمِيعِ لَوَازِمِهِ، وَلَوَاحِقِهِ، مَحْدُودٍ بِمَكَانِهِ، مُؤَقَّتٍ بِزَمَانِهِ، كَمَا قَالَ: «تَنَزَّلُ المَلائِكَةُ وَالرُّوحُ فِيها بِإِذْنِ رَبِّهِمْ مِنْ كُلِّ أَمْرٍ»
and it is the night in which every wise matter is made distinct: decreed, made clear with all its concomitants and its consequences, bounded by its place, timed by its time, as He said: “The angels and the Spirit descend therein by the permission of their Lord with every matter” (Q 97:4).
أَيْ مِنْ كُلِّ مَا يَقَعُ فِي الْعَالَمِ الْعُلْوِيِّ وَالسُّفْلِيِّ، فِي تِلْكَ السَّنَةِ، يُظْهِرُهُ اللَّهُ ــ تَعَالَى ــ لِلْمُوَكَّلِينَ بِانْفَاذِهِ•
That is, with everything that will occur in the upper and the lower world in that year, which God, Most High, makes manifest to those charged with carrying it out.
وَهَذَا مِنْ بَرَكَةِ تِلْكَ اللَّيْلَةِ•
And this is part of the blessing of that night.
فَاِنَّ الْأُمُـورَ الَّتِي تَقَعُ فِي السَّنَةِ فِي الْعَالَمِ الْعُلْوِيِّ وَالسُّفْلِيِّ؛ لَايُحْصِيهَا اِلاَّ خَالِقُهَا، وَهِيَ كُلُّهَا تَتَرَتَّبُ وَتَتَبَيَّنُ فِي تِلْكَ اللَّيْلَةِ•
For the matters that occur in a year in the upper and the lower world none can count but their Creator, and all of them are set in order and made clear in that night.
وَهَذِهِ اللَّيْلَةُ مُمْتَزِجَةٌ، لَا ضَوْءٌ مَحْضٌ، وَلَاظُلْمَةٌ خَالِصَةٌ•
This night is a mixture: neither pure light nor sheer darkness.
كُنْتُ أَنْظُرُ اِلَى ظِلِّ شَخْصٍ فَأَرَاهُ مُتَمَيِّزاً وَلَيْسَ هُنَاكَ نُورٌ زَائِدٌ كَمَا يَتَوَهَّمُهُ أَكْثَرُ النَّاسِ،
I would look at a person's shadow and see it distinctly, and yet there was no extraordinary light there, as most people imagine.
وَذَلِكَ فِي الْخَامِسِ وَالْعِشْرِينَ مِنْ شَعْبَانَ، فَلَا تَخْتَصُّ بِرَمَضَانَ، كَمَا قَالَ بَعْضُ الْعُلَمَاءِ،
That was on the twenty-fifth of Shaʿbān; so it is not confined to Ramaḍān, as some scholars have said.
وَبَعْضُ النَّاسِ تَنْكَشِفُ لَهُمْ أَنْوَارٌ فِي وَسَطِ السَّمَاءِ، اَوْ فِي جَوَانِبِهَا، أَوْ أَنْوَارٌ تُشْبِهُ السُّرُجَ؛ فَيَظُنُّونَ أَنَّ ذَلِكَ عَلَامَةُ لَيْلَـةِ الْقَدْرِ وَلَيْسَ الْأَمْرُ كَذَلِكَ•
Some people have lights unveiled to them in the middle of the sky or at its edges, or lights resembling lamps, and they suppose that this is the sign of the Night of Decree; but the matter is not so.
وَاِنَّمَا عَلَامَةُ لَيْلَةِ الْقَدْرِ مَا رَوَاهُ مُسْلِمٌ فِي الصَّحِيحِ: «اَنَّ الشَّمْسَ تَطْلُعُ صَبِيحَتَهَا وَلَا نُورَ لَهَا»•
The sign of the Night of Decree is rather what Muslim related in the Ṣaḥīḥ: “that the sun rises on the morning after it without light.”
وَقَدْ شَاهَدْتُ ذَلِكَ، فَكَانَتِ الشَّمْسُ كَالتُّرْسِ النُّحَاسِيِّ لَاشُعَاعَ لَهَا•
I have beheld that: the sun was like a copper shield, without rays.
وَلَوْ كَانَتْ فِيهَا كِتَابَةٌ لَأَمْكَنَنِي قِرَاءَتُهَا مِنْ غَيْرِ كُلْفَةٍ•
Had there been writing on it, I could have read it without effort.
وَقَائِمُ هَذِهِ اللَّيْلَةِ يَحْصُلُ لَهُ مَا وَعَدَ اللَّهُ بِهِ، وَلَوْ لَمْ تَنْكَشِفْ لَهُ،
The one who stands this night in prayer obtains what God has promised, even if it is not unveiled to him;
وَالنَّاسُ يَرْغَبُونَ فِي مَعْرِفَتِهَا وَيَطْلُبُونَهَا لِأَجْلِ اِجَابَةِ الدُّعَاءِ فِيهَا•
and people long to know it and seek it for the sake of having their supplications answered in it.
وَكَانَ الْأَوْلَى أَنْ يَطْلُبُوهَا لِمَا وَعَدَ اللَّهُ ــ تَعَالَى ــ بِهِ قَائِمَهَا عَلَى لِسَانِ رَسُولِهِ ــ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ ــ•
It would have been more fitting for them to seek it for what God, Most High, promised the one who stands it, through the tongue of His Messenger, God bless him and grant him peace.
فَفِي الصِّحَاحِ:
For in the Ṣaḥīḥ collections:
«مَنْ قَامَ لَيْلَةَ الْقَدْرِ اِيمَاناً وَاحْتِسَاباً؛ غُفِرَ لَهُ مَا تَقَدَّمَ مِنْ ذَنْبِهِ»•
“Whoever stands [in prayer] on the Night of Decree out of faith and in hope of reward, whatever of his sins came before is forgiven him.”
وَأَمَّا الدُّعَاءُ؛ فَلَا يُمْكِنُ الدَّاعِيَ أَنْ يَدْعُوَ تِلْكَ اللَّيْلَةَ؛ اِلاَّ بِمَا سَبَقَتِ الْقِسْمَةُ الْأَزَلِيَّةُ بِحُصُولِهِ، وَكَانَ يَطْلُبُهُ بِلِسَانِ اسْتِعْدَادِهِ،
As for supplication: it is not possible for the supplicant to supplicate on that night except for what the pre-eternal apportionment has already decreed shall come about, and what he was already asking for with the tongue of his preparedness;
فَهُوَ مَجْبُورٌ عَلَى هَذَا،
so he is compelled in this.
وَقَالَتْ عَائِشَةُ ــ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهَا ــ يَارَسُولَ اللَّهِ، اِذَا رَأَيْتُ لَيْلَةَ الْقَدْرِ مَا أَقُولُ؟! فَقَالَ: قُولِي: «اللَّهُمَّ اِنَّكَ عَفُوٌّ تُحِبُّ الْعَفْوَ؛ فَاعْفُ عَنِّي»•
ʿĀʾisha, may God be pleased with her, said: “Messenger of God, if I see the Night of Decree, what shall I say?” He said: “Say: ‘O God, You are Pardoning, You love pardon, so pardon me.’”
وَظَاهِرُ أَمْرِ النَّبِيِّ ــ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ ــ بِمُرَاقَبَتِهَا وَطَلَبِهَا اِنَّمَا هُوَ لِاِقَامَتِهَا طَلَباً لِمَا وَعَدَ اللَّهُ مِنْ مَغْفِرَةِ الذُّنُوبِ، فِي حَقِّ عَامَّةِ أَهْلِ الْاِيمَانِ وَالْعُبَّادِ، لَا فِي حَقِّ الْخَوَاصِّ الَّذِينَ لَا يُرِيدُونَ اِلاّ وَجْهَهُ، فَلَا يَطْلُبُونَ غَيْرَهُ•
The outward sense of the Prophet's command, God bless him and give him peace, to watch for it and seek it is only that it be kept in prayer, seeking what God has promised of the forgiveness of sins. This holds for the generality of the people of faith and the devotees, not for the elect, who desire nothing but His Face and so seek nothing other than Him.
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