BEHOLD, from on high have We bestowed this [divine writ] on the Night of Destiny.1
Asad Translation Note Number :
And what could make thee conceive what it is, that Night of Destiny?
Asad Translation Note Number :
The Night of Destiny is better than a thousand months:2
Asad Translation Note Number :
in hosts descend in it the angels,3 bearing divine inspiration4 by their Sustainer's leave; from all [evil] that may happen
Asad Translation Note Number :
does it make secure,5 until the rise of dawn.
Asad Translation Note Number :
Or: "of Almightiness" or "of Majesty" - thus describing the night on which the Prophet received his first revelation (see introductory note to the preceding surah). On the basis of several Traditions it may be assumed that it was one of the last ten nights - probably the twenty-seventh of the month of Ramadan, thirteen years before the Prophet's emigration to Medina.
Sc., "in which there was no similar night" (Razi).
The grammatical form tanazzalu implies repetition, frequency or multitude; hence - as suggested by Ibn Kathir - "descending in hosts".
Lit., "and [divine] inspiration". For this rendering of ruh, see first sentence of 16:2 and the corresponding note [2]. The present instance is undoubtedly the earliest example of the Qur'anic use of this term in the sense of "divine inspiration".
Lit., "it is salvation (salam, see surah {5}, note [29]) - i.e., it makes the believer secure from all spiritual evil: thus Mujahid (as quoted by Ibn Kathir), evidently implying that a conscious realization of the sanctity of this night acts as a shield against unworthy thoughts and inclinations.
