Tafseer of The Smoke · Ad-Dukhaan · 44:3
Indeed, We sent it down during a blessed night. Indeed, We were to warn [mankind].
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
His saying ( We sent it down on a blessed night ) (44:3). He, exalted is His praise, swears by this Book that He sent it down on a blessed night.
The scholars of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) differed concerning that night: which night of the nights of the year is it? Some of them said: it is the Night of Decree (laylat al-qadr).
* Mention of who said that:
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda ( We sent it down on a blessed night ): the Night of Decree. And the scrolls (ṣuḥuf) of Ibrāhīm were sent down on the first night of Ramadan, and the Torah was sent down when six nights of Ramadan had passed, and the Zabūr was sent down when sixteen of Ramadan had passed, and the Gospel (Injīl) was sent down when eighteen of Ramadan had passed, and the Furqān was sent down when twenty-four of Ramadan had passed.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning his saying ( on a blessed night ), he said: it is the Night of Decree.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His saying, mighty and exalted is He, ( We sent it down on a blessed night. We were warners ), he said: that night is the Night of Decree. Allah sent down this Qurʾān from the Mother of the Book (umm al-kitāb) on the Night of Decree, and then He sent it down upon the prophets during the nights and the days, and on nights other than the Night of Decree.
And others said: no, it is the night of the middle of Shaʿbān.
The correct view concerning this is the view of the one who said: what is meant by it is the Night of Decree, because Allah, exalted is His praise, has informed that it is so by His exalted saying ( We were warners ): We have, through this Book which We sent down on the blessed night, created Our punishment, so that it descends upon whoever among them is unbelieving and does not return to Our oneness (tawḥīd) and the assigning of divinity exclusively to Us.
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Footnotes:
(1) In Fatḥ al-qadīr of al-Shawkānī (4: 554): "Qatāda said: the entire Qurʾān was sent down on the Night of Decree from the Mother of the Book, which is the well-preserved tablet (al-lawḥ al-maḥfūẓ), to the House of Glory (bayt al-ʿizza) in the lowest heaven, and then Allah sent it down upon His Prophet ﷺ during the nights and the days, over the course of twenty-three years."
