Tafseer of The Smoke · Ad-Dukhaan · 44:4
On that night is made distinct every precise matter -
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 statement ( therein every wise matter is distinguished ) (44:4). The scholars of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) differed concerning this night in which every wise matter is distinguished, in accordance with their disagreement concerning the blessed night, and that is because the hāʾ in His statement ( therein ) refers back to the blessed night. Some of them said: it is the Night of Decree (laylat al-qadr); therein the matter of the entire year is decided: who dies, who is born, who is honored, who is debased, and the remaining matters of the year.
* Mention of who said that:
Mujāhid ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Rabīʿa ibn Kulthūm informed us, saying: I was with al-Ḥasan, and a man said to him: O Abū Saʿīd, is the Night of Decree in every Ramadan? He said: yes, by Allah, it is in every Ramadan, and it is the night in which every wise matter is distinguished; therein Allah decides every appointed term, every hope, and every provision until the corresponding night.
Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: Rabīʿa ibn Kulthūm related to us, saying: a man said to al-Ḥasan, while I was hearing it: how do you view the Night of Decree, is it in every Ramadan? He said: yes, by Allah, besides whom there is no god, it is in every Ramadan, and it is the night in which every wise matter is distinguished; Allah decides every appointed term, every creation, and every provision until the corresponding night.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Sālim said, on the authority of ʿUmar the freedman of Ghufra, he said: it is said: there is recorded for the Angel of Death whoever dies from one Night of Decree to the corresponding one, and that is because Allah, mighty and exalted is He, says: ( We sent it down in a blessed night ) and says ( therein every wise matter is distinguished ). He said: so you find the man who marries women and plants plantings, while his name is among the dead.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Salama, on the authority of Abū Mālik, concerning his statement: ( therein every wise matter is distinguished ), he said: the matter of the year until the year, whatever there is of creation, provision, appointed term, trial, or the like.
He said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ḥabīb, on the authority of Hilāl ibn Yasāf, he said: it was said: expect the decree (al-qaḍāʾ) in the month of Ramadan.
Al-Faḍl ibn al-Ṣabbāḥ related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Faḍīl related to us, on the authority of Ḥuṣayn, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn ʿUbayda, on the authority of Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, concerning his statement ( therein every wise matter is distinguished ), he said: the matter of the year is decreed on the Night of Decree.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both — on the authority of Ibn abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning his statement ( therein every wise matter is distinguished ), he said: on the Night of Decree is decided every matter that occurs in the year until the year: life and death; therein the provisions and all the trials are decreed.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda ( We sent it down in a blessed night ): the Night of Decree ( therein every wise matter is distinguished ): we were told that therein the matter of the year until the year is distinguished.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, he said: it is the Night of Decree; therein is decided what will be from the year until the year.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, he said: I asked Mujāhid and said: how do you view the supplication of one of us in which he says: O Allah, if my name is among the blessed, then confirm it among them, and if it is among the wretched, then erase it from there and place it among the blessed? He said: that is good. Then I met him after that, a year later or more than that, and I asked him about this supplication. He said: ( We sent it down in a blessed night. We were warners. Therein every wise matter is distinguished ), he said: on the Night of Decree is decided what will be in the year of provision or trial, then He brings forward what He wills and defers what He wills. As for the book of blessedness and wretchedness, however, that is fixed and is not changed.
And others said: no, it is the night of the middle of Shaʿbān.
* Mention of who said that:
Al-Faḍl ibn al-Ṣabbāḥ and al-Ḥasan ibn ʿArafa related to us, both of them saying: al-Ḥasan ibn Ismāʿīl al-Bajalī related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Sūqa, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning the statement of Allah, blessed and exalted is He, ( therein every wise matter is distinguished ), he said: on the night of the middle of Shaʿbān; therein the matter of the year is definitively established, and the living are written off from the dead, and the pilgrims (ḥājj) are recorded, so that no one is added to them and no one is taken away from them.
ʿUbayd ibn Ādam ibn abī Iyās related to me, saying: my father related to us, saying: al-Layth related to us, on the authority of ʿUqayl ibn Khālid, on the authority of Ibn Shihāb, on the authority of ʿUthmān ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Mughīra ibn al-Akhnas, he said: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "The appointed terms are cut off from Shaʿbān to Shaʿbān, so much so that a man truly marries and a child is born to him, while his name has already gone out among the dead."
Muḥammad ibn Maʿmar related to me, saying: Abū Hishām related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wāḥid related to us, saying: ʿUthmān ibn Ḥakīm related to us, saying: Saʿīd ibn Jubayr related to us, saying: Ibn ʿAbbās said: a man truly walks among the people, while he has already been recorded among the dead. He said: then he recited this verse ( We sent it down in a blessed night. We were warners. Therein every wise matter is distinguished ). He said: then he said: therein the matter of the worldly life is distinguished, from the year until the year.
The correct of the two statements herein is the statement of the one who said: it is the Night of Decree, because of what has already preceded in our exposition that by His statement ( We sent it down in a blessed night ) the Night of Decree is meant, and the hāʾ in His statement ( therein ) refers to the mention of the blessed night.
And by His statement ( therein every wise matter is distinguished ) He meant: in this blessed night is decided and separated every matter that Allah, exalted is He, has firmly decreed in that year, until the corresponding night of the other year. And He placed ḥakīm (wise) in the position of muḥkam (firmly decreed), as He said: Alif Lām Mīm. Those are the signs of the wise Book (al-kitāb al-ḥakīm), by which is meant: the firmly decreed (al-muḥkam).
