Tafseer of The Power, Fate · Al-Qadr · 97:4
The angels and the Spirit descend therein by permission of their Lord for every 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: تَنـزلُ الْمَلائِكَةُ وَالرُّوحُ فِيهَا بِإِذْنِ رَبِّهِمْ مِنْ كُلِّ أَمْرٍ ("The angels and the Spirit descend therein, by the permission of their Lord, for every decree").
The people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) differed over its interpretation. Some of them said: its meaning is: the angels descend, and Jibrīl with them — and he is the Spirit (al-rūḥ) — on the Night of Power (laylat al-qadr), بِإِذْنِ رَبِّهِمْ مِنْ كُلِّ أَمْرٍ ("by the permission of their Lord, for every decree"), that is, by the permission of their Lord, for every matter that Allah has decreed for that year, such as provisions, appointed terms of life, and the like.
Mention of who said that:
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 statement: مِنْ كُلِّ أَمْرٍ ("for every decree") — he said: therein is decreed what will be in the year up to that same night in the following year.
According to this view, this is the end of the statement, and the place of the pause is "for every decree" (min kulli amr).
Others said: تَنـزلُ الْمَلائِكَةُ وَالرُّوحُ فِيهَا بِإِذْنِ رَبِّهِمْ ("The angels and the Spirit descend therein by the permission of their Lord") — they do not encounter any believing man or believing woman without greeting him.
Mention of who said that:
It was related to me on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Ziyād al-Farrāʾ, who said: Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh related to me, on the authority of al-Kalbī, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: that he used to read: "from every person, peace" (min kulli imriʾin salām). Whoever reads according to this reading gave to the meaning of "from every person" the interpretation: from every angel; the meaning according to him was then: the angels and the Spirit descend therein by the permission of their Lord, namely every angel who greets the believing men and the believing women. But I do not consider its reading permissible, because of the consensus of the authoritative reciters (al-qurrāʾ) against it, and because it contradicts what is in the codices (maṣāḥif) of the Muslims. That is because in none of the codices of the Muslims is there a yāʾ in His word "amr"; and if it were read as مِنْ كُلّ امْرِئ ("from every person"), then it would require a hamza, which in the script becomes a yāʾ.
And the correct view in this matter is the first view that we mentioned earlier, in agreement with how Qatāda interpreted it.
