Dear respected Shaykh, assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. What is the ruling of searching for laylatul qadr? What is the ruling for positively stating that it is on a particular night? ما حكم تحري ليلة القدر، والجزم بأنها في ليلة معينة؟

Praise be to Allah, and may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, his family and his companions.   Wa alaikum assalam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.   As to what follows:   In response to your question, we say: Undoubtedly seeking laylatul qadr is a permissible issue which the believers look forward to. This is because Allah the Exalted has put in this night specific issues relating to decree and the Sharee’ah which necessitate that people should welcome it and seek to find that blessed night. Allah the Exalted said, “Indeed, We sent the Qur'an down during the Night of Decree” [Surah al-Qadr 97: 1].Then he says, “ And what will make you know what the night of Al-Qadr (Decree) is?” [Surah al-Qadr 97: 2]. After that there was some explanation and details about the status of this night. Allah said, “The Night of Decree is better than a thousand months” [Surah al-Qadr 97: 3].  The one who is saying this is the Lord of the worlds who knows the virtues of times and places. Then Allah explained some things that happen on that night and He said: “The angels and the Spirit descend therein, the spirit is Jibril, “by permission of their Lord for every matter” [Surah al-Qadr 97: 3],that is with all that Allah destines and decrees on this night. “Peace it is until the emergence of dawn” [Surah al-Qadr 97: 5]. Thus a night with these virtues and status must be anticipated by people, so do not be surprised that people will be attached to all that indicates this night. However, people must be advised and they should not positively state something which was not mentioned in the Sunnah because the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “I was shown laylatul qadr, but I was caused to forget it” [al-Bukhari (2016) and Muslim (1167)], as has been transmitted in the Sahihayn from the hadith of Abu Sa’id al-Khudri, ‘Aishah, ibn ‘Abbas and a number of the Sahaba. This hadith shows that dreams can indicate laylatul qadr. The Sahaba were the best generation and among them was ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) who stated, as has been transmitted in the Sahihayn that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “It seems that all your dreams agree that (the Night of Qadr) is in the last seven nights, and whoever wants to search for it (i.e. the Night of Qadr) should search in the last seven (nights of Ramadan)” [al-Bukhari (2015) and Muslim (1165)]. This means that the dreams were many and different but the Prophet (peace be upon him) combined them and restricted them to the last seven nights. However, he did not positively state that it was on a particular night. What we see these days is that some people see a dream and then they state positively that it is on a particular night, and send messages that such and such a scholar saw laylatul qadr on such and such a night. However, there is no room for positively stating that in this way. The Sahaba who saw laylatul qadr were in their dreams are the noblest of the creation and the most honorable people after the prophets, yet none of them stated that laylatul qadr was on such and such a night based on his dream. Rather the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, ““It seems that all your dreams agree”, thus one Sahabi saw it on the twenty-seventh night, another one saw it on the twenty-fifth, another one saw it on twenty-night, and another one saw it on the twenty-third. All these nights are among the last seven nights of the month: “and whoever wants to search for it (i.e. the Night of Qadr) should search in the last seven (nights of Ramadan)”. Thus we should be careful not to positively state that laylatul qadr is on such and such a night. I would like to remind my brothers that the evil of positively stating that laylatul qadr is on such and such a night are more than the benefits, because a message will come to you and state, “Today is laylatul qadr,” and you will be active in worship on that day and be slack on the following day.  Then another message will come to you and you will say, “Which of them should I believe, this message or the previous one”. Thus we must not enter such situations. We should suffice with what the Prophet (peace be upon him) sufficed with. Who will give us the result (of the search for laylatul qadr?) The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “It seems that all your dreams agree that (the Night of Qadr) is in the last seven nights, and whoever wants to search for it (i.e. the Night of Qadr) should search in the last seven (nights of Ramadan)”.

  Dr. Khalid al-Mosleh