Dear respected Shaykh, assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. How does a servant of Allah know that he has attained laylatul qadr? كيف يعرف العبد أنه أدرك ليلة القدر؟

Praise be to Allah, and may Allah’s peace and blessings bes attained laylatul qadr? It cannot be definitely said that so and so has specifically stood up in prayer on the night of Decree (laylatul qadr), that is it can be the twenty-fifth, the twenty-seventh, or the twenty-first night. No one can possibly know the exact night because this is the knowledge of the unseen which is only known to Allah, and Allah has hidden it. The Prophet (peace be upon him) and his companions were not affirming that a specific night which they stood up in prayer for and engaged in acts of worship was laylatul qadr, rather, as stated in the Sahihayn when his companions  told him about the dreams that they had seen concerning this night he said, “It seems that your dreams have agreed.” [al-Bukhari (2015 ) and Muslim (1165)], that is their dreams agreed that it will be in that last seven nights. “ so he who wants to seek it should seek it in the last seven days”. [al-Bukhari (2015 ) and Muslim (1165]  However everyone who stands up in the last ten days of Ramadan will attain laylatul qadr. However, it remains for me to ask Allah that those who strive and do righteous deeds in this blessed night and I should stand up with sincerity and seeking Allah’s reward because the virtue of the night is attained by a person who stands up in worship with sincerity and seeking Allah’s reward. It has been transmitted in the Sahihayn from the hadith of Abu Hurairah that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “Whoever established prayers on the night of Qadr out of sincere faith and hoping for a reward from Allah, then all his previous sins will be forgiven” [al-Bukhari (1901) and Muslim (760)]   The sign which the Prophet (peace be upon him) mentioned concerning laylatul qadr comes after it has passed. The hadith of Ubay ibn Ka’b (may Allah be pleased with him) which was transmitted in Saheeh Muslim states, “On the morning after laylatul qadr the sun rises bright with no rays.”  [Muslim (762)]This is what Ubay narrated and he used to aver that laylatul qadr is the twenty-seventh night, rather he used he used to swear on that. This is his independent judgment (ijtihad), and it is the night which is most likely to be laylatul qadr, but there is no proof that it is fixed on that night, or that it  does not change from the twenty-seventh night.