Better than a thousand months
The Night of Power is the night on which, the Qur'an says, the Book was sent down, and which is worth more than a thousand months of worship; angels and the Spirit descend on it, and it is peace until the dawn. Hadith adds that the affairs of every person for the coming year — life, death, sustenance — are decreed on it, and Shia tradition that the angels present the decrees to the Imam of the age.
Which night
Its date is deliberately hidden so that the last ten nights are all sought. The Shia, following the Imams, keep three nights — the eves of the 19th, 21st and 23rd — and hold the 23rd the most likely; a hadith of Imam al-Sadiq (a) explains that the decree is written on the 19th, confirmed on the 21st and sealed on the 23rd. Most Sunni Muslims observe the 27th.
The vigil
On these nights the mosques and husayniyyas are full until dawn. The Ihya includes the ghusl, prayers, the supplication of Jawshan al-Kabir, and the ceremony of raising the Qur'an on the head while calling on God by the Book and by the Prophet and the Imams. Because Imam Ali (a) was struck on the 19th and died on the 21st, the nights are also the nights of his mourning, and the 23rd, falling after his burial, is the greatest of the three.
Written for Shia Online Community. Dates and facts are checked against the references listed under Research & books; where the tradition records more than one date, all are given.
