Muslim scholars do not know which night the ‘night’ of the verse refers to, as such, one of them says: “Usually taken to be a night in the month of Ramadhan, say the 23rd, 25th or 27th night of that month.”[11]
Maududi thinks this refers to the Night in which Allah had handed over the entire celestial Quran to the angels from which angel Gabriel “kept on revealing its verses and Ayats from time to time to Rasul Allah for 23 years in accordance with events and circumstances.”[12]
Tafsir al-Jalalayn agrees and accordingly, it translated the verse 97:1 in the following words:
“Lo! We revealed it, that is, the Qur'?n, in its entirety, [sending it down] from the Preserved Tablet to the heaven of this world, on the Night of Ordainment, that is, [the Night] of great eminence.”
But if Allah had revealed the entire Quran in the Night of Destiny or Glory, why has He not stated it clearly in the verse and also what He intended to say by using the word “errand” or “decree” in verse 97:4?
In our understanding, the “Night of Destiny,” or “The Blessed Night”[13] was a new expression, or rather, an old occasion newly employed by Allah to appease the Jews of Medina. From its generic descriptions, the Night of Destiny can be identified with a typical New Year’s day observance, an occasion, as on Rosh ha-Shana, on which Allah determines how the humans and all other creatures would fare in the following year;[14] i.e. their lot; this having been written down by Him in the Heavenly Book[15] before He created the Universe. As we have stated earlier, the Quran is a prototype of the Heavenly Book.
But was the Quran revealed in a single night? Here is Allah’s response to the question:
“(This is) the revelation of the Book in which there is no doubt, - from the Lord of the worlds.” [16]
It is clear from the verse that what the Quran contains are the revelations from the Heavenly Book – referred to in the Quran as the Book - and these came to Muhammad in piecemeal over a period of almost 23 three years. So, the question of the Quran coming to him in the form of a Book did not and could arise, for it took its present shape only after all the revelations were brought together following his death.
http://newageislam.com/did-the-qur-an--come-down--as-a-complete-book?/islamic-ideology/d/963
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10:19 PM
Moderate Islamist here
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