And when its greatness was established by indicating that it is worthy of being asked about its characteristics, he said, resuming: "The Night of Decree" meaning the one we have specified by sending [it] down in it, "better than a thousand months" meaning empty [of it] or the action in it is better than the action in a thousand months that do not have the Night of Decree. And that is thirty-three years and four months. They said: And it is the duration of the rule of the Umayyad dynasty. It is named thus for its honor and great status, or because in it the decrees of matters are separated from the Mother of the Book, and it is written in it from Allah's judgment of what will occur from that night until its like of the coming year, from their saying: Allah has decreed upon this matter, He decrees it a decree, meaning He has ordained it. And it is the night referred to in Surah Al-Dukhan by His saying: "In it is decreed every wise matter" [Al-Dukhan: 4]. And the mention of a thousand is either for exaggeration by the end of the ranks of numbers to be more eloquent than seventy in its glorification, or because the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, mentioned a person from the believers of Bani Israel who wore armor, striving in the way of Allah for a thousand months. The believers were astonished by him, so their deeds became less in comparison to him. So Allah, glorified and exalted is He, granted them a night that whoever stands in it (p-180) is better than that. And He obscured it in the last ten days of the month of Ramadan in the saying of the majority according to what has been authenticated from the hadiths, so that they strive to attain it just as He concealed the hour of acceptance on Friday and the middle prayer in the five [prayers]. And His greatest name among the names, and His pleasure in all acts of obedience so that they may desire all of them, and His wrath in sins so that they may refrain from all of them, and the hour of resurrection in the times so that they may strive in every moment, being cautious of its occurrence. And the secret in that is that the precious is not reached except by great striving, showing its preciousness and magnifying the desire for it and indicating joy in it. However, He made the surah thirty words, and it is likely that they are the twenty-seventh which corresponds to His saying, as has been transmitted from Abu Bakr the scribe.