Thread by @emrane

What are the ancient Near Eastern origins of the famous "Night of Destiny/Power" (ليلة القدر) believed come about during the last ten days of Ramadan?

And what are its connections to Female Power, Syriac Christianity & ancient Sumeria?

Check it out!

Islamic tradition debates which odd numbered night of the last 10 days of the month, i.e. 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, Laylat al-Qadr falls (the 27th being a traditional favorite).

I offer a different explanation based on a philological appraisal of Q 97 ( Al-Qadr / سورة القدر).

My translation follows.

Q 97—El-Badawi

1. We descended it (anzalnah) in the night of darkness (laylat al-qadr).
2. And what do you know about the night of darkness?
3. The night of darkness brightens to more than a thousand moons (khayr min alf shahr)...

...
4a. The angels and spirit descend into it (tanazzal al-ma’ikah wal-ruh fih)
4b. by permission of their lord’s every word (kul amr)
5. It is perfection (salam) until the rise of dawn (al-fajr).

See my thread from on شهر رمضان، سكينة، ليلة القدر

https://twitter.com/emrane/status/1125053771992715264

Skipping over the Aramaic glosses behind my translation (esp. Syriac & Mandaic), I hasten to summarize what I argue may be the tradition in conversation. Q 97 recalls one the world’s most ancient epic poems: “the descent of Inanna from the great above to the great below.”

The anonymous male God sends down his seed in the night of darkness, impregnating the “queen of the night,” i.e. Inanna. Their union in the underworld gives birth to a constellation brighter than a thousand full moons, lighting up the darkness of night.

This constellation is the star of transformation, the “morning and evening star,” i.e. Venus, or Inanna’s Arabian counterparts, esp. al-‘Uzza. The “angels” in v 3 are the genderless beings created by Enki (Sum. kurgarra, galatur), who “flutter over heaven and earth”..

The “spirit” is Ninshubur, Inanna’s handmaid and confidant. Together, these “angels and spirit” intercede before the gods and dive after Inanna into the underworld in order to rescue her.

They can only embark on their mission once they have “heeded Enki’s words” (cf. bi idhn rabbihim min kul amr). The “perfection” (salam; cf. Q 6:127) in verse 5 may recall the response of the underworld to Inanna’s objections to being stripped and humiliated, ...

“Quiet, Inanna, the ways of the underworld are perfect. They may not be questioned!” This refrain is repeated seven times in the text to exemplify perfection and divine will. Then dawn arrives and Inanna is transformed into the “lady of the morning,” i.e. the morning star.

In his Hymns on the Nativity Ephrem (d. 373) makes reference to Venus, both as the evening as well as morning star. He condemns the Pharisees, "...You then watch as [heaven’s] lights in this night of starry light. For though so dark be its color yet in virtue it is clear."

Ephrem later states in praise of Christ,

"A star of light which was not nature, shone forth suddenly; less than the sun and greater than the sun, less than it in its visible light, but greater than it in its hidden might, by reason of its mystery."

"The Morning Star cast its bright beams among the darknesses, and led them as blind men, and they came and received a great light: they gave offerings and received life, and they worshipped and returned. "

Late antique Syriac Christian literature & the Qur’an may condemn Babylonian magic and astrology, within which Venus played no small part. But given its undeniable popularity the brilliance of Venus, it was appropriated by the figures of Christ and Allah.

I also argue for a completely different calendrical method to calculate when Laylat al-Qadr falls. Want to know when it is? You will have to read my book on queenship and prophecy in late antique Arabia -- Stay tuned !

uh.academia.edu/EmranElBadawi