The Night of Peace and Salutation:

This is none other than the Night of Power (Lailat al Qadr), of which Allah (Exalted is He) has said:“Behold, We sent it down on the Night of Power.  And what has made you know what is the Night of Power?  The Night of Power is better than a thousand months.  In it the angels and the Spirit come down by their Lord’s permission, on every errand.  Peace it is until the rising of the dawn.” Sura tul Qadr (97: 1-5)

Ibn Abbas (may Allah be well pleased with him and with his father) is reported as having said:  “as soon as the Night of Power (Lailat al-Qadr) has arrived, Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) will command [Archangel] Gabriel (peace be upon him) to go down to the earth, accompanied by a host of angels, seventy thousand strong, from among the inhabitants of the Lote-Tree of the Farthest Boundary (Sidrat al Muntaha).  They will carry with them banners of light, and once they have alighted upon the surface of the earth, Archangel Gabriel (peace be upon him) will set up his banner and the angels will set up their banners ( in four localities, namely: next to the Ka’ba in Mecca, next to the tomb of the Holy Last Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace) in Medina, next to the Mosque of Jerusalem, and next to the Mosque of Mount Sinai.  Then Archangel Gabriel (peace be upon him) will tell the angels to fan out and go their separate ways, so they will disperse and go off separately in all directions.  Not a single house, nor chamber, nor tent, and not a single boat nor ship, in which there is a believing man (Mumin) or a believing woman (Muminah) to be found, will fail to receive a visit from the angels–apart from any such place that contains a dog, or a pig, or intoxicating liquor, or a person who is ritually unclean from some unlawful contact or behavior, or an icon.  As they make their rounds, the angels will be glorifying the Lord, extolling His Sanctity, and declaring that worship is due to Him Alone, as well as begging forgiveness on behalf of the Community of  [Nabi] Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace).  They will continue in this fashion until when the moment of dawn arrives, they rise up aloft into the sky.   The inhabitants will then receive them as their guests, and they will ask them:  “Where are you coming from?”  So the traveling angels will say:  “We spent the night in the world below, because it was the Night of Power for the Community of the Holy Last Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace).”  The inhabitants of the lowest heaven will then go on to ask:  “How has Allah treated them, and what has He done to meet their needs?”  Archangel Gabriel (peace be upon him) will respond to this by saying:  “Allah has forgiven the righteous ones among them and He has accepted their intercession on behalf of the unrighteous ones in their midst.  On hearing this, the angels of the lowest heaven will raise their voices in glorification (tasbih), sanctification, with praise of the Lord of All the Worlds (Rabb al Alamin), as an expression of gratitude for the forgiveness and acceptance that Allah has bestowed upon this Community.  

Then the angels of the lowest heaven will escort their guests up to the second heaven.  This procedure will then be repeated from each heaven to the next, all the way up to the seventh heaven, at which point Archangel Gabriel (peace be upon him) will say:  “Oh inhabitants of the various heavens, you must now return home!:  Obedient to this command, the angels from the various heavens will promptly return to their respective places, and those who are inhabitants of the Lote-Tree of the Farthest Boundary (Sidrat al Muntaha) will return to the Lote Tree. As soon as their fellow angels have come home from their mission the inhabitants of the Lote Tree will ask them. “Where have you been?”  So the travelers will give them the same answer as the one they gave to the inhabitants of the lowest heaven.  On hearing this, the inhabitants of the Lote Tree will raise their voices in glorification and sanctification.  The sound of their voices will be heard by the Garden of Refuge (Jannat an Na’im), then by the Garden of Eden (Jannat Adan), and then by the highest Garden of Paradise (Jannat al Firdaws), and so it will come to be heard by the Throne of the All Merciful One (Arsh ar Rahman).  The Heavenly Throne will thereupon raise its voice in glorification, sanctification, and praise of the Lord of All the Worlds (Rabb al Alamin), as an expression of gratitude for all that He has bestowed upon this Community.  Although He is All-Knowing (A’lam), Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) will ask:  “Oh My Throne, why have you raised your voice?”  So it will say:  “My God (Illahi), I have just received the good news that You granted forgiveness, last night, to the righteous ones among them on behalf of the unrighteous ones in their midst.  On receiving this answer, Allah (Exalted is He) will say:  “You have spoken the truth, Oh My Throne, but there is even more to it than that.  The Community of the Holy Last Messenger is entitled, in My sight, to generous favor the likes of which no eye has ever seen, no ear has ever heard, and no human heart has ever conceived.”

It has also been said that, when Archangel Gabriel (peace be upon him) comes down from heaven on the Night of Power, he will not leave any human being without giving him the greeting of peace and shaking him by the hand.  For the recipient, the sign of this will be the sudden appearance of goose bumps all over his skin, coinciding with a surge of tender feelings in his heart, and tearful moistening of his eyes.  

This explains why, as we have learned from a traditional report:  The Holy Last Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace) was seriously concerned about the prospects for his Community, so Allah (Exalted is He) said to him: “Oh Muhammad, do not worry, for I shall not remove members of your Community from the lower world, unless I have conferred upon them the spiritual degrees of the Messengers.  In the case of the Messengers (blessings and peace be upon  them all) the angels came  down to each of them in turn, bringing them the Spirit (Ruh), the message (risala), the inspiration (wahy), and the charismatic gift of grace (karama).  I shall likewise send the angels down to your Community, on the Night of Power, with the salutation of peace and mercy from Me.”