Ibn ‘Abbas reported the Prophet as saying, “Seek lailat al-qadr in the last ten nights of Ramadan, on the twenty-first, twenty-third and twenty-fifth.”
Ibn ‘Umar said that some of the Prophet’s companions had a dream that lailat al-qadr was among the last seven nights, so God’s messenger said, “ I see that your dreams agree regarding the last seven nights, so if anyone seeks it he should do so during the last seven nights.”
God’s messenger spent the first ten nights of Ramadan in devotion, and spent the middle ten nights in devotion in a round Turkish tent, after which he raised his head and said, “I have spent the first ten nights in devotion seeking this night, then I spent the middle ten nights in devotion, and after that I had a heavenly visitant and was told that it is in the last ten, so he who has engaged in devotion along with me should do so during the last ten nights, for I was shown this nights, then was caused to forget it, but I have seen myself prostrating in water and clay on the morning following, so seek it among the last ten and seek it in every night with an odd number.” He said: Rain fell that night, the mosque which was a thatched building dripped, and my eyes saw God’s messenger with traces of water and clay on his forehead on the morning after the twenty-first night. Bukhari and Muslim agree on the subject-matter, the wording being Muslim's up to “and was told it is it the last ten”, the remainder being Bukhari's. In the version of ‘Abdallah b. Unais he said it was the twenty-third night.
