We know that the immediate revelation of the Holy Quran took place on the Night of Qadr[1] and the Holy Quran says about this matter[2] that: The month of Ramadhan is the month in which the Quran was revealed. Therefore, the Night of Qadr is situated in this holy month. There isn’t exact certainty as to the night which the Night of Qadr is on and there are conflicting ideas as to when the exact date falls on.[3] It seems that amongst all the various possibilities, the strongest possibility is that the night falls on the 23^rd of the Month of Ramadhan; many traditions and clues in them emphasize this possibility.[4]

It is not clear on which year this blessed event occurred, however it can be said that although the night of Qadr was the night when the Holy Quran was revealed in the material world, it was also the night when the Prophet (s) ascended into the heavens. The reason being that the Quran lies in the Ummul-Kitab, which is with the Lord[5], and as long as one doesn’t ascend he cannot retrieve the Quran that lies therein.[6] From this point it can be understood that the immediate revelation of the Holy Quran occurred at the time when the Holy Prophet (s) reached this stage of perfection. Hence, we give it a strong possibility that the revelation took place during the first year of the prophetic mission. This would make it approximately 56 days after the Bi’thah. This number was calculated by taking into account the time of the Bi’thah (27^th of Rajab), the Night of Qadr (23^rd of the Month of Ramadhan), and by estimating the Months of Sha’baan and Rajab as being 30 days each.

In respect to the gradual revelation[7] of the Holy Quran, which happened at the same time as the Bi’thah, it becomes subject to difference of opinion due to the debate over the exact date of the actual Bi’thah.[8]

The most famous opinion is that the Holy Prophet (s), on Wednesday of the 27^th of Rajab (which is the first of February of the year 610 (A.D.), was commissioned on his mission of prophethood.[9] When this occurred the first five verses of Surah Alaq were revealed to the Holy Prophet (s).[10] After this the revelation the Quranic verses were gradually revealed until the time of the passing of the Prophet (s); this took place over a span of 23 years.

A group of Muslims believe that there is a difference with the time of the Bi’thah compared with the time of the gradual revelation of the Holy Quran (in the form of a divine book). According to their opinion, even though five verses were revealed from Surah Alaq at the time of the Bi’thah, the Holy Prophet (s) was still not commissioned to publicly preach. Only after three years of secret teaching was he commissioned to publicly preach Islam,[11] It was from this that the Holy Quran was compiled into the form of a divinely inspired manuscript. From this perspective even if the Bi’thah occurred in the month of Rajab, still the start of the gradual revelation of the Holy Quran occurred after three years during the night of Qadr in the month of Ramadhan.[12]

There are traditions that confirm this idea by stating that the time of the revelation of the Quran was over a period of 20 years.[13] Hence this idea and theory[14] states that the time of the gradual revelation of the Holy Quran (in the form of a divine book) took place during the 4^th year of the Bi’thah. If we calculate this it will end up being approximately 3 years and 56 days after the Bi’thah of the Holy Prophet and it continued till the Prophet’s (s) passing (he died on the 28^th of Safar on the 11^th year of the Hejrat).

In conclusion, 1428 years have passed since the time of the migration of the Holy Prophet (s) and the Bi’thah was approximately 13 years before that. If we accept the first idea, then from the time of the first verse that was revealed approximately 1440 (Qamari) lunar years have passed. If we accept the second idea then from the time of the revelation of the first verse, 1437 years have elapsed.

Let it not be left unsaid that according to the reports from some historians, the time of the Bi’thah occurred at the first of February during the year 610 A.D. If we calculate the fact that we are currently in the year 2007 A.D. we can calculate the time from the revelation of the first verse according to this.