The descent of the angles on Night of Qadr
By referring to the verses of the holy Quran, we understand that all affairs destined to happen in the universe and also to each person and other creatures in the following year, are made clear in the Night of Qadr. Moreover the angels will descend these destined affairs in the form of divine command. (The holy Quran, (97:4))
In the verse 4 of Surah al-Qadr Allah (SWT) has talked about the descent of the angles and divine commands. In fact in this verse, we should see what the responsibility of the angles about these commands is. When Allah (SWT) says that the angels will descend in it by the permission of their Lord, every command, then it is clear that this manner of descending is to communicate a message. (The holy Quran, (97:4))
The descent of the angles toward which destination?
As it was discussed the descent of the angles in the Night of Qadr is for delivering messages. In this type of descending, the angels act as messengers from Allah (SWT) to bring a message for a receiver. Therefore there has to be a recipient for the angels to descend upon and give the commands.
Considering the descending of the angels and the message they carry, and supposing that the descent of angles is not vein, one can conclude that the descending of the angels can not be upon every creation of Allah (SWT). Rather it should be upon a person who has the ability of receiving such extensive and important information. Now let us refer to the verse of the holy Quran which implies that in that very night the angels reveal the distinction of all affairs, namely not only the distinction of the yearly affairs of you and I, but all the human beings on this planet. Therefore we simply find that an ordinary man can never receive such amount of information in just one night.
Now that we realize an ordinary human being cannot be the receiver of the decrees brought by angels, we can therefore expect that certain chosen people exist for this task. These chosen people must be far from any impurities or defects of any normal human being, and they must have the capacity of receiving and executing divine messages. In other words they must be Allah’s (SWT) representative on the earth. This is the status which the holy Quran refers to when talking about the representatives of Allah (SWT) [(The holy Quran, 2:30)]. The representative of Allah (SWT) is one who represents Allah (SWT) and with His permission does divine acts, like Prophet Jesus (PBUH) who was able to bring the dead back to life [The holy Quran, (3:49)]. The caliph of Allah on the earth is responsible for executing specific command and effects, in other words he is the connection between the heavens and the earth. It is obvious that the Caliph of Allah (SWT) being His representative on the earth and in connection with Him should be able to receive and execute divine messages.
Who are these people?
Muslims all agree on the fact that in the age of the Prophet the only person who the angels would descend upon for bringing the sacred messages was the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP). During his lifetime, no one else would receive these messages. However, just as discussed above, the descending of the angels on the Night of Qadr and bringing the divine commands is a progressive act that is repeated each year. Therefore it did not end after the demise of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP). And the angels continue to bring the distinction of people to a person.
It is obvious that such a person should be the one who like the Prophet is appointed by Allah to be responsible for divine affair like the descent of the angles upon him. Also he should be given the special abilities and capabilities by Allah (SWT). Naturally such a person is the continuer of the path of the Prophet and is responsible for the acts which he was responsible for and should be continued after him. To be clearer he is the successor of the prophet and besides the representative of Allah on the earth.
Historical sources have shown that after the demise of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP), no one except a few have claimed that the angels descend unto him on the Night of Qadr. If they had done such, their claim could be easily defeated by asking the people of his era a few simple questions about the future and its specifics. However there were a few who claimed that angels would descend upon them, and they would defend their claim through legitimate proof. They, like the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP) had such a vast knowledge about the incidents of the world that the people of their era would easily realize that they were the most knowledgeable Man in their era. The biographies of these certain people confirm this claim and open a whole new subject that will need to be discussed in other articles.
Let it not be unsaid that these people are none other but the one who the Shiites believe in their Imamah, the successors of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP), the representative of Allah (SWT): Ali and the eleven infallible Imam from his progeny (PBUT).
From the above argument, one can deduce that there must be a leader chosen by Allah (SWT), a representative of Allah at all times so the angels can descend upon on the Night of Qadr for bringing the destinies. Based on this reasoning the Shiite Muslims believe that after the demise of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP), the angels would descend upon the representatives of Allah (SWT) and true successors of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP) on the Night of Qadr. And in our present age, each year the angels descend upon the living Imam of the time, Imam Mahdi (May Allah hasten his appearance) to bring the destined affairs.
