How to reconcile the establishment of the Night of Decree with its shifting?

Question : Honorable Shaykh! You mentioned (may Allah preserve you) that the Night of Decree is not fixed, and that it is the night corresponding to the night of the descent of the Qur'an. The night of the descent of the Qur'an is fixed on one night, not several nights. So how do you reconcile the two statements?

Answer : Yes, the reconciliation between the two statements is that we did not say it comes twice in the same year. It used to come twice in the same year, that is correct, that is the reconciliation. But it is, for example, on the twenty-fifth in the year thirteen, and on the twenty-seventh in the year fourteen. There is no contradiction. The Qur'an, when it first descended, descended on the Night of Decree. Let us suppose that in that year it was the twenty-seventh night. In the year of 'Abd, it became the twenty-fifth night. The contradiction would be if the Night of Decree were on two nights in one year; then there would be some contradiction in that: on which of the two nights did it descend? But if we say it is one night in the month, but it might be on the twenty-seventh night in this year and on the twenty-fifth in another, there is no contradiction in that.