Abu Dawud

1386. Commentary: Imam Shafi’i rahimahullah and others say that the various nights in which Laylat al-Qadr is mentioned are not fixed for all times. Rather, these were answers given according to the circumstances of the questions. For example, when they would ask: “Should we seek it on such-and-such night?” the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) would reply: “Yes! Seek it on such-and-such night.” And Allah knows best. And each person remained an adherent to what he had heard. And the number of those who hold the opinion that the twenty-seventh night is Laylat al-Qadr is very great. (Awn al-Ma’bud)

576 Lexical Explanation:
«وَالرَّاجِحُ وَقْفُهُ» That is, the preferred view is that this is the statement of Mu'awiyah radi Allahu anhu, not a saying of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, although in ruling it is considered marfu‘ (attributed to the Prophet).
«وَقَدِ اخْتُلِفَ فِي تَعْيينِهَا . . . الخ» There is a difference of opinion regarding its determination. Hafiz Ibn Hajar rahimahullah has mentioned forty opinions in Fath al-Bari, but the preferred and stronger view among them is that Laylat al-Qadr is one of the odd nights of the last ten nights, and it shifts from year to year. Sometimes it falls on the twenty-first, sometimes the twenty-third, sometimes the twenty-fifth, sometimes the twenty-seventh, and sometimes the twenty-ninth night. And in those narrations where the determination is mentioned with great certainty and emphasis—such as in this narration the mention of the twenty-seventh, and in some narrations the twenty-first, and in others the twenty-third—this is because in the year when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam narrated this hadith, Laylat al-Qadr was on that particular night. It is not that Laylat al-Qadr will always be on that same night. However, some have understood from this that Laylat al-Qadr will always be on that night. In reality, the cause of the difference of opinion on this matter is precisely this. ٭