The Quran Verses
Surah 44:3–5:
Indeed, We sent it down during a blessed night. Indeed, We were warning. On that night is made distinct every precise matter—As a command from Us. Indeed, We were ever sending.
The Theological Conflict:
This passage refers to the night the Quran was revealed (Laylat al-Qadr), stating that on this specific night, every cosmic decree and human destiny for the coming year is finalized and distributed to the angels.
This concept creates a severe logical friction with the absolute, eternal nature of Al-Qadr (Predestination) found elsewhere in Islamic theology, which claims that everything was unalterably written in the Preserved Tablet (Al-Lauh Al-Mahfuz) 50,000 years before the creation of the universe (Sahih Muslim 2653a).
The Source Material:
Critics trace this "annual destiny update" motif back to ancient Mesopotamian and Babylonian astral religions. In Babylonian mythology, the gods met annually on the New Year (Akitu festival) to collectively write and seal the "Tablets of Destiny" for the upcoming year. The text absorbs this regional, seasonal bureaucratic framework into its monotheistic structure, creating a hybrid system where destiny is both eternally locked yet annually distributed.