The consensus of the scholars is that Laylatul Qadr is only found in the month of Ramadhaan; except Abu Haneefah who said Laylatul Qadri is found in all months of the year.
Those who agreed that laylatul Qadri is in the month of Ramadhaan further disagreed upon when it is in the month of Ramadhaan.
The Shaafi’iyyah have it that laylatul qadr is on the night of the Twenty-first of Ramadhaan, or Twenty-third of the month.
The Maalikiyyah say: it is in all odd (numbers) nights of the Last Ten days of the month.
While the Hanabillah says it is on the Twenty-seven night of the month.
Note: nights come before days in Islamic counting.
Further disagreement among scholars of this century are based on this basic disagreement of these scholars of madhaa’ib.
In Conclusion:
A specific date should not be chosen as laylatul Qadri since there is no certainty of the exact day. Scholars of the past disagreement were based on interpretations of ahadeeth on the subject matter and ijtihād.
Laylatul Qadr should be a Ten days exercise in observance of Sunnatic Tahajjud and ibaadaat and not the usual all-night funfare associated with the chosen lailatul Qadr night by some various Islamic organizations.
The most correct and famous on the exact day of laylatul qadr as mentioned by Imam Al Qurtubi, Ibn Katheer and many others in their tafseer is that laylatul Qadr is in the last Ten days of Ramadhan and not in the first Twenty. And this is the saying of Malik, Shafi’iy, Ahmad, Auzaa’iyy and many other salaf – as earlier said.
It is correct we say it is among the last Ten days of Ramadhan without a specific date, and the wisdom for it being hidden is for Muslims to strive more in ibadaat in all these Ten days without exception.
The view of being twenty-seven of Ramadhaan is the view of minority of the scholars. And the hadeeth they rely on is the hadeeth of Ubayy bn Ka’b and Abu Hurayrah, most other ahadeeth specifying that it is the night of twenty-seven are not authentic; many are do’eef, some are mu’allal, some are mudallas while some are mu’dol. And the two most authentic narrations from Ubayy and Abu Hurayrah, majority of the scholars explained it that the hadeeth is pointing on the greatness of the twenty-seven night and not twentyseven itself. i.e: the probability is high in the night of twenty-seven, which some scholars did not accept the interpretation also.
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Extracted [Fiqh Ramadhan] page 122, 123 by Ibn Taofeeq Abdul Azeez