25:47 Al-Furqaan (The Criterion)

أي: من رحمته بكم ولطفه أن جعل الليل لكم بمنزلة اللباس الذي يغشاكم، حتى تستقروا فيه وتهدؤوا بالنوم وتسبت حركاتكم أي: تنقطع عند النوم، فلولا الليل لما سكن العباد ولا استمروا في تصرفهم فضرهم ذلك غاية الضرر، ولو استمر أيضا الظلام لتعطلت عليهم معايشهم ومصالحهم، ولكنه جعل النهار نشورا ينتشرون فيه لتجاراتهم وأسفارهم وأعمالهم فيقوم بذلك ما يقوم من المصالح.

وقوله: "وهو الذي جعل لكم الليل لباسا" أي يلبس الوجود ويغشاه كما قال تعالى: "والليل إذا يغشى" "والنوم سباتا" أي قاطعا للحركة لراحة الأبدان فإن الأعضاء والجوارح تكل من كثرة الحركة في الانتشار بالنهار في المعاش فإذا جاء الليل وسكن سكنت الحركات فاستراحت فحصل النوم الذي فيه راحة البدن والروح معا "وجعل النهار نشورا" أي ينتشر الناس فيه لمعايشهم ومكاسبهم وأسبابهم كما قال تعالى: "ومن رحمته جعل لكم الليل والنهار لتسكنوا فيه ولتبتغوا من فضله" الآية.

Evidence of the existence of the Creator and the extent of His Power

Here Allah begins explaining the evidence for His existence and His perfect power to create various things and pairs of opposites. Allah says:

أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى رَبِّكَ كَيْفَ مَدَّ الظِّلَّ

(Have you not seen how your Lord spread the shadow.) Ibn `Abbas, Ibn `Umar, Abu Al-`Aliyah, Abu Malik, Masruq, Mujahid, Sa`id bin Jubayr, An-Nakha`i, Ad-Dahhak, Al-Hasan, Qatadah, As-Suddi and others said, "This refers to the period from the beginning of the dawn until the sun rises."

وَلَوْ شَآءَ لَجَعَلَهُ سَاكِناً

(If He willed, He could have made it still) meaning, immobile, never changing. This is like the Ayat:

قُلْ أَرَأَيْتُمْ إِن جَعَلَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْكُمُ الَّيْلَ سَرْمَداً

(Say : "Tell me! If Allah made the night continuous for you...") (28:71)

ثُمَّ جَعَلْنَا الشَّمْسَ عَلَيْهِ دَلِيلاً

(but We have made the sun its guide.) means, were it not for the sun rising, it would not be there, for a thing can only be known in contrast to its opposite. Qatadah and As-Suddi said, "The sun is a guide which follows the shade until the shade disappears. "

ثُمَّ قَبَضْنَـهُ إِلَيْنَا قَبْضاً يَسِيراً

(Then We withdraw it towards Ourselves -- a gradual withdrawal.) This refers to the shade.

يَسِيراً

(gradual) meaning slowly. As-Suddi said: "A gentle, concealed, withdrawal until there is no shade left on earth except under a roof or a tree, and the sun is shining on whatever is above it."

قَبْضاً يَسِيراً

(a gradual withdrawal.) Ayyub bin Musa said: "Little by little.

وَهُوَ الَّذِى جَعَلَ لَكُمُ الَّيْلَ لِبَاساً

(And it is He Who makes the night a covering for you,) It covers and conceals all things. This is like the Ayah:

وَالَّيْلِ إِذَا يَغْشَى

(By the night as it envelops) (92:1).

وَالنَّوْمَ سُبَاتاً

(and the sleep a repose,) means, a halt to movement so that bodies may rest. For the faculties and limbs get tired from their constant movement during the day when one goes out to earn a living. When night comes, and it becomes quiet, they stop moving, and rest; so sleep provides a rejuvenation for both the body and the soul.

وَجَعَلَ النَّهَارَ نُشُوراً

(and makes the day Nushur) meaning, people get up and go out to earn a living and attend to their business. This is like the Ayah:

وَمِن رَّحْمَتِهِ جَعَلَ لَكُمُ الَّيْلَ وَالنَّهَارَ لِتَسْكُنُواْ فِيهِ وَلِتَبتَغُواْ مِن فَضْلِهِ

(It is out of His mercy that He has made for you the night and the day that you may rest therein and that you may seek of His bounty...) (28:73)

وَهُوَ الَّذِى أَرْسَلَ الرِّيَـحَ بُشْرَى بَيْنَ يَدَىْ رَحْمَتِهِ وَأَنزَلْنَا مِنَ السَّمَآءِ مَآءً طَهُوراً

And He it is Who made for you the night as a garment veiling you like a garment and sleep for repose rest for bodies through the temporary cessation of labour and He made the day for rising a time in which all rise to seek their livelihood and so on.

To work during day time and rest at night is based on great Wisdom

And He is the One who has made the night an apparel for you, and the sleep a means of rest and has made the day a means of revival. [ 47]

وَهُوَ الَّذِي جَعَلَ لَكُمُ اللَّيْلَ لِبَاسًا وَالنَّوْمَ سُبَاتًا وَجَعَلَ النَّهَارَ‌ نُشُورً‌ا

The night is referred as the apparel in this verse to describe that it covers up everything like a natural sheet as does the dress to human body. The word سُبَاتًا (subata) is derived from سَبت (sabt) which means to cut out. سُبَات is that thing which cuts out some other thing.

Allah Ta’ ala has made the sleep to shed away the exhaustion and fatigue one develops after the daylong work. In sleep one is cut off with stress and strain of mind and body while they are rested. Hence the word سُبات is generally translated as rest, relaxation or tranquility. So the sense of the verse is that Allah Ta’ ala has created the night as a covering to everything then imposed sleep on men and all living things, so that they rest and relax.

Here one needs to ponder over a few things. Everyone knows that sleep is a blessing and a source of relaxation. But it is human nature to sleep in darkness. It is very difficult to sleep in day light, and even if one goes off to sleep, one is awakened quickly. Conforming to human needs and nature Allah Ta’ ala has made nights dark and cool, so that people can sleep and relax. Hence, night by itself is a blessing and sleep is another blessing. The third blessing is that the entire humanity and animals sleep at night instinctively. If the sleeping time of different people were different from one another, it would have created a number of problems. In such a situation some would have slept at one time and the others at some other, creating problems for one another, because when people are awake, they move about for various works and this movement; would have created noise to the annoyance and disturbance for those who were sleeping. Apart from this, people are dependent on each other in many ways and different times of their sleeping would have deprived them of helping each other in their works because working time of one would have been the time of rest for the other.

If human beings would have resorted to a social contract for uniting the times of rest and work for the whole world, it was not, at the first place, an easy task to make billions of people agree on a single resolution, then the implementation of such a contract would have required a lot of formal departments, and still there would have been room for violation of such a contract through corrupt means, as is observed in the contemporary forums. All such problems have been overcome by the creation of night and sleep by Allah Ta’ ala which are greatly beneficial and necessary for human and other living beings. Allah Ta’ ala has instilled in humans such an urge to sleep at night that one can keep awake only with great difficulty and effort. فَتَبَارَ‌كَ اللَّـهُ أَحْسَنُ الْخَالِقِينَ

Similarly in وَجَعَلَ النَّهَارَ‌ نُشُورً‌ا (and has made the day a means of revival - 25:47), the day is described as revival, because its opposite, that is sleep, is like death when one loses all his senses. Here again, to keep awake and attend to one's needs during the day time is made mandatory in human beings. If this was not so, some people would have attended to their work while others slept, and this would have caused all sorts of problems.

As in the case of sleep, Allah Ta’ ala has bestowed a great blessing on human beings by creating its need at night. He has also made it part of human nature to keep awake and attend to work during day time, so that people should look after each other's needs. He has also fixed certain timings for certain desires and needs common in all human beings. For instance, all people feel hungry in the mornings and evenings and want to eat. So the eating times of all humans are common which is again a great blessing from Allah Ta’ ala