Tafsir of Surah Al-An'am - Verse 96

Recognizing Allah Through Some of His Ayat

Allah states that He causes the seed grain and the fruit stone to split and sprout in the ground, producing various types, colors, shapes, and tastes of grains and produce. The Ayah,

فَالِقُ الْحَبِّ وَالنَّوَى

(Who causes the seed grain and the fruit stone to split and sprout.) is explained by the next statement,

يُخْرِجُ الْحَىَّ مِنَ الْمَيِّتِ وَمُخْرِجُ الْمَيِّتِ مِنَ الْحَىِّ

(He brings forth the living from the dead, and it is He Who brings forth the deed from the living.) meaning, He brings the living plant from the seed grain and the fruit stone, which is a lifless and inanimate object. Allah said,

وَءَايَةٌ لَّهُمُ الاٌّرْضُ الْمَيْتَةُ أَحْيَيْنَـهَا وَأَخْرَجْنَا مِنْهَا حَبّاً فَمِنْهُ يَأْكُلُونَ

(And a sign for them is the dead land. We gave it life, and We brought forth from it grains, so that they eat thereof.) 36:33 until,

وَمِنْ أَنفُسِهِمْ وَمِمَّا لاَ يَعْلَمُونَ

(as well as of their own (human) kind (male and female), and of that which they know not.) 36:36 Allah's statement,

وَيُخْرِجُ الْمَيِّتَ مِنَ الْحَىِّ

(and it is He Who brings forth the dead from the living. ) There are similar expressions in meaning such as, He brings the egg from the chicken, and the opposite. Others said that it means, He brings the wicked offspring from the righteous parent and the opposite, and there are other possible meanings for the Ayah. Allah said,

ذَلِكُـمُ اللَّهُ

(Such is Allah,) meaning, He Who does all this, is Allah, the One and Only without partners,

فَأَنَّى تُؤْفَكُونَ

(then how are you deluded away from the truth) meaning, look how you are deluded from Truth to the falsehood of worshipping others besides Allah. Allah's statement,

فَالِقُ الإِصْبَاحِ وَجَعَلَ الَّيْلَ سَكَناً

((He is the) Cleaver of the daybreak. He has appointed the night for resting,) means, He is the Creator of light and darkness. Allah said in the beginning of the Surah,

وَجَعَلَ الظُّلُمَـتِ وَالنُّورَ

(And originated the darkness and the light.) Indeed, Allah causes the darkness of the night to disappear and brings forth the day, thus bringing brighteness to the world and light to the horizon, while dissipating darkness and ending the night with its depth of darkness and starting the day with its brightness and light. Allah said,

يُغْشِى الَّيْلَ النَّهَارَ يَطْلُبُهُ حَثِيثًا

(He brings the night as a cover over the day, seeking it rapidly.) 7:54 In this Ayah, Allah reminds of His ability to create diversified things in opposites, testifying to His perfect greatness and supreme power. Allah states that He is the Cleaver of the daybreak and mentioned its opposite, when He said,

وَجَعَلَ الَّيْلَ سَكَناً

(He has appointed the night for resting,) meaning, created darkness, in order for the creation to become halt and rest during it. Allah said in other Ayat,

وَالضُّحَى - وَالَّيْلِ إِذَا سَجَى

(By the forenoon. And by the night when it is still.) 93:1-2,

وَالَّيْلِ إِذَا يَغْشَى - وَالنَّهَارِ إِذَا تَجَلَّى

(By the night as it envelops. And by the day as it appears in brightness.) 92:1,2 and,

وَالنَّهَارِ إِذَا جَلَّـهَا - وَالَّيْلِ إِذَا يَغْشَـهَا

(And by the day as it shows up (the sun's) brightness. And by the night as it conceals it.) 91:3-4 Allah's statement,

وَالشَّمْسَ وَالْقَمَرَ حُسْبَاناً

(...And the sun and the moon for reckoning.) means, the sun and the moon have specific orbits, according to a term appointed with magnificent precision that never changes or alters. Both the sun and the moon have distinct positions that they assume in summer and winter, effecting changes in the length of night and day. Allah said in other Ayat,

هُوَ الَّذِى جَعَلَ الشَّمْسَ ضِيَآءً وَالْقَمَرَ نُوراً وَقَدَّرَهُ مَنَازِلَ

(It is He Who made the sun a shining thing and the Moon as a light and measured out stages for it.) 10:5,

لاَ الشَّمْسُ يَنبَغِى لَهَآ أَن تدْرِكَ القَمَرَ وَلاَ الَّيْلُ سَابِقُ النَّهَارِ وَكُلٌّ فِى فَلَكٍ يَسْبَحُونَ

(It is not for the sun to overtake the moon, nor does the night outstrip the day. They all float, each in an orbit.) 36:40, And,

وَالشَّمْسَ وَالْقَمَرَ وَالنُّجُومَ مُسَخَّرَتٍ بِأَمْرِهِ

(The sun and the moon; and the stars are subjected by His command.) 16:12 Allah's statement,

ذَلِكَ تَقْدِيرُ الْعَزِيزِ الْعَلِيمِ

(Such is the measuring of the Almighty, the All-Knowing.) means, all of this occurs according to the decree and due measurement of the Almighty Who is never resisted or contradicted. He is the Knower of all things and nothing ever escapes His knowledge, not even the weight of an atom on earth or in heavens. Allah often mentions the creation of the night, the day, the sun and the moon and then ends His Speech by mentioning His attributes of power and knowledge, as in this Ayah above 6:96, and in His statement,

وَءَايَةٌ لَّهُمُ الَّيْلُ نَسْلَخُ مِنْهُ النَّهَارَ فَإِذَا هُم مُّظْلِمُونَ - وَالشَّمْسُ تَجْرِى لِمُسْتَقَرٍّ لَّهَـا ذَلِكَ تَقْدِيرُ الْعَزِيزِ الْعَلِيمِ

(And a sign for them is the night, We withdraw therefrom the day, and behold, they are in darkness. And the sun runs on its fixed course for a term. That is the decree of the Almighty, the All-Knowing.) 36:37-38 In the beginning of Surat Ha-Mim As-Sajdah, after mentioning the creation of the heavens and earth and all that is in them, Allah said:

وَزَيَّنَّا السَّمَآءَ الدُّنْيَا بِمَصَـبِيحَ وَحِفْظاً ذَلِكَ تَقْدِيرُ الْعَزِيزِ الْعَلِيمِ

(And We adorned the nearest (lowest) heaven with lamps (stars) to be an adornment as well as to guard. Such is the decree of Him, the Almighty, the All-Knower.) 41:12 Allah said next,

وَهُوَ الَّذِى جَعَلَ لَكُمُ النُّجُومَ لِتَهْتَدُواْ بِهَا فِى ظُلُمَـتِ الْبَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِ

(It is He Who has set the stars for you, so that you may guide your course with their help through the darkness of the land and the sea.) Some of the Salaf said; Whoever believes in other than three things about these stars, then he has made a mistake, and lied against Allah. Indeed Allah made them as decorations for the heavens, and to shoot at the Shayatin, and for directions in the dark recesses of the land and sea. Then, Allah said,

قَدْ فَصَّلْنَا الآيَـتِ

(We have explained in detail Our Ayat.) meaning, We made them clear and plain,

لِقَوْمٍ يَعْلَمُونَ

(for people who know. ) who have sound minds and are able to recognize the truth and avoid falsehood.

وَهُوَ الَّذِى أَنشَأَكُم مِّن نَّفْسٍ وَحِدَةٍ فَمُسْتَقَرٌّ وَمُسْتَوْدَعٌ قَدْ فَصَّلْنَا الاٌّيَـتِ لِقَوْمٍ يَفْقَهُونَ

Said in the second verse (96) is: فَالِقُ الْإِصْبَاحِ (He is) the One who causes the dawn to break.' The word: فَالِقُ (Faliq) means one who splits, and the word: الْإِصْبَاحِ (al-Isbah) here means the time of morning. Thus, the expression: فَالِقُ الْإِصْبَاحِ (Faliq al-labah) means one who splits the morning, that is, one who tears the dark layer of darkness apart and brings the morning out. This too is one of those functions of such magnitude that would render the combined powers of all Jinns and human beings and all others to nothing. It does not take much to realize the truth of it. Everyone with a pair of sighted eyes is compelled to concede that the causer and creator of the morning light from the darkness of the night cannot be a human being, or angel, or any other created being, from fact or fiction. Instead of all that, the undeniable truth is that this is the work of that One Being that created the whole universe, a Being beyond human comprehension.

Night for Rest is a Blessing

After that, it was said: وَجَعَلَ اللَّيْلَ سَكَنًا (And He has made the night for rest). The word: سَکَن (sakan) is a derivation from : سُکُون (sukun). Everything - means, time or place - by having or reaching which one feels peaceful and comfortable is called sakan, therefore, the home of a person has been referred to as sakan in the Holy Qur'an: جَعَلَ لَكُم مِّن بُيُوتِكُمْ سَكَنًا (Allah made for you your home a place to rest - 16:80). This is so because the home of a person, even if it be a hut, is a habitual source of peace and comfort. Therefore, this sentence comes to mean that Allah Ta` ala has made the night a time of peace and comfort for every living being. By saying: فَالِقُ الْإِصْبَاحِ (Faliq al-Isbah: the One who causes the dawn to break) mentioned there were blessings which one benefits from during the light of the day, something that would not be equally possible during the darkness of night. Then, by saying: وَجَعَلَ اللَّيْلَ سَكَنًا (made the night for rest) after that, indication was given that, no doubt the light of the day is a great blessing for human beings trans-acting most of their businesses and chores with its help, but not that bad is the darkness of night, for that too is a big blessing when it helps a person, all tired after a hard day's work, get the rest needed to go back to work with recovered energy. Otherwise, human nature cannot withstand respite-less labour.

Earmarking the darkness of night for comfort is a regular blessing and, certainly, a special demonstration of the irresistibly subjugating power of Allah Ta` ala. Since this blessing comes handy every day without having to ask for it, one hardly bothers to think how great a favour and reward it is. Imagine if everyone were to fix a time of rest with one's choice, then, someone would be getting ready to sleep at eight in the morning, someone else at twelve noon and there will others sleeping at all sorts of odd hours during the day and night. The result would have been that there would have not come a single hour out of the twenty four hours of the night and day when human beings would have not been busy with their business, job or work and plants and factories would have not been working as usual. The inevitable result of such breathless activity would have been that the peace of the sleeping would have been disturbed and equally disadvantaged would have been those working on their jobs. The high decibel of discordant sounds emitting from traffic, factories and workers themselves would have interfered with the peace of the sleeping, and the absence of the sleeping would have affected those working on their jobs. In addition to that, those sleeping would have missed doing things which can be done only when it is time for them to sleep. In short, Allah Jalla Sha'nuhu has, in His great power to subdue, has set upon, not only human beings but on all living creatures, the weight of sleep in a manner that one is compelled to stop working and go to sleep. With the fall of dusk, birds and beasts and cattle head for their nests, lairs and homes. Man has to stop working as a compulsion and has to start looking towards his place of rest. Silence reigns. Darkness of night becomes an ally of sleep and rest, as light is usually not conducive to sleep.

Just imagine what would happen if all governments and peoples of the world joined hands in a global agreement to fix a universal time to sleep. First of all this would have posed too many problems. Then, should all human beings, abiding by a possible agreement, were to sleep at an appointed time, who would have made animals abide by that agreement? If they roamed around scot-free what would have happened to the sleeping human beings and their belongings? Most exalted is the majesty of Allah and great is His power to subdue that He has appointed sleep to descend upon every human being and every living creature at a given time compulsively, and thus, He has saved them from the very need of such international agreements: فَتَبَارَ‌كَ اللَّـهُ أَحْسَنُ الْخَالِقِي (So, blessed be Allah, the Best of creators) (23:14).

Solar and Lunar Calendar

In the next sentence: وَالشَّمْسَ وَالْقَمَرَ‌ حُسْبَانًا (and the sun and the moon for measurement), the word: حُسْبَان (Husban) is a verbal noun and is used to mean to count, measure, calculate or compute. The sense of the verse is that Allah Ta` ala has appointed the rising and setting and the movement of the sun and the moon in a particular measure through which human beings can easily calculate years, months, days, hours, even minutes and seconds.

Again, this is the manifestation of the same Divine power to subdue and commission into desired action that such huge glowing globes of awesome proportions and their movements have been so formidably programmed to perform according to measure which just does not vary even by a second despite the passage of thousands of years. Whatever machinery has been employed to make them function so flawlessly certainly needs no workshop, nor needed there is our customary repair and replacement of time-barred parts. The spheres of light, their function, their movement, everything in the system is performing perfectly as commanded: لَا الشَّمْسُ يَنبَغِي لَهَا أَن تُدْرِ‌كَ الْقَمَرَ‌ وَلَا اللَّيْلُ سَابِقُ النَّهَارِ‌ "It behooves not the sun to overtake the moon, neither does the night outstrip the day" - 36:40 (as translated by Arberry). Alas, it must have been because of this formidable and changeless Divine system that man was mistaken as he took these manifestation of the system as existing in their own right, even went on to the limits of worshipping them. Had this system been open to flaws, a little malfunction here and there, some time out for repairs, then, one would have discovered that this mechanism is not automatic, somebody has made it and somebody keeps it running. But, such has been the brilliance and permanence of these great heavenly bodies that human beings have been blinded to the reality behind. It was to let them know what it was that came scriptures and prophets and messengers.

This statement of the Qur'an also indicates that the calculation of years and months can be solar and it can be lunar as well. Both are rewards from Allah Jalla Sha'nuhu. It is a different matter that the lunar calendar has been used in Islamic injunctions for the sake of providing convenience to the common masses of the world so that they do not have to undergo the trouble of complicated calculations. Since Islamic history and Islamic injunctions are based on lunar calendar, it is an obligation on the Muslim Ummah that it retains and protects this calendar. As for other methods of calculation, such as the Solar or Gregorian calendar, if they are adopted because of some necessity, there is no sin in it. But, ignoring the lunar calendar totally and letting it be forgotten is a grave sin - an unfortunate conduct which may lead to a situation in which a Muslim does not know when the months of Ramadan, Dhil-Hijjah and Muharram will come.

At the conclusion of the verse, it was said: ذَٰلِكَ تَقْدِيرُ‌ الْعَزِيزِ الْعَلِيمِ (This is a measure set by [ Allah ] the Mighty, the Knowing). It means that this wondrous system of movement, precise and perpetual, at the scale of such magnitude, something which does not admit the difference of a second, can only be the charismatic feat of the supreme power of the One who is Al-` Aziz, the Mighty, and who is the Subduer of whatever there is, and who if fully capable of articulating His Will as He deems fit and, besides that, He is Knowing, having the knowledge of everything and the mastery of doing what He elects to do.

The volume of the sun is 1.2 million times that of the earth, and the earth itself is four times larger than the moon. The moon is about two hundred and fifty thousand miles away from the earth and revolves around it. The earth is at a distance of about 95 million miles from the sun and is moving round the latter in two ways—one in rotation on its axis and the other in orbit around the sun. Similarly, there is the revolution of other stars which are at vast distances from us and each other but all moving with extreme regularity. Due to this system of the universe, day and night come into existence; systems based on the measurement of time take shape; in turn, it becomes possible for man to regulate his life on land and sea. This gigantic system runs with such exactitude that no discrepancy has crept into it even after millions of years. This proves the immanence of a Being whose powers are of unlimited greatness. These large-scale signs of God show that the Maker of this workshop is extremely knowledgeable. No ignorant being could erect such a complex structure. He is all-powerful; otherwise the running of this enormous workshop in this manner would not have been possible. Its planning is absolutely perfect; without such planning, it would not have been possible to have such meaningfulness and harmony in such a colossal universe. God’s world is full of His signs and arguments. But reasoning or argument is the name of theoretical reasoning and not that of a hammer. So, acceptance of an argument by a man is possible only when he is really serious, i.e. when he is consciously ready to accept the argument, irrespective of whether it goes in his favour or against him.