The Light of the Holy Qur'an Interpretation of (sura An-nur)

Commentary : Verse 44

  1. يُقَلّـِبُ اللَّهُ الَّيْلَ وَالنَّهَارَ إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَعِبْرَةً لاُِوْلِي الاَبْصَارِ

  2. "Allah alternates the night and the day; verily there is a lesson in this for those with sight."

Commentary:

The shift and change of night and day is not accidental, but it is based on an exact system.

A person of insight can learn lesson from all times and all places.

The phenomena of the universe provide us lessons, that we do ponder them.

In this noble verse, one of the signs of creation and Allah's grandeur, which is the creation of day and night, is mentioned. It says:

"Allah alternates the night and the day; verily there is a lesson in this for those with sight."

Commenting this holy verse, there are stated different opinions about how this revolution is:

Some consider it as the coming and going of day and night; day comes and makes the night invisible and vice versa.

Some say that it means shortening of one of them and prolonging of the other one, which happens gradually, and the formation of seasons depends on it.

Finally, some say that it refers to the changes such as warmness, coldness, and other events that happen during the day and night.[^1]

[^1] The Commentary of: Fakhr-i-Razi, Majma'-ul-Bayan, and Ruh-ul-Ma'ani

It must be mentioned that the above commentaries are not in conflict with each other, and it is possible that all of them are included in the Qur'anic phrase /yuqallibu/ ('alternates').

Undoubtedly, as it is scientifically proven, both coming and going of the day and night, and gradual changes of them, are vitally important for man and it is a lesson for 'those with sight'.

Constant shining of sun increases temperature of the air, bums living creatures, and mentally wearies men, but when the darkness of night comes after this shining, it modifies it totally.

The gradual changes of day and night, which is the factor of formation of four seasons, play an important role in the growth of plants, the life of all living creatures, the descending of rain, and storing water in the ground.

Commentary : Verse 45

  1. وَاللَّهُ خَلَقَ كُلَّ دَآبَّةٍ مَن مَآءٍ فَمِنْهُم مَن يَمْشِي عَلَي بَطْنِهِ وَمِنْهُم مَن يَمْشِي عَلَي رِجْلَيْنِ وَمِنْهُم مَن يَمْشِي عَلَي أَرْبَعٍ يَخْلُقُ اللَّهُ مَا يَشَآءُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَي كُلّ‌ِ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ

  2. "And Allah has created every animal from water; so of them is (a kind) that walks upon its belly and (a kind) that walks upon two legs and (a kind) that walks upon four. Allah creates what He pleases. Verily Allah is Ail-Powerful over every thing."

Commentary:

All of creatures are created by His will. In this noble verse, one of the main aspects of creation system, which is one of the most obvious reasons of monotheism, that is the issue of life with its various forms, reference has been made to. It says:

"And Allah has created every animal from water; ..."

All of them are made of water, but they have different and wonderful forms;

"... so of them is (a kind) that walks upon its belly and (a kind) that walks upon two legs and (a kind) that walks upon four. ..."

Yet this is not limited to these things and life has got extraordinarily various forms, including creatures that live in the sea, or insects that have thousands species and thousands faces. Therefore in the end of the verse, the Qur'an says:

"... Allah creates what He pleases. Verily Allah is All-Powerful over every thing."

Some Points:

First: There are different opinions about the matter that the verse under discussion refers to what kind of 'water'. There are three commentaries on it:

A) The purpose of water is the drop of seed. Many of commentators have chosen this commentary and in some narrations it has been referred to, too.

The problem that this commentary faces with is that not all creatures are created from the drop of seed. For there are unicellular organisms and some other animals that are the extensions of animal and are created through cell division, an asexual reproduction, and it must be said that the above subject has got a typical aspect, not a common and general aspect.

B) The purpose of it is the creation of the first creature, for according to some Islamic narrations, the first creature that Allah created was water and men were created after water. Moreover, according to the new scientific theories, the first sign of life appeared in the seas and this phenomenon ruled in the depth of seas or in the shallows of seas before it appeared anywhere else. (Of course, the power that created the living creature with all of its complexity in the first phase and then guided it in other phases was Allah's will, a supernatural force.)

C) The last commentary is that the purpose of the creation of living creatures from water is that now the main material that makes up them is water and the main part of their body is made of water and that without water no living creature can continue to live.

Of course, these commentaries are in line with each other, but the first and the second ones seem more correct.

Second: The question that raises here is that animals are not limited to these three groups (reptiles, bipeds, quadrupeds), but there are many creatures that have more than four legs?

The answer to this question lies in the verse itself, for it is said in the next sentence: "... Allah creates what He pleases ..." Moreover, the most important animals that man is to deal with are these three groups. Besides, some believe that even some animals that have more than four feet rely mainly on four feet and the rest of feet functions as helping means.[^1]

Third: Undoubtedly the strangest phenomenon of this world is life, the issue that is still an unsolved riddle for scientists. All of them say that living creatures are created from lifeless materials of this world, but no one knows how and under what circumstances this mutation has happened, for in no laboratory the changing of lifeless materials to living creatures is observed, although thousands of scientists have thought about this and experimented a lot during very many years.

What is certain is that the secrets of life are so complex that the entire manly knowledge and sciences,with their whole development,are not able to discover and understand them yet.

In current condition of the world, living creatures are created from only living creatures and no living creature is created from a lifeless creature. Certainly it was not so in a long time ago and; in other words, life in the earth has got a history of creation that no one knows how its condition was and it is a riddle to man.

More strange than that is the species of life. There are completely various aspects of life; unicellular organisms that are seen only by means of microscope unto huge whales that

[^1] The Commentary by QurtAbi, and Fakhr-i-Razi, following the verse

are more than 30 meters long and they are mountain of floating meet. From insects of which hundreds of thousand species are discovered to birds that are thousand and thousands species, each of which have a world full of secrets.

Zoology books that today constitute a great part of great libraries of the world show only a little of these secrets. Sea, that has always been full of secrets, specially its animals, is still unknown to us with all knowledge that we have about it.

Verily how magnificent is Allah Who has created these various animals and has bestowed them what they have needed. How great is His power and knowledge that He has bestowed them what is needed proportionate to their conditions. And it is strange that all of them at first were created from water, and some little of the simple materials of the earth.

Commentary : Verse 46.47

  1. لَقَدْ أَنزَلْنَآ ءَايَاتٍ مُبَيّـِنَاتٍ وَاللَّهُ يَهْدِي مَن يَشَآءُ إِلَي صِرَاطٍ مُسْتَقِيمٍ

  2. وَيَقُولُونَ ءَامَنَّا بِاللَّهِ وَبِالرَّسُولِ وَأَطَعْنَا ثُمَّ يَتَوَلَّي فَرِيقٌ مّـِنْهُم مِن بَعْدِ ذَلِكَ وَمَآ اُوْلَئِكَ بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ

  3. "Verily We have sent down revelations explanatory, and Allah guides whom He pleases unto a straight way."

  4. "And they say: 'We believe in Allah and in the Messenger, and we obey'. Then, after that, some of them turn away, these are not (really) believers."

Occasion of Revelation:

Commentators have mentioned 2 occasions of revelation for a part of these verses:

First: One of the hypocrites had some quarrel with one Jewish man. That Jewish man asked that apparently-Muslim hypocrite to go together to the Prophet (p.b.u.h.) to have their quarrel settled down, but the hypocrite did not accept it and asked the Jewish man for going to Ka'b Ibn Ashraf YaHudi (a Jewish man) for issuing judgment. (Even according to some narrations, the hypocrite said it was possible that Mohammad (p.b.u.h.) might not judge between them justly.) The above verses were sent down and reprimanded such persons very severely.

Second: An argument happened between Imam Ali (a.s.) and Othman, (or according to a narration, between that Imam and Muqayrat-Ibn Wa'il). And it was for a land that he had bought from Imam Ali (a.s.) and then some stones were found in it and the buyer wanted to cancel the bargain because of it.

Imam Ali (a.s.) asked for the judgment of the holy Prophet (p.b.u.h.) between them, but Hakam Ibn Abee Abil-'As, one of the hypocrites, said to the buyer not to do that for if he went to Ali's cousin, the Prophet (p.b.u.h.), he would certainly judge between them in favour of him. The above verse was descended and rebuked him.[^1]

Commentary:

Since the words in previous verses were about belief in Allah, the reasons of monotheism, and His signs in the world of creation, the concerned verses talk about the signs of faith, reflections of monotheism in man's life and his yielding to the Truth. First it says:

"Verily We have sent down revelations explanatory,..."

These are some verses that lighten the hearts by the light of faith and Unity. Of course, the existence of these 'explanatory revelations' paves the ground for faith, but the main role is played by Divine guidance, because:

"... and Allah guides whom He pleases unto a straight way."

We know that Allah's will and providence is not undue, and the light of guidance is cast on those hearts that are receptive for accepting it; that is, they have started spiritual struggle and taken steps towards Him.

[^1] Majma'-ul-Bayan, Ruh-ul-Bayan, Tibyan, QurtAbi, Fakhr-i-Razi, Safi, Nur-uth-Thaqalyn

Then hypocrites, who have no faith and only speak about faith and faith cannot be cast on their hearts, are reprimanded. The verse proclaims:

"And they say: 'We believe in Allah and in the Messenger, and we obey'. Then, after that, some of them turn away, these are not (really) believers."

What kind of faith is it that it is only uttered by their tongue and it is not manifested in other fields of their deeds?

It is understood from this verse that if a person's faith remains only at the level of tongue and he does not really believe in Allah, he is not a believer, for if he were a believer his faith would not be rejected in this verse.