In the Name of God, the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate, Salaam and welcome to our weekly program "Path towards Enlightenment" in which we present you a fluent and easy-to-understand explanation of the ayahs of the holy Qur’an. We start from where we left you last Friday and here is ayah 36 of Surah Ya Sin:

“Immaculate is He who has created all the kinds of what the earth grows, and of themselves, and of what they do not know.”

Last week, in our explanation of the previous ayahs of Surah Ya Sin we referred to certain signs of monotheism in the nature. The ayah that we recited to you now refers to one of the scientific miracles of the holy Qur’an concerning the pairing of opposite genders or the law of matrimony in all things, besides human beings and animals, such as plants and vegetation of which people were not properly aware during the days of Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny).

This ayah starts with the glorification of Allah and nullifies the polytheism of the pagans in order to show all human beings the way towards monotheism. Yes, the Lord, Who created these all pairs in the expanse of the world of existence, posseses Infinite power, wisdom and knowledge, and there is no defect and blemish in His Essence. God the One and Only, has neither any partner or any equal. Thus, if some retarded minds worship the creation of their own hands, such as idols of wood and stone, as deities, they are totally misled since the Almighty Creator is far glorious from having such undue attributes.

It is evident that Allah does not need to glorify Himself, and the reason He has done it, is to instruct and teach His creatures the proper way of glorifying Him in order to cleanse consciences.

Exegetes of the holy Qur’an have rendered the Qur’anic term “azwaaj” or pairs here, into different meanings. What is certain, however, is that the term “azwaaj” is the plural form of “zauj” which is applied to the pairing of the two genders, that is masculine and feminine, whether they are in the world of animals, or human beings and plants. Then, this word has been expanded and every two beings which are companions to each other, or even they are opposite to each other, are called “zauj”. However, it is not impossible that matrimony here is used with the same specific sense of masculine gender and feminine gender, and, in this ayah, the holy Qur’an informs of the existence of the law of matrimony in the world of all plants, human beings, and other beings that people are not aware of. Or it may point to the animals in the depth of the seas of which people a millennium and a half ago were not aware of, and it is only today a part of it has been discovered by human beings. Or they are very small living creatures, although the modern scientists do not know any masculine and feminine among them; but the world of these living creatures is so mysterious and secret that the knowledge of man has not found a way to this part of it. Even, as we said, the existence of matrimony in the world of plants was unknown at the time of the revelation of the Qur’an, except some special instances, like the trees of dates and the like, and the Qur’an uncovered it. In the present centuries, by the way of science, this meaning has been proved that the subject of matrimony in the world of plants is a general and common subject. This probability has also been delivered that ‘matrimony’ here refers to the existence of positive and negative particles inside the centre of atom and the electrons which rotate around it and which has been proved. Thus this ayah is among those passages of the holy Qur’an which state that man’s knowledge is limited and a great deal of facts in the universe have not yet been discovered.

From this ayah we learn that:

1. God, the Almighty Creator is far glorious to have any partner, associate, helper or equal, which means He is One and Unique.
2. The world of creation has pairs of every species as per the law of procreation.
3. Human knowledge is limited and still a great deal of facts have not be discovered.

Now we listen to ayahs 37 to 40 of Surah Ya Sin:

“And a sign for them is the night, which We strip of daylight, and, behold, they find themselves in the dark!”

“And the sun runs on to its place of rest: That is the ordaining of the All-Mighty, the All-Knowing.”

“As for the moon, We have ordained its phases, until it becomes like an old palm leaf.”

“Neither it behooves the sun to overtake the moon, nor may the night outrun the day, and each swims in an orbit.”

These ayahs point to the orderly cycle of day and night that depends on the orbit of Planet Earth around the Sun, while the moon orbits around the Earth. It is God Almighty, the Creator of the entire universe Who has regulated the movement of the celestial bodies that never veer off their line of orbit no collide with each other.

Earth has no light of its own, it is the light of the Sun whose rays fall upon its parts in a regulated manner as it orbits around the Sun that bring daylight, while the unexposed parts remain in darkness, that is night. Of course, at night, God did not want absolute darkness to engulf the parts of the Earth not exposed to the Sun, and thus He created the orbiting Moon, which like a night lamp reflects some light to the Earth.

Night is one of the signs of Power and Wisdom of Allah. It is a fixed programme in the length of history which has no disorder. This fact is the sign of the existence of a Wise and Knowing Geomancer.

These ayahs state another part of the signs of the greatness of Allah in the world of existence; and following the discussion mentioned in the previous ayahs about Resurrection and reviving the dead lands, plants and trees, another form of the forms of Monotheism is stated.

It says: “And a sign for them is the night…”

While the light of sun has covered everywhere, and the army of darkness has been drawn back, Allah says: “…We strip it of the day and behold they are plunged in darkness.”

The Arabic term “naslakhu” is derived from “salakh” which originally means ‘taking off the skin of an animal’ and it has a delicate meaning. As if the light of the day were a white clothing which has been put on the body of the night. At the sunset this clothing is taken off of its body, like the skin, in order that it’s innate becomes manifest. The point is that the main nature of the Earth is darkness, and light is something casual which is given to it from another source. It is like a shirt put on the body of a person that when he takes it off, the natural colour of the body is made manifest.

Here, the Qur’an has emphasized on the darkness of night. It seems it intends to state the change of the light of the day into darkness of the night, as an example of the death after life, and this is next to the statement of giving life to the dead lands, which was mentioned as a sign out of the Divine signs in the previous verses.

However, when man is in the midst of the darkness of night, he remembers the light and its blessings, the light and its excitements, the light and its source, and, by a comparison he will be acquainted with ‘the Creator of light and darkness’.

In the next ayahs, which has been pointed out next to the night as a sign, there is the light of sun as a sign. It says: “And the Sun runs on to its place of rest…”

This ayah clearly states the constant motion of the Sun, but, concerning the purpose of this motion, commentators have delivered different discussions. A group of them say that this motion refers to the apparent motion of the sun round the earth which will continue until the end of the world. Some others have rendered it to the declamation of the Sun in summer and winter towards the North and South of the Earth, because we know that from the beginning of spring the sun declines from the moderate line (equator) toward the North and goes forth as far as 23 northern degrees and from the beginning of summer it returns back until the beginning of autumn when it reaches the moderate line (equator).

It also continues its movement toward the South until the beginning of winter, and from the beginning of winter it moves toward the line of equinox and it reaches it at the beginning of spring.

Of course, all these motions, in fact, are because of the movement of the Earth and the inclination of its excess due to the level of its orb, though apparently and as the result of the sense it seems related to the movement of the Sun.

Some others consider it as an indication to the rotation of the ‘Sun Globe’, because the studies of the scientists have decisively proved that the sun turns round itself.

The last and the most modern commentary for the abovementioned ayah is the same thing that scientists have recently discovered. It says that the Sun moves with the solar system in the midst of our galaxy toward an appointed direction and toward a far distanced star.

These meanings do not contrast to each other and the Arabic phrase “tajri” may refer to all these movements and the movements which have not been known to our knowledge and that they may be discovered in future.

However, to move the Sun, this very great globe which is one million and two thousand times bigger than the Earth and with an accurate movement in the endless atmosphere, is possible by no one save by Allah Whose Power is above all powers and Whose Knowledge is infinite.

That is why, at the end of the ayah, the holy Qur’an says: That is the ordaining of the All-Mighty, the All-Knowing.”

The last word about this ayah is that there is a meaningful hint in its content upon the system of the solar year which comes into being by means of the movement of the sun in zodiacs a system that gives order and programme to the life of mankind, and arranges its different aspects.

The orb of the movement of the sun and the moon has been arranged in a way that they never crash each other, and there will not appear any confusion in the creation of the night and the day.

In spite of the attitude which said the sum was fixed, the Holy Qur’an says that the sun has motion, and a motion with a proper direction.

Therefore, in order to complete this discussion, these ayahs of the holy Qur’an speak about the moon and its zodiacal signs, the system of the division of the days of the moon.

It says: “As for the moon, We have ordained its phases, until it becomes like an old palm leaf.”

The objective meaning of ‘stages’ is the same twenty eight places at the Moon passes before ‘its absence in the last nights of a lunar month’ and absolute darkness, because when a lunar month is fully thirty days, the moon is visible in the sky until the twenty eighth night, but by this night the moon appears very narrow with a yellow colour and a little light. It is not visible during the ‘two remaining nights’ which is called in Arabic “muhaq”. In the lunar months, of course, which contains twenty nine days, the moon is usually seen in the sky until twenty seventh night, and ‘the two remaining nights are moonless. These stages are completely exact and accurate, in a manner that the astronomers, according to their minute calculations, can foretell them from one hundred years sooner.

This marvellous system gives order to mankind’s existence. It is a natural celestial calendar which everybody is able to study. It is so that if a person is careful in the situation of the moon in different nights, he can, by looking at its situation, know, exactly or approximately, which night of the lunar month that night is.

This fact has been experienced, because, at the beginning the tips of the crescent are upward and gradually the bulk of the moon increases until the seventh night when a complete half of the moon is fully made manifest. Then its increasing state will continue on to the fourteenth night when it becomes a full moon.

From this night on, the moon decreases from down side until the twenty first night when the moon appears in a semicircle form. It continues being decreased until the twenty eighth night when the moon is seen with a weak colourless crescent the tips of which are downward.

Yes, the main basis of human existence on Earth is formed by order, and without defining the exact time having order is impossible; and Allah has set this exact monthly and yearly calendar in the sky for this very aim. It is from this hint that the tender concept of the Qur’anic phrase like an old palm leaf” is made clear. As most commentators and philologists have said, the Arabic word ‘urjun’ means that part of the bunch of dates which is attached to the tree. The explanation is that: dates appear on the tree in the form of bunch of dates. The end of this bunch is in the form of yellow wooden arc which is attached to the tree, and its tip is like a sweep, and the dates, like grapes, are joined to its strings. When the bunch of dates is cut, that wooden arc branch remains on the tree. When it dries, it is completely similar to the crescent before muhaq, because, as the crescent of the last nights of the lunar month, which is in the east of the sky, appears nearly in the morning. It is like arc, yellow and withered, the tips of which is downward, and /‘urjun-il-qadeem/ is also like this.

This similarity, in fact, appears in different dimensions. They are from the point of arc form of the date branch, from the point of yellow colour, from the point of withered state, from the point of its tips being downward, and from the point of it being inside the mass of green branches of the palm tree which is not unlike to the crescent of the last night inside the dark sky.

The moon is qualified as ‘old’ which points to its oldness, because the more old these branches are, the more narrow, withered, and yellowish they become, and they are more alike to the crescent of the last lunar month. Glory be to Allah! That how many tenders and beauties there are in a short phrase of the holy Qur’an!

The last ayah of this group of ayahs under discussion speaks about the perseverance and permanence of this order of year, month, day and night. The Lord has arranged such a program for them that there appears the least change in their situation, and it is for this very perseverance that the history of man can be arranged fully.

It says: “Neither it behooves the sun to overtake the moon, nor may the night outrun the day, and each swims in an orbit.”

We know that the Sun spends its term in twelve months during one year while the moon passes its stages during one month. Therefore, the circular movement of the Moon in its orb is twelve times quicker than the movement of the sun in its orb. That is why it implies that the sun in its own movement never reaches the moon so that it performs its one-year movement during one month and that the one year system varies. Also, the night never outstrip the day so that it brings a part of it into itself and that the present system alters, but all of them continue their path without the least change for millions of years. And, thus, the state of sun and moon swimming in their orbits also comes forth from this. There is also this probability that the purpose of the Sun swims in its orbit is its movement accompanied with the solar system and accompanied with the galaxy inside which we are, because it has been proved that our solar system is a part of the great galaxy which is rotating round itself.

As many exegetes believe, the Qur’anic sentence: “Each swims in an orbit” refers to each of the Sun, the Moon and stars that have a separate orbit for themselves, though the word ‘stars’ has not formerly been mentioned in the ayahs, with regard to the mention of “layl” (night) and companionship of stars with the Sun and the Moon. The Qur’anic term “yasbaḥun” is derived from “sabahat” that, according to Mufradat by Ragheb Isfahani, originally means move ‘speedily’ in water and space, which points to the quick movement of the heavenly spheres. It has likened them to some intellectual beings that continue swiftly their rotation. This fact has also been proved today that the celestial spheres are moving in their path with very surprising speeds, and sometimes with extra ordinary speed.

From these ayahs we learn that:

1. The system governing the universe the movement of the moon, the sun and the earth, the emergence of the night and day, and other natural phenomena, are signs of God, the All-Mighty, the All-Knowing.
2. The motion and velocity of the sun, the moon and the earth, are based on accurate measurements and calculations. It's definitely not accidental and unplanned.
3. The moon's conditions from the crescent to the full moon indicate the Wisdom of God. According to other Qur’anic ayahs, different stages of the moon determine the lunar calendar for calculating the days and months and years.

AS/MG