36. Surah Ya Sin (O Thou Human Being) Mecca 41
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
وَآيَةٌ
لَّهُمْ اللَّيْلُ...
36:37. And a Sign for them is the Night:
... نَسْلَخُ مِنْهُ النَّهَارَ فَإِذَا هُم مُّظْلِمُونَ ﴿٣٧﴾
We withdraw therefrom the Day, and behold they are plunged in darkness;
C3982. "Withdrawing the Day from the Night" is a striking phrase and very apt.
The Day or the Light is the positive thing. The Night or Darkness is merely negative. We cannot withdraw the negative. But if we withdraw the real thing, the positive, which filled the void, nothing is left but the void.
The whole of this section deals with Signs or Symbols,-things in the physical world around us, from which we can learn the deepest spiritual truths if we earnestly apply ourselves to them.
وَالشَّمْسُ
تَجْرِي
لِمُسْتَقَرٍّ...
36: 38. And the Sun runs his course for a period determined for him:
C3983. Mustaqarr may mean:
- a limit of time, a period determined, as in 6:67, or
- a place of rest or quiescence; or
- a dwelling place, as in 2:36.
I think the first meaning is best applicable here; but some Commentators take the second meaning.
In that case the simile would be that of the sun running a race while he is visible to us, and taking a rest during the night to prepare himself to renew his race the following day. His stay with the antipodes appears to us as his period of rest.
... لَّهَا ذَلِكَ تَقْدِيرُ الْعَزِيزِ الْعَلِيمِ ﴿٣٨﴾
that is the decree of (Him), the exalted in Might, the All-Knowing.
وَالْقَمَرَ
قَدَّرْنَاهُ
مَنَازِلَ ...
36: 39. And the Moon -- We have measured for her mansions (to traverse)
C3984. The lunar stations are the 28 divisions of the Zodiac, which are supposed to mark the daily course of the moon in the heavens from the time of the new moon to the time when the moon fades away in her "inter-lunar swoon", an expressive phrase coined by the poet Shelley.
... حَتَّى عَادَ كَالْعُرْجُونِ الْقَدِيمِ ﴿٣٩﴾
till she returns like the old (and withered) lower part of date-stalk.
C3985. 'Urjan: a raceme of dates or of a date-palm; or the base or lower part of the raceme. When it becomes old, it becomes yellow, dry, and withered, and curves up like a sickle. Hence the comparison with the sickle-like appearance of the new moon.
The moon runs through all her phases, increasing and decreasing, until she disappears, and then reappears as a little thin curve.
لَا الشَّمْسُ
يَنبَغِي لَهَا
أَن تُدْرِكَ
الْقَمَرَ وَلَا
اللَّيْلُ
سَابِقُ النَّهَارِ...
36: 40. It is not permitted to the Sun to catch up the Moon, nor can the Night outstrip the Day:
C3986. Though the sun and the moon both traverse the belt of the Zodiac, and their motions are different, they never catch up each other. When the sun and the moon are on the same side and on a line with the earth there is a solar eclipse, and when on opposite side in a line, there is a lunar eclipse, but there is no clash. Their Laws are fixed by Allah, and form the subject of study in astronomy.
Similarly Night and Day follow each other, but being opposites cannot coincide, a fit emblem of the opposition of Good and Evil, Truth and Falsehood: see also n. 3982 above.
... وَكُلٌّ فِي فَلَكٍ يَسْبَحُونَ ﴿٤٠﴾
each (just) swims along in (its own) orbit (according to Law).
C3987. Cf. 21:33, and n. 2695.
How beautifully the rounded courses of the planets and heavenly bodies are described, "swimming"through space, with perfectly smooth motion!
Asad’s Version:
36:37 And [of Our sway over all that exists] they have a sign in the night: We withdraw from it the [light of] day - and lo! they are in darkness.
(36:38) And [they have a sign in] the sun: it runs in an orbit of its own" - [and] that is laid down by the will of the Almighty, the All-Knowing;
36:39) and [in] the moon, for which We have determined phases [which it must traverse] till it becomes like an old date-stalk, dried-up and curved: 20 (36:40) [and] neither may the sun overtake the moon, nor can the night usurp the time of day, 21 since all of them float through space [in accordance with Our laws].
Yuksel’s Version:
36:37 A sign for them is the night, We remove the daylight from it, whereupon they are in darkness.
36:38 The sun runs to a specific destination, such is the design of the Noble, the Knowledgeable.
36:39 The moon: We have measured it to appear in stages, until it returns to being like an old curved sheath.
36:40 The sun is not required to overtake the moon, nor will the night precede the day; each of them is swimming in its own orbit.*
[[ Yuksel’s note - 036:040 The expression KuLlun FiY FaLaK (each in an orbit) describing the motion of the sun, moon, and earth is palindromic. The letters of the expression (K, L, F, Y, F, L, K), with its cyclic nature, symbolizes the circular/ellipsoid orbits. Similar expression is found at 21:33. The Quran is an interesting book (72:1). Note that the Arabic word kul (all) refers to more than two bodies and it should include the sun, the moon, and the reference planet from the expression "night and day." It is also noteworthy that the Quran frequently uses the expression, "alternation of night and day" rather than "rotation of the Sun," pulling our attention to the rotation of the planet around itself. See 21:33; 27:88; 39:5; 68:1; 79:30.