Tafseer of The Criterion · Al-Furqaan · 25:45
Have you not considered your Lord - how He extends the shadow, and if He willed, He could have made it stationary? Then We made the sun for it an indication.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
Allah — exalted be His praise — says: أَلَمْ تَرَ — O Muḥammad — كَيْفَ مَدَّ your Lord الظِّلَّ — that is the period between the breaking of dawn and the rising of the sun.
In accordance with what we have said about this, the commentators spoke.
Mention of those who said that:
ʿAlī related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى رَبِّكَ كَيْفَ مَدَّ الظِّلَّ — he said: "The period between the breaking of dawn and the rising of the sun."
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: My father related to me, saying: My uncle related to me, saying: My father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى رَبِّكَ كَيْفَ مَدَّ الظِّلَّ — he said: "He stretched it out from the morning prayer until the rising of the sun."
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaʿqūb related to us, on the authority of Jaʿfar, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, concerning His word أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى رَبِّكَ كَيْفَ مَدَّ الظِّلَّ وَلَوْ شَاءَ لَجَعَلَهُ سَاكِنًا — he said: "The shadow: the period from the breaking of dawn until the rising of the sun."
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Buzayʿ related to us, saying: Abū Miḥṣan related to us, on the authority of Ḥuṣayn, on the authority of Abū Mālik, who said concerning أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى رَبِّكَ كَيْفَ مَدَّ الظِّلَّ: "The period from the breaking of dawn until the rising of the sun."
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word كَيْفَ مَدَّ الظِّلَّ — he said: "The shadow of the early morning before the rising of the sun."
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid — he said: "The shadow: the shadow of the early morning."
He said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning His word أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى رَبِّكَ كَيْفَ مَدَّ الظِّلَّ — he said: "He stretched it out from the breaking of dawn until the rising of the sun."
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, saying: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His word أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى رَبِّكَ كَيْفَ مَدَّ الظِّلَّ — he means: from the morning prayer until the rising of the sun.
His word وَلَوْ شَاءَ لَجَعَلَهُ سَاكِنًا — He says: And had Allah willed, He would have made it permanent, never receding, stretched out without the sun removing it or diminishing it.
In accordance with what we have said about this, the commentators spoke.
Mention of those who said that:
ʿAlī related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word وَلَوْ شَاءَ لَجَعَلَهُ سَاكِنًا — he says: "Permanent."
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word وَلَوْ شَاءَ لَجَعَلَهُ سَاكِنًا — he said: "So that the sun does not strike it and it does not depart."
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid — concerning وَلَوْ شَاءَ لَجَعَلَهُ سَاكِنًا — he said: "It does not depart."
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word وَلَوْ شَاءَ لَجَعَلَهُ سَاكِنًا — he said: "Permanent, never receding."
And His word ثُمَّ جَعَلْنَا الشَّمْسَ عَلَيْهِ دَلِيلا — Allah — exalted be His renown — says: Then We pointed out to you — O people — by means of the sun's driving away of the shadow at its rising, that it is a creation among the creations of your Lord: He brings it into existence when He wills and destroys it when He wills. The pronoun in "عليه" refers to the shadow. The meaning is: We made the sun a pointer to the shadow. It is said that the sun's function as a pointer consists in this: that if there were no sun to drive it away, one would not know that it was anything — for things are only known through their opposites, just as the sweet is known only through the sour, and the cold through the hot, and the like of that.
In accordance with what we have said about this, the commentators spoke.
Mention of those who said that:
ʿAlī related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word ثُمَّ جَعَلْنَا الشَّمْسَ عَلَيْهِ دَلِيلا — he says: "The rising of the sun."
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid — concerning ثُمَّ جَعَلْنَا الشَّمْسَ عَلَيْهِ دَلِيلا — he said: "It encompasses it."
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid — likewise.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning the word of Allah ثُمَّ جَعَلْنَا الشَّمْسَ عَلَيْهِ دَلِيلا — he said: "It brought out that shadow and took it away." And His word ثُمَّ قَبَضْنَاهُ إِلَيْنَا قَبْضًا يَسِيرًا — Allah — exalted be His praise — says: Then We withdrew that pointing of the sun to the shadow back to Us — with a gentle, swift withdrawal by means of the ʿishāʾ that We bring in the evening.
In accordance with what we have said about this, the commentators spoke.
Mention of those who said that:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid.
