Tafseer of Yaseen · Yaseen · 36:40
It is not allowable for the sun to reach the moon, nor does the night overtake the day, but each, in an orbit, is swimming.
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.
And His statement لا الشَّمْسُ يَنْبَغِي لَهَا أَنْ تُدْرِكَ الْقَمَرَ ("It does not befit the sun to overtake the moon"): the Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: it is not fitting for the sun to overtake the moon, so that its light would vanish through its light and all times would be day with no night in them at all. وَلا اللَّيْلُ سَابِقُ النَّهَارِ ("Nor does the night outstrip the day"): the Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: and the night does not overtake the day so as to escape it, such that its darkness would drive away the daylight and all times would be night.
And approximately what we have said about this is what the exegetes have said, despite mutual differences in their wordings in expounding it, although the meanings for most of them agree with what we have said.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of ʿAnbasa, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, on the authority of al-Qāsim ibn Abī Bazza, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His statement لا الشَّمْسُ يَنْبَغِي لَهَا أَنْ تُدْرِكَ الْقَمَرَ ("It does not befit the sun to overtake the moon"), he said: the light of the one does not resemble the light of the other; that does not befit it.
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 statement لا الشَّمْسُ يَنْبَغِي لَهَا أَنْ تُدْرِكَ الْقَمَرَ ("It does not befit the sun to overtake the moon"), he said: the light of the one does not resemble the light of the other, and that does not befit them both.
And concerning His statement وَلا اللَّيْلُ سَابِقُ النَّهَارِ ("Nor does the night outstrip the day"), he said: they both pursue one another in haste; the one disengages itself from the other.
Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: al-Ashjaʿī related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ismāʿīl, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, لا الشَّمْسُ يَنْبَغِي لَهَا أَنْ تُدْرِكَ الْقَمَرَ وَلا اللَّيْلُ سَابِقُ النَّهَارِ ("It does not befit the sun to overtake the moon, nor does the night outstrip the day"), he said: this one does not overtake the light of that one, and that one does not overtake the light of this one.
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 statement لا الشَّمْسُ يَنْبَغِي لَهَا أَنْ تُدْرِكَ الْقَمَرَ ("It does not befit the sun to overtake the moon"): this concerns the light of the moon and the light of the sun; when the sun rises, the moon has no light, and when the moon rises with its light, the sun has no light. وَلا اللَّيْلُ سَابِقُ النَّهَارِ ("Nor does the night outstrip the day"), he said: it lies in Allah's decree and knowledge that the night does not escape the day until it overtakes it and drives away its [the day's] darkness, and it lies in Allah's decree that the day does not escape the night until it overtakes it and drives away [its darkness] with its light.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, لا الشَّمْسُ يَنْبَغِي لَهَا أَنْ تُدْرِكَ الْقَمَرَ وَلا اللَّيْلُ سَابِقُ النَّهَارِ ("It does not befit the sun to overtake the moon, nor does the night outstrip the day"): each has a limit and a fixed point that it does not overstep and at which it does not fall short; when the dominion of the one comes, the dominion of the other departs, and when the dominion of this comes, the dominion of that departs.
And concerning Ibn ʿAbbās, what Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me has been transmitted about this, 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 statement لا الشَّمْسُ يَنْبَغِي لَهَا أَنْ تُدْرِكَ الْقَمَرَ وَلا اللَّيْلُ سَابِقُ النَّهَارِ ("It does not befit the sun to overtake the moon, nor does the night outstrip the day"), he says: when they both come together in the sky, the one is ahead of the other, and when they both set, the one sets before the other. And the [word] "an" in His statement أَنْ تُدْرِكَ ("to overtake the moon") stands in the nominative position as the subject of His statement "yanbaghī" ("befits").
And His statement وَكُلٌّ فِي فَلَكٍ يَسْبَحُونَ ("And each floats in an orbit"), He says: and everything we have mentioned — the sun, the moon, the night, and the day — moves along in an orbit.
And approximately what we have said about this is what the exegetes have said.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Abū al-Nuʿmān al-Ḥakam ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-ʿIjlī related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Muslim al-Baṭīn, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, وَكُلٌّ فِي فَلَكٍ يَسْبَحُونَ ("And each floats in an orbit"), he said: in an orbit like the orbit of the spindle [of the distaff].
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, saying: al-Aʿmash related to us, on the authority of Muslim al-Baṭīn, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, the like of it.
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, he said: the course of each of the two, namely the night and the day, in an orbit; "yasbaḥūn" means: they move along.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, وَكُلٌّ فِي فَلَكٍ يَسْبَحُونَ ("And each floats in an orbit"): that is, they float in the orbit of the sky.
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 statement وَكُلٌّ فِي فَلَكٍ يَسْبَحُونَ ("And each floats in an orbit"): in a revolving motion; he says: in a revolving motion they float; he says: they move along.
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 statement وَكُلٌّ فِي فَلَكٍ يَسْبَحُونَ ("And each floats in an orbit"): that is, each in an orbit in the heavens.
