Tafseer of Explained in detail · Fussilat · 41:37
And of His signs are the night and day and the sun and moon. Do not prostrate to the sun or to the moon, but prostate to Allah, who created them, if it should be Him that you worship.
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.
The statement concerning the explanation of His saying, the Exalted: وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ اللَّيْلُ وَالنَّهَارُ وَالشَّمْسُ وَالْقَمَرُ لا تَسْجُدُوا لِلشَّمْسِ وَلا لِلْقَمَرِ وَاسْجُدُوا لِلَّهِ الَّذِي خَلَقَهُنَّ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ إِيَّاهُ تَعْبُدُونَ ("And of His signs are the night and the day and the sun and the moon. Do not prostrate yourselves to the sun nor to the moon, but prostrate yourselves to Allah, who created them, if it is Him you worship") (41:37).
He, exalted be His mention, says: and among the proofs of Allah, the Exalted, for His creatures, and His indications of His oneness and His mighty sovereignty, are the alternation of the night and the day and the succession of each upon the other, and the sun and the moon — the sun does not overtake the moon وَلا اللَّيْلُ سَابِقُ النَّهَارِ وَكُلٌّ فِي فَلَكٍ يَسْبَحُونَ ("nor does the night outstrip the day; and each swims in an orbit"). Do not prostrate yourselves, O people, to the sun nor to the moon, for even though both of them run in their orbit for your benefit, they run therein only for you because Allah makes them run for you, obedient to Him in their running and their course, not because they would be capable of running and coursing of themselves without Allah making them run and move, or because they would have any power to benefit or harm you. It is Allah who has made them subservient to you, for your advantage and your welfare. So prostrate yourselves to Him and worship Him, and not them, for if He wills, He extinguishes their light and leaves you bewildered in the darkness, unable to find a way and unable to see anything. And it is said: وَاسْجُدُوا لِلَّهِ الَّذِي خَلَقَهُنَّ ("and prostrate yourselves to Allah, who created them") — He combined it with the "hāʾ" and the "nūn" (the feminine plural), because what is intended by the statement is: and prostrate yourselves to Allah, who created the night and the day and the sun and the moon; and that is a plural. He made the pronoun referring to it feminine, although it is the custom of the Arabs that, when they combine a masculine with a feminine in a plural, they express the pronoun referring to it with the form of the masculine pronoun and say: "your two brothers and your two sisters spoke (kallamū-nī) to me," and they do not say "kallamna-nī." For it is their custom to make the reports about masculine beings — other than the sons of Adam — feminine in the plural, and so they say: "I saw at ʿAmr's place garments and I took them (akhadhtu-hunna) from him," and "splendid I found signet rings of Zayd, which I (qabaḍtu-hunna) received from him."
And His saying: إِنْ كُنْتُمْ إِيَّاهُ تَعْبُدُونَ ("if it is Him you worship"). He says: if you worship Allah and submit yourselves in obedience to Him; and among His obedience is that you keep worship pure for Him and add nothing other than Him to your obedience to Him and your worship of Him, for worship is fitting for none other than Him and is due to none other than Him.
