Tafseer of The Beneficent · Ar-Rahmaan · 55:17
[He is] Lord of the two sunrises and Lord of the two sunsets.
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 word, the Exalted: رب المشرقين ورب المغربين (55:17)
The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: That, O you two kinds (of mankind and jinn), is ( the Lord of the two easts ), by which He means the two easts: the place where the sun rises in winter, and the place where it rises in summer.
And His word: ( and Lord of the two wests ) means: and the Lord of the place where the sun sets in winter, and the place where it sets in summer.
And in accordance with what we have said about this, the exegetes have spoken.
* Mention of those who said that:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaʿqūb al-Qummī related to us, on the authority of Jaʿfar, on the authority of Ibn Abzā, concerning His word: ( Lord of the two easts and Lord of the two wests ) — he said: the easts of the summer and the wests of the summer; two easts in which the sun travels, three hundred and sixty (rising places) in three hundred and sixty constellations; for each constellation a rising place; it does not rise on two days from the same place. And in the west there are three hundred and sixty constellations; for each constellation a setting place; it does not set on two days in the (same) constellation.
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 of them — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: ( Lord of the two easts and Lord of the two wests ) — he said: the rising of the winter and its setting, and the rising of the summer and its setting.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: ( Lord of the two easts and Lord of the two wests ): its rising in winter, and its rising in summer.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Marwān related to us, saying: Abū al-ʿAwwām related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: ( Lord of the two easts and Lord of the two wests ) — he said: the rising of the winter and its setting, and the rising of the summer and its setting.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: ( Lord of the two easts and Lord of the two wests ) — he said: the shortest rising in the year and the longest rising in the year, and the shortest setting in the year and the longest setting in the year.
