Tafseer of The Beneficent · Ar-Rahmaan · 55:5
The sun and the moon [move] by precise calculation,
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.
His statement الشَّمْسُ وَالْقَمَرُ بِحُسْبَانٍ ("The sun and the moon [move] according to calculation") — the exegetes of the Qurʾān (ahl al-taʾwīl) differed concerning its interpretation. Some of them said: its meaning is that the sun and the moon [run] according to a calculation and [fixed] stations which they have, along which they run and which they do not exceed.
* Mention of those who said that:
Muḥammad ibn Khalaf al-ʿAsqalānī related to us, saying: al-Firyābī related to us, saying: Isrāʾīl related to us, saying: he said: Simāk ibn Ḥarb related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, [concerning] His statement الشَّمْسُ وَالْقَمَرُ بِحُسْبَانٍ, he said: they are sent forth according to a calculation and [fixed] stations.
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 الشَّمْسُ وَالْقَمَرُ بِحُسْبَانٍ, he said: they run according to a number and a calculation.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid, on the authority of Abū Mālik, [concerning] الشَّمْسُ وَالْقَمَرُ بِحُسْبَانٍ, he said: according to a calculation and [fixed] stations.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, [concerning] الشَّمْسُ وَالْقَمَرُ بِحُسْبَانٍ: that is, according to a calculation and an [appointed] term.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, [concerning] His statement الشَّمْسُ وَالْقَمَرُ بِحُسْبَانٍ, he said: they run according to a calculation.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, [concerning] His statement الشَّمْسُ وَالْقَمَرُ بِحُسْبَانٍ, he said: by these two the passage of time (al-dahr) and time (al-zamān) are reckoned; were it not for the night and the day, the sun and the moon, no one would be able to grasp how anything is reckoned. If the passage of time were entirely night, how then would one reckon? Or entirely day, how then would one reckon?
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] الشَّمْسُ وَالْقَمَرُ بِحُسْبَانٍ, he said: according to a calculation and an [appointed] term.
Others said: rather, its meaning is that they both run according to an [appointed] measure.
* Mention of those who said that:
Abū Hishām al-Rifāʿī related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Dāwūd related to us, on the authority of Abū al-Ṣahbāʾ, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, [concerning] His statement الشَّمْسُ وَالْقَمَرُ بِحُسْبَانٍ, he said: they run according to an [appointed] measure.
Others said: rather, its meaning is that they both revolve like the spindle of a millstone.
* Mention of those who said that:
Muḥammad ibn Khalaf al-ʿAsqalānī related to me, saying: Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf related to us, saying: Isrāʾīl related to us, saying: Abū Yaḥyā related to us, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, [concerning] His statement بِحُسْبَانٍ, he said: like the turning (ḥusbān) of the millstone.
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, all on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, [concerning] the statement of Allah بِحُسْبَانٍ, he said: like the turning of the millstone.
The most correct of the statements concerning it is the statement of him who said: its meaning is that the sun and the moon run according to a calculation and [fixed] stations, because "al-ḥusbān" is a verbal noun (maṣdar) from the speaker's statement: "ḥasabtu-hu ḥisāban wa-ḥusbānan," just as they say: "kafartu-hu kufrānan" and "ghafartu-hu ghufrānan." And it has been said that it is a plural of "ḥisāb," just as "al-shuhbān" is the plural of "shihāb."
The Arabic linguists (ahl al-ʿarabiyya) differed concerning that by which "al-shams" and "al-qamar" stand in the nominative (rafʿ). Some of them said: they stand in the nominative by "ḥusbān," that is, "by calculation," the predicate (al-khabar) being elided. He said: and I suppose — and Allah knows best — that he said: they run according to calculation. And some of those who rejected this statement said: this is an error; "bi-ḥusbān" places "al-shams" and "al-qamar" in the nominative, that is: they both are [in motion] according to calculation. He said: and the clarification [in an earlier verse] accords with this: عَلَّمَهُ الْبَيَانَ ("He has taught him the exposition"), [namely] that the sun and the moon [move] according to calculation. He said: one does not omit the verb and elide it, except in rare cases in the language.
