Tafseer of The Cattle · Al-An'aam · 6:96
[He is] the cleaver of daybreak and has made the night for rest and the sun and moon for calculation. That is the determination of the Exalted in Might, the Knowing.
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 explanation of His word: فَالِقُ الإِصْبَاحِ وَجَعَلَ اللَّيْلَ سَكَنًا ("He who causes the dawn to break and has made the night for rest") (6:96).
Abū Jaʿfar said: By His word "He who causes the dawn to break" (fāliq al-iṣbāḥ) He means: The One who cleaves open the column of the morning out of the darkness and the blackness of the night.
* * *
And "al-iṣbāḥ" is a verbal noun (maṣdar) of the expression: "We came in the morning, a morning-coming (iṣbāḥan)".
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In agreement with what we have said about this, most of the exegetes have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
13595 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to me, saying: al-Muḥāribī related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: "He who causes the dawn to break", he said: the breaking forth of the morning.
13596 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "He who causes the dawn to break", he said: the breaking forth of the dawn (al-fajr).
13597 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, the same.
13598 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: "He who causes the dawn to break", he said: The One who cleaves open the morning.
13599 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: "He who causes the dawn to break", he means by al-iṣbāḥ: the light of the sun by day and the light of the moon by night.
13600 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām related to us, saying: ʿAnbasa related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Laylā, on the authority of al-Qāsim ibn Abī Bazza, on the authority of Mujāhid: "He who causes the dawn to break", he said: The One who cleaves open the morning.
13601 - Ibn Ḥumayd related it to us on one occasion with this isnād, on the authority of Mujāhid, and he said concerning His word: "He who causes the dawn to break", he said: the breaking forth of the morning.
13602 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His word: "He who causes the dawn to break", he said: the cleaving open of the dawn out of the night.
13603 - It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His word: "He who causes the dawn to break", he says: Creator of the light, the light of the day.
* * *
Others said: the meaning of it is: Creator of the night and the day.
* Mention of who said that:
13604 - Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to us, 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: فَالِقُ الإصْبَاحِ وَجَاعِلُ اللَّيْلِ سَكَنًا ("He who causes the dawn to break and makes the night for rest"), he says: He created the night and the day.
* * *
And it is reported concerning al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī that he used to read: فَالِقُ الأصْبَاحِ (fāliq al-aṣbāḥ), with a fatḥa on the alif, as though he interpreted that in the meaning of a plural of "ṣubḥ" (morning), as though he meant the morning of every day and made it "aṣbāḥan". And no one other than he has reached us who read it so. The reading which we do not permit ourselves to depart from is with a kasra on the alif: فالِقُ الإصْبَاح (fāliq al-iṣbāḥ), because of the consensus of the authoritative proof among the reciters and the exegetes upon its correctness and the rejection of its opposite.
* * *
As for His word: "and who makes the night for rest" (wa-jāʿil al-layl sakanan), the reciters differed concerning the reading of it.
Most of the reciters of the Ḥijāz and Medina and some of the Baṣrans read it: وَجَاعِلُ اللَّيْلِ (wa-jāʿil al-layl) with the alif, in the form of the noun (the active participle form), with rafʿ (nominative) as an apposition to "fāliq", and with khafḍ (genitive) on "al-layl" by annexation (iḍāfa) of "jāʿil" to it, and with naṣb (accusative) on "al-shams wa-l-qamar" (the sun and the moon), as an apposition to the position of "al-layl". For "al-layl", although it stands in the genitive in the wording, stands in the position of the accusative, because it is the direct object of "jāʿil". And its apposition is beautiful upon the meaning of "al-layl" and not upon its wording, because of the entering of His word "sakanan" (for rest) between it and "al-layl". The poet said:
Seated at the gates, askers for a need, whether a repeated need (ʿawān), or a fresh need (ḥājatan bikran).
Thus he put the second "al-ḥāja" in the accusative, by placing it in apposition upon the meaning of the first "al-ḥāja" and not upon its wording, because its meaning is the accusative, even though in the wording it stood in the genitive. And sometimes such a thing also occurs, whereby the second is placed in apposition upon the meaning of that which preceded it and not upon its wording, even though there is nothing between the two that separates them, as someone said:
While we were watching him, he came toward us, with a waterskin (shikwa) hung up and the fire-striker of a shepherd (zinād rāʿi).
* * *
And most of the reciters of the Kūfans read it: وَجَعَلَ اللَّيْلَ سَكَنًا وَالشَّمْسَ (wa-jaʿala al-layl sakanan wa-l-shams), in the form "faʿala", with the meaning of the past-tense verb, and with naṣb (accusative) on "al-layl".
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the correct view concerning this in our opinion is that one says: they are two widespread readings among the reciters of the regions, agreeing in meaning, not differing therein. With whichever of the two the reciter reads, he is correct in the grammatical inflection and in the meaning.
* * *
And He, exalted be His praise, informed that He made the night for rest, because in it everything that moves by day comes to rest and grows calm in it, and settles in its abode and refuge.
* * *
The explanation of His word: وَالشَّمْسَ وَالْقَمَرَ حُسْبَانًا ("and the sun and the moon for a reckoning") (6:96).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The exegetes differed concerning this:
Some of them said: the meaning of it is: and He made the sun and the moon so that they run in their orbits according to a reckoning.
* Mention of who said that:
13605 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "and the sun and the moon for a reckoning", he means: the number of the days, the months, and the years.
13606 - 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: "and the sun and the moon for a reckoning", he said: they run until an appointed term that is fixed for them.
13607 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "and the sun and the moon for a reckoning", he says: according to a reckoning.
13608 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, concerning His word: "and the sun and the moon for a reckoning", he said: the sun and the moon are according to a reckoning, and when their days have elapsed, then that is the end of time and the beginning of the greatest terror = "that is the decree of the Almighty, the All-Knowing".
13609 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: "and the sun and the moon for a reckoning", he said: they revolve according to a reckoning.
13610 - 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: "and the sun and the moon for a reckoning", he said: that is like His word: كُلٌّ فِي فَلَكٍ يَسْبَحُونَ ("each swims in an orbit") [Surah Al-Anbiyāʾ: 33], and like His word: الشَّمْسُ وَالْقَمَرُ بِحُسْبَانٍ ("the sun and the moon run according to a reckoning") [Surah Al-Raḥmān: 5].
* * *
And others said: the meaning of it is: and He made the sun and the moon a source of light (ḍiyāʾ).
* Mention of who said that:
13611 - Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "and the sun and the moon for a reckoning", that is: a source of light.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the more correct of the two statements in the explanation of that is, in my opinion, the explanation of the one who explained it thus: and He made the sun and the moon so that they run according to a reckoning and a number, so that their destination is reached and the end of their terms, and they revolve for the benefit of the welfare of the creation for which they were made.
And we say only that this is the more correct of the two explanations for the verse, because Allah, exalted be His remembrance, mentioned before it His favors toward His creation and the greatness of His power, with the cleaving open of the dawn for them and the bringing forth of the crops and the plants from the seed and the kernels, and He followed that with the mention of the creating of the stars for their guidance on land and on sea. Thus His describing the making of the sun and the moon to run for their benefit is more fitting in this place than the mention of the giving of light by both, because He had already described that with His word: "He who causes the dawn to break". So there is no sense in the repetition of that once again in a single verse without meaning.
* * *
And "al-ḥusbān" is, in the language of the Arabs, the plural of "ḥisāb" (reckoning), just as "al-shuhbān" is the plural of "shihāb" (shooting star). And it is said that "al-ḥusbān" in this place is a verbal noun (maṣdar) of the expression: "I reckoned the reckoning, I reckon it, a reckoning (ḥisāban) and a reckoning (ḥusbānan)". And it is reported from the Arabs: "upon Allah rests the reckoning (ḥusbān) of such-and-such and its account (ḥisbatuhu)", that is: its reckoning.
* * *
And I think that Qatāda, in his explanation of that in the meaning of "source of light", passed over to something that is reported from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: وَيُرْسِلَ عَلَيْهَا حُسْبَانًا مِنَ السَّمَاءِ ("and He sends upon it a ḥusbān from the heaven") [Surah Al-Kahf: 40]. He said: fire. Thus he directed the explanation of His word "and the sun and the moon for a reckoning" toward that explanation. But this has nothing to do with that meaning.
* * *
As for "al-ḥisbān" with a kasra on the "ḥāʾ", that is the plural of "al-ḥisbāna", and that is the small cushion, and that too has nothing to do with the first two meanings. One says: "ḥassabtuhu", I seated him upon it.
* * *
And the accusative (naṣb) of His word "ḥusbānan" is by His word "wa-jaʿala" (and He made).
* * *
And some of the Baṣrans said: the meaning of it is: "and the sun and the moon for a reckoning (ḥusbānan)", that is: according to a reckoning, with the omission of the "bāʾ" (the preposition "with/according to"), just as He omits it in His word: هُوَ أَعْلَمُ مَنْ يَضِلُّ عَنْ سَبِيلِهِ ("He knows best who strays from His path") [Surah Al-Anʿām: 117], that is: He knows best concerning who strays from His path.
* * *
The explanation of His word: ذَلِكَ تَقْدِيرُ الْعَزِيزِ الْعَلِيمِ ("that is the decree of the Almighty, the All-Knowing") (6:96).
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted be His remembrance, says: and this deed which He has described that He performed — namely His cleaving open of the dawn, and His making of the night for rest and the sun and the moon for a reckoning — is the decree of the One whose power is awesome, so that no one who wishes Him evil, punishment, or vengeance can escape from Him = "the All-Knowing", concerning the welfare of His creation and their governance = and not the decree of the idols and the false gods that do not hear and do not see, and understand nothing and comprehend nothing, and inflict no harm and bring no benefit, and which, when evil is wished upon them, are unable to escape it from the one who wishes them evil. He, exalted be His praise, says: and devote, O ignorant ones, your worship purely to the One who performs these things, and ascribe nothing to Him as a partner in His worship besides Him.
