Tafseer of The Morning Hours · Ad-Dhuhaa · 93:2
And [by] the night when it covers with darkness,
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: (وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا سَجَى) — the exegetes differed concerning its interpretation. Some of them said: its meaning is: and by the night when it comes with its darkness.
Mention of those who said that:
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, from his father, from Ibn ʿAbbās: (وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا سَجَى) — he says: and by the night when it comes.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, from Maʿmar, from al-Ḥasan, concerning the statement of Allah: (وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا سَجَى) — he said: when it covers the people, when it comes.
Others said: rather, its meaning is: when it departs.
Mention of those who said that:
ʿAlī related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, from ʿAlī, from Ibn ʿAbbās: (وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا سَجَى) — he says: when it departs.
Others said: its meaning is: when it becomes even and settles down.
Mention of those who said that:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us; and Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, both from Sufyān, from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from Mujāhid: (وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا سَجَى) — he said: when it becomes even.
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 from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from Mujāhid: (وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا سَجَى) — he said: when it becomes even.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatāda: (وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا سَجَى) — it came to rest over the creation.
It was related to me from al-Ḥusayn, saying: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His statement: (وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا سَجَى) — he means: its stability and its rest.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed me, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement: (وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا سَجَى) — he said: when it settles down. He said: that is its sujūw (stillness), just as the stillness of the sea is its sujūw.
The most correct of these statements in my view is the statement of the one who said that its meaning is: and by the night when it settles down over its dwellers and becomes steadfast with its darkness — as one says: a calm sea (baḥr sājin), when it is still. Of this is the statement of al-Aʿshā of the Banū Thaʿlaba:
"What is our fault if the sea of your cousin surges, while your sea is calm and does not conceal the small water creatures?"
And the statement of the rajaz poet:
"O how delightful is the moonlight and the still night, and roads like the cloth of the weaver!"
