Commentary on Sūrat al-Tāriq

﴿In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful﴾

﴿By the sky and the night visitor * And what will make you know what the night visitor is? * The piercing star * There is no soul without a guardian over it * So let man consider what he was created from * He was created from a gushing fluid * Emerging from between the backbone and the ribs * Surely He is able to bring him back * On the Day when secrets are laid bare * He will then have neither power nor helper﴾.

The basmala has already been discussed.

﴿By the sky and the night visitor﴾ Allah—Mighty and Majestic—began this surah with an oath: Allah Most High swore by the sky and the night visitor. Some people may find it difficult to understand how Allah—Glorified and Exalted—can swear by created things when swearing by them constitutes shirk, for the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said, “Whoever swears by other than Allah has committed disbelief or shirk” (1). He also said—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—“Whoever wishes to swear an oath must swear by Allah or remain silent” (2). Does this not mean, then, that it is impermissible to swear by anything other than Allah—not by prophets, angels, the Kaaba, one’s homeland, or any other created thing?

In response to this difficulty, we say that Allah—Glorified and Exalted—may swear by whatever He wills of His creation. When He swears by any of His creatures, this points to Allah’s greatness—Mighty and Majestic—for the greatness of a created thing points to the greatness of its Creator. And indeed—