Tafsir al-Baghawi - Al-Baghawi - (6/54)

“Allah alternates the night and the day. Surely in this is a lesson for those endowed with insight.” (44)

“Allah alternates the night and the day”: He disposes them through their variation and succession: He brings the night and takes away the day, and He brings the day and takes away the night.

‘Abd al-Wāḥid al-Mulāḥī informed us; ‘Abd Allah al-Nu‘aymī informed us; Muhammad ibn Yusuf informed us; Muhammad ibn Ismā‘īl informed us; al-Ḥumaydī informed us; Sufyān informed us; al-Zuhrī informed us, from Sa‘īd ibn al-Musayyab, from Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: Allah, exalted is He, said: “The son of Adam harms Me: he curses Time, while I am Time. In My Hand is the command; I alternate the night and the day.” (1)

His saying, exalted is He, “Surely in this”—that is, in what I have mentioned of these matters—“is a lesson for those endowed with insight,” meaning: an indication for people of sound minds and inner discernment of Allah’s power and His oneness.

(1) Narrated by al-Bukhari in his commentary on Surat al-Jathiyah, 8:574; and by Muslim in al-Alfaz min al-Adab, chapter: “The Prohibition of Reviling Time,” no. 2246, 4:1762.

﴿يُقَلِّبُ اللَّهُ اللَّيْلَ وَالنَّهَارَ إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَعِبْرَةً لِأُولِي الْأَبْصَارِ (٤٤) ﴾ ﴿يُقَلِّبُ اللَّهُ اللَّيْلَ وَالنَّهَارَ﴾ يُصَرِّفُهُمَا فِي اخْتِلَافِهِمَا وَتَعَاقُبِهِمَا يَأْتِي بِاللَّيْلِ وَيَذْهَبُ بِالنَّهَارِ، وَيَأْتِي بِالنَّهَارِ وَيَذْهَبُ بِاللَّيْلِ. أَخْبَرَنَا عَبْدُ الْوَاحِدِ الْمَلِيحِيُّ، أَخْبَرَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ النُّعَيْمِيُّ، أَخْبَرَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ يُوسُفَ، أَخْبَرَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ إِسْمَاعِيلَ، أَخْبَرَنَا الْحُمَيْدِيُّ، أَخْبَرَنَا سُفْيَانُ، أَخْبَرَنَا الزُّهْرِيُّ، عَنْ سَعِيدِ بْنِ الْمُسَيَّبِ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ ﵁ قَالَ: قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ: قَالَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى: "يُؤْذِينِي ابْنُ آدَمَ، يَسُبُّ الدَّهْرَ وَأَنَا الدَّهْرُ، بِيَدِيَ الْأَمْرُ، أُقَلِّبُ اللَّيْلَ وَالنَّهَارَ" (١) قَوْلُهُ تَعَالَى: ﴿إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ﴾ يَعْنِي فِي ذَلِكَ الَّذِي ذَكَرْتُ مِنْ هَذِهِ الْأَشْيَاءِ، ﴿لَعِبْرَةً لِأُولِي الْأَبْصَارِ﴾ يَعْنِي: دَلَالَةً لِأَهْلِ الْعُقُولِ وَالْبَصَائِرِ عَلَى قُدْرَةِ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى وَتَوْحِيدِهِ.

(١) أخرجه البخاري في تفسير سورة الجاثية: ٨ / ٥٧٤، ومسلم في الألفاظ من الأدب، باب النهي عن سب الدهر، برقم (٢٢٤٦) : ٤ / ١٧٦٢.