“Or do you think that most of them hear or understand? They are but like livestock—rather, they are even further astray from the way. Have you not seen how your Lord extends the shade? Had He willed, He could have made it still. Then We made the sun its guide. Then We draw it back to Us with a gentle withdrawal. And He is the One who made the night a garment for you, sleep a rest, and the day a time for rising.” (25:44–47)

“Or do you think that most of them hear”—that is, hear what you say as one who seeks to understand would hear—“or understand” the proofs and signs they witness? “They are but”—that is, they are nothing but—“like livestock; rather, they are even further astray from the way,” because beasts are guided to their pastures and watering places, and submit to the masters who care for them. Yet these disbelievers do not know the path of truth, nor do they obey their Lord, who created and provided for them. Furthermore, livestock prostrate and glorify Allah, whereas these disbelievers do not.

His saying, Exalted is He, “Have you not seen how your Lord extends the shade?” means: Have you not seen your Lord’s extending of the shade? It is the period between the appearance of dawn and the rising of the sun. He made it extended because it is shade unaccompanied by sunlight, as He said: “in the shade of Paradise,” and “in an extended shade” (al-Waqi‘ah 56:30), since there is no sun with it.

“Had He willed, He could have made it still”: permanent and fixed, neither vanishing nor removed by the sun. Abu ‘Ubaydah said: “Shade” is that which the sun displaces, and it is in the morning; while “afternoon shade” is that which displaces the sun, and it is after midday. It is called afternoon shade because it returns from the eastern side to the western side. “Then We made the sun its guide”—that is, a guide to the shade. The meaning of its indicating the shade is that, were there no sun, shade would not be known; and were there no light, darkness would not be known. Things are known through their opposites.

“Then We draw it back”—meaning the shade—“to Us with a gentle withdrawal,” by means of the sun as it comes upon it. Withdrawal is the gathering together of something that has been spread out. That is, before the sun rises, shade covers the whole earth; then, once the sun rises, Allah withdraws the shade piece by piece, “with a gentle withdrawal,” that is, imperceptibly.

“And He is the One who made the night a garment for you,” that is, a covering with which you conceal yourselves. This means that its darkness envelops everything, just as a garment envelops its wearer. “And sleep a rest”: a repose for your bodies and a cessation of your work. The root meaning of “rest” is cutting off; the sleeper is thus one whose work and movement have ceased. “And He made the day a time for rising,” that is, a time of wakefulness in which you spread out to seek provision and attend to your occupations.