(61–62) “Blessed is He who placed constellations in the sky and placed therein a lamp and a luminous moon. He is the One who made night and day succeed one another for whoever wishes to take heed or wishes to show gratitude.”

Allah Most High repeats the phrase “Blessed is He” three times in this noble surah because, as explained previously, it signifies the Creator’s greatness, the abundance of His attributes, and the profusion of His goodness and benevolence. This surah contains evidence of His greatness, the vastness of His sovereignty, the efficacy of His will, the all-encompassing nature of His knowledge and power, the comprehensiveness of His dominion in both His prescriptive commands and His judgments of recompense, and the perfection of His wisdom. It also contains such evidence of His boundless mercy and generosity and His abundant religious and worldly blessings as warrants the repetition of this beautiful description.

Thus He says: “Blessed is He who placed constellations in the sky.” These are either the stars in general or the celestial stations of the sun and moon, through which they pass one station at a time. They resemble the towers and fortresses that protect cities. Likewise, the stars are like towers established for guarding, for they serve as missiles against the devils.

“And placed therein a lamp,” containing both light and heat—namely, the sun—“and a luminous moon,” containing light but no heat. This is among the proofs of His greatness and abundant benevolence. The magnificent creation, harmonious ordering, and immense beauty found within them all attest to the greatness of their Creator in all His attributes, while the benefits and advantages they hold for creation attest to the abundance of His goodness.

“He is the One who made night and day succeed one another.” That is, one departs and the other follows it, perpetually so: they neither occur together nor are both absent. “For whoever wishes to take heed or wishes to show gratitude.” That is, for whoever wishes to reflect upon them, learn from them, infer from them many truths concerning Allah, and thank Allah for that; and for whoever wishes to remember and thank Allah and has a regular devotional practice during the night or day. If he misses his practice during one of them, he can make it up during the other.

Furthermore, hearts fluctuate and pass through different states over the hours of night and day: vigor and lethargy, remembrance and heedlessness, constriction and expansion, eagerness and reluctance. Allah therefore made night and day follow and recur for His servants so that remembrance, vigor, and gratitude to Allah may arise anew at another time. Regular acts of worship also recur with the recurrence of night and day. As these times recur, the servant acquires fresh resolve, unlike the resolve that had grown sluggish during the preceding period, thereby increasing his mindfulness and gratitude. The prescribed acts of obedience are thus like water that nourishes faith; without them, the sapling of faith would wither and dry up. To Allah, therefore, belongs the fullest and most perfect praise for this.

Then, as another manifestation of His abundant goodness, He mentioned His favor to His righteous servants and His granting them success in performing righteous deeds, through which they attained lofty stations in the chambers of Paradise. He said: