(5–6) “He is the One who made the sun a radiance and the moon a light, and determined phases for it so that you might know the number of years and the reckoning of time. Allah did not create all this except in truth and for a true purpose. He makes the signs clear for people who know. Indeed, in the alternation of night and day and in all that Allah has created in the heavens and the earth are signs for people who are mindful of Allah.”
Having established His lordship and divinity, He mentioned the rational, cosmic proofs demonstrating this and His perfection in His names and attributes: the sun and moon, the heavens and the earth, and every kind of creature He created within them. He stated that these are signs “for people who know” and “for people who are mindful of Allah.”
Knowledge guides one to recognize their significance as proofs and to derive the proof (1) from them in the most direct manner. Mindfulness of Allah awakens in the heart a desire for good and a fear of evil, both arising from evidences and proofs, and from knowledge and certainty.
In sum, the very creation of these things in this form demonstrates the perfection of Allah Most High’s power, knowledge, life, self-subsistence, and sustaining power. Their precision, perfection, originality, and beauty demonstrate Allah’s perfect wisdom, the excellence of His creation, and the vastness of His knowledge. The many benefits and advantages they contain—such as His making the sun a radiance and the moon a light, through which essential and other benefits are obtained—demonstrate Allah Most High’s mercy, His care for His servants, and the vastness of His beneficence and kindness. The particular specifications found within them demonstrate Allah’s will and His irresistible decree.
All this demonstrates that He alone is to be worshipped, loved, and praised. He is the Possessor of majesty, honor, and magnificent attributes. Desire and fear should be directed to Him alone, and sincere supplication should be devoted solely to Him—not to any other created beings under His lordship, all of whom depend upon Allah in every one of their affairs.
These verses urge and encourage reflection upon Allah’s creation and thoughtful contemplation of it. Through this, spiritual insight is opened, faith and understanding increase, and intellectual ability grows stronger. Neglecting this amounts to disregard for what Allah has commanded, closes the way to increased faith, and causes the mind and intellectual faculty to stagnate.