seven heavens, one above another?”

“And placed the moon among them as a light, and made the sun a lamp.”

He thus states that He placed the sun and the moon in the heavens. Allah, Most High, also says:

“All praise is for Allah, who created the heavens and the earth and made darkness and light. Yet those who disbelieve set up equals to their Lord.”

He explains that He created the heavens and the earth, and that He created darkness and light, for “making” means causing something to become so. One says, “He made such-and-such,” meaning that he caused it to become so. He therefore mentions that He created the heavens and the earth and made darkness and light, because darkness and light are brought about through the sun and the moon, which were created in the heavens. Darkness and light, night and day, are not independently existing bodies, but attributes and accidents subsisting in something else.

“Light” is the sun’s radiance and illumination, which Allah spreads through the air and over the earth. As for “the darkness of night,” some have said that it is likewise, while others have said that it is something with positive existence. Thus, this night and this day that alternate over us—one of which Allah causes to enter into the other, making night enter into day and day enter into night—succeed one another in turn. As Allah, Most High, says:

“Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of night and day are signs for people of understanding.”

And He, Most High, says:

“It is not for the sun to overtake the moon, nor can the night outstrip the day.”

He, glorified be He, explains that He has assigned each thing a single measure that it does not exceed. The sun is not to overtake the moon and catch up with it. Rather, it has a course that Allah has ordained for it, and the moon has a course that Allah has ordained for it. As Allah, Most High, says:

“And a sign for them is the night: We strip the day from it, and behold, they are