Surah Jonah

Shaykh al-Islām, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

Section

His words:

“He is the One who made the sun a radiance and the moon a light, and determined phases for it, so that you may know the number of years and the reckoning”;

and His words:

“And He made the night for rest, and the sun and the moon for reckoning”;

and His words:

“The sun and the moon follow precise calculations”;

and His words:

“And the moon—We have determined phases for it, until it returns like an old date-palm stalk”;

and His words:

“They ask you about the new moons. Say: They are markers of time for people and for Hajj”—

all provide evidence for using the means of timekeeping mentioned in them to reckon years and make calculations.

If His words, “so that you may know the number of years and the reckoning,” are connected to His words, “and determined phases for it,” then the statement applies exclusively to the moon. If, however, they refer back to the beginning of the passage, they apply to both the sun and the moon.

The first interpretation is supported by His words concerning the new moons, which accord with it. Moreover, the sun’s being a radiance and the moon’s being a light do not in themselves enable one to know the number of years and the reckoning, unlike the determination of the moon’s phases, for it is this that