Surah al-Shams (The Sun)

Shaykh al-Islam Ahmad ibn Taymiyyah—may Allah sanctify his soul—said:

Section

Concerning the words of Allah Most High:

“By the sun and its brightness,”
“and the moon when it follows it,”
“and the day when it reveals it,”
“and the night when it covers it.”

The feminine pronoun in “reveals it” and “covers it” has no preceding referent other than the sun. This therefore implies that the day reveals the sun and that the night covers it. “Revealing” means uncovering and making apparent, while “covering” means concealing and enveloping.

It is well known that night and day are periods of time. When an action is attributed to time, as when one says, “This period—or this day—brings cold, causes cooling, or makes the earth yield vegetation,” and similar expressions, what is meant is that this occurs during it. Likewise, time is described as distressing, harsh, ill-fated, cold, hot, pleasant, or disagreeable, whereas what is intended is a description of what occurs within it. Thus, a thing’s acting and its being described in a certain way are understood in the manner appropriate to it—each thing according to its own nature.