Ask ArabicGems: The night and the day, the sun and the moon

In surah Anbiya Allah says:
 
" It is He who created night and day,  the sun and the moon,  revolving on its orbit. (33)"
Why does Allah mention night first  and day second,  and after that sun first and moon second. Why isnt  moon mentioned before the sun,  because night was mentioned before the day?
Wa 'alaykum al-Salaam wa rahmatullaah,

There are many instances in the Qur'an in which Allaah has actually mentioned the night and the day,  the sun and moon - all in this order.   The reason that the night was mentioned before the day is that night signifies darkness and nothingness,  and the mind associates darkness and nothingness with non-existence,  so non-existence (darkness...the night) is mentioned first to allude to the logical order of creation (non-existence before existence,  darkness before light,  night before day).  In addition,  all that is associated with darkness is something that people wonder about and question more than all that is associated with light. For example,   we would question and wonder about the reasons for blindness and deafness,  where a person is in a state of no seeing and no hearing,  more than we would wonder about why people see and hear. So Allaah has also placed first the night because people would wonder about it ("Why is there night?") more than the daylight.

Why then was the sun mentioned before the moon? There are a number of reasons for this as well; just as people wonder about the night more than the day,  so the people wonder about the sun more than the moon due to its size and brightness - hence you would find people worshipping the sun much more than the moon. In addition,  it is more appropriate for the sun to be mentioned directly after the day because the sun is a mark of the day - it is only due to the sun that there is daylight,  and it is only due to the sun that we can see the moon. So it is greater and more important in creation hence it was mentioned before the moon. [It has even been said that this order as mentioned in this ayah and others is a scientific miracle of the Quran,  since the moon orbits around the sun thereby following it,  as well as being lit up by the light of the sun].

And Allaah knows best.

1 thought on “Ask ArabicGems: The night and the day, the sun and the moon”

  1. MaashAllah such an enlightening explanation of something which we may not even consider thinking about when we read these ayahs. Yet there is such wisdom and depth behind each and every one of them.. Jazakillah for setting this up and enhancing our knowledge in everyway you can InshAllah

Comments are closed.

Shopping Cart