Sūrat Yūnus
Section 2 of 17 · Surah Studies · Mufti Abdul Rahman Mangera
Signs in the Sun and the Moon
The verses that follow repay detailed reading. In all of them Allah (swt) says:
هُوَ ٱلَّذِى جَعَلَ ٱلشَّمْسَ ضِيَآءً وَٱلْقَمَرَ نُورًا وَقَدَّرَهُۥ مَنَازِلَ لِتَعْلَمُوا۟ عَدَدَ ٱلسِّنِينَ وَٱلْحِسَابَ ۚ مَا خَلَقَ ٱللَّهُ ذَٰلِكَ إِلَّا بِٱلْحَقِّ ۚ يُفَصِّلُ ٱلْـَٔايَـٰتِ لِقَوْمٍ يَعْلَمُونَ
“He is the One who has made the sun a glow, and the moon a light, and determined for it stages, so that you may learn the number of the years, and the calculation (of time). Allah has not created all this but for a rightful purpose. He elaborates the signs for a people who understand.” (10:5)
إِنَّ فِى ٱخْتِلَـٰفِ ٱلَّيْلِ وَٱلنَّهَارِ وَمَا خَلَقَ ٱللَّهُ فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ لَـَٔايَـٰتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يَتَّقُونَ
“Surely, in the alternation of night and day and in what Allah has created in the heavens and the earth, there are signs for a people who are God-fearing.” (10:6)
All of this serves to display the signs of Allah through the universe, through people, through creation. Allah (swt) draws attention to the fact that it is He who made the sun for you, the giver of light, and the illuminated moon as well, and appointed for the moon the stations through which it passes in the course of the year. By these the years are reckoned, and the dates of the calendar. Allah (swt) speaks of all these gifts of God: the creation and the rest of His bounties.
What emerges after these verses is that whoever ponders them and believes in them, accepts them and takes them to his own benefit, becomes separated from those who look upon the same verses and deny them, blind to what they show. For those who do draw goodness from them, Allah (swt) has this, in verses 9 and 10:
إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَعَمِلُوا۟ ٱلصَّـٰلِحَـٰتِ يَهْدِيهِمْ رَبُّهُم بِإِيمَـٰنِهِمْ ۖ تَجْرِى مِن تَحْتِهِمُ ٱلْأَنْهَـٰرُ فِى جَنَّـٰتِ ٱلنَّعِيمِ دَعْوَىٰهُمْ فِيهَا سُبْحَـٰنَكَ ٱللَّهُمَّ وَتَحِيَّتُهُمْ فِيهَا سَلَـٰمٌ ۚ وَءَاخِرُ دَعْوَىٰهُمْ أَنِ ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ
“As for those who believe and do good deeds, their Lord will guide them by virtue of their belief; rivers will be flowing beneath them in the Gardens of Bliss. Their call therein will be, “Pure are You, O Allah” and their greeting therein will be Salām . And the end of their call will be, “Praise be to Allah, the Lord of all the worlds.”” (10:9–10)
For them are gardens. The most striking part of it is daʿwāhum fīhā subḥānaka Allāhumma wa-taḥiyyatuhum fīhā salām: the greeting there will be salām, and their last call within it is that all praise is for Allah, Lord of the worlds. The evil ones have already been spoken of by then.