Najm is star, and kawakib seems to mean planet. The following verses may clarify.
[[ Ruby’s note - Star in Arabic is Najm, here instead of Najm the word Kawakib is used, this same word is used when Prop Yusuf mentioned eleven planets, sun and the moon bowing before him, see below]]
12. Surah Yusuf
12: 4
Asad Lo! Thus spoke Joseph ……I saw [in a dream] eleven stars,
Yusuf Ali Behold Joseph said to his father: "O my father! I did see eleven stars and the sun and the moon: I saw them prostrate themselves to me!"
Pickthall When Joseph said unto his father: O my father! Lo! I saw in a dream eleven planets and the sun and the moon, I saw them prostrating themselves unto me.
Transliteration Iz qa_la ya_sufu li abihi ya_ abati inni ra'aitu ahada'asyara kaukabaw wasy syamsa wal qamara ra'aituhum li sa_jidin(a).
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14. Surah Ibrahim
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
وَسَخَّر
لَكُمُ الشَّمْسَ
وَالْقَمَرَ
دَآئِبَينَ...
14: 33. And He hath made subject to you the sun and the moon, both diligently pursuing their courses:
C1909. The sun gives out heat, which is the source of all life and energy on this planet, and produces the seasons of the year, by utilizing which man can supply his needs, not only material, but immaterial in the shape of light, health, and other blessings.
The sun and the moon together produce tides, and are responsible for atmospheric changes which are of the highest importance in the life of man.
The succession of Day and Night is due to the apparent daily course of the sun through the skies; and the cool light of the moon performs other services different from those of warm day-light.
Because there are laws here, which man can understand and calculate, he can use all such things for his own service, and in that sense the heavenly bodies are themselves made subject to him by Allah's command.
...وَسَخَّرَ لَكُمُ اللَّيْلَ وَالنَّهَارَ ﴿٣٣﴾
and the Night and the Day hath He (also) made subject you.
14: 33
Asad and has made the sun and the moon, both of them constant upon their courses, ………
Pickthall And maketh the sun and the moon, constant in their courses, to be of service unto you, and hath made of service unto you the night and the day.
Transliteration Wa sakhkhara lakumusy syamsa wal qamara da_'ibain(i), wa sakhkhara lakumul laila wan naha_r(a).
[Asad note: Almost all classical commentators agree that God’s having made the natural phenomena “subservient” to man is a metaphor [majaz] of His having enabled man to derive lasting benefit from them: hence my explanatory interpolations, In the same sense the night and the day are spoken of in 10:67, 27:86, or 40:61 as having been “made for you”…..]
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37. As-Saffat (Those Ranged In Ranks)
Mecca 56 [182 verses]
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
إِنَّا
زَيَّنَّا
السَّمَاء
الدُّنْيَا
بِزِينَةٍ
الْكَوَاكِبِ
﴿٦﴾
37: 6. We have indeed decked the lower heaven with beauty (in) the stars --
C4035. Cf. 72:8-9. (Eds.).
C4036. 'Stars' may be taken here in the popular sense, as referring to fixed stars, planets, comets, shooting stars, etc.
On a clear night the beauty of the starry heavens is proverbial. Here they are meant to illustrate two points:
- their marvelous beauty and their groupings and motions (apparent or real) manifest and typify the Design and Harmony of the One true Creator: and
- the power and glory behind them typify that there is a guard against the assaults of Evil (see verse 7 below).
وَحِفْظًا
مِّن كُلِّ
شَيْطَانٍ
مَّارِدٍ ﴿٧﴾
37:7. (For beauty) and for guard against all obstinate rebellious evil spirits.
C4037. Verses 7-11 seem to refer to shooting stars, Cf. 15:17-18, and notes 1951-53.
The 'heavens typify not only beauty but power. The Good in Allah's world is guarded and protected against every assault of Evil. The Evil is not part of the heavenly system: it is a thing in outlawry, merely a self-willed rebellion,- "cast away on every side, repulsed under a perpetual penalty" (verses 8-9).
لَا
يَسَّمَّعُونَ
إِلَى الْمَلَإِ
الْأَعْلَى...
37:8. (So) they should not strain their ears in the direction of the Exalted Assembly
C4038. We can form a mental picture of the Court of the Most High, in the highest heaven, conforming to the highest idea we can form of goodness, beauty, purity, and grandeur.
The Exalted Assembly of angels is given some knowledge of the Plan and Will of Allah. Evil is altogether foreign to such an atmosphere, but is actuated by feelings of jealousy and curiosity. It tries to approach by stealth and overhear something from the august Assembly. It is repulsed and pursued by a flaming fire, of which we can form some idea in our physical world by the piercing trail of a shooting star.
...وَيُقْذَفُونَ مِن كُلِّ جَانِبٍ ﴿٨﴾
but be cast away from every side.
دُحُورًا...
37:9. Repulsed,
...وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ وَاصِبٌ ﴿٩﴾
for they are under a perpetual penalty.
إِلَّا
مَنْ خَطِفَ
الْخَطْفَةَ
فَأَتْبَعَهُ
شِهَابٌ ثَاقِبٌ
﴿١٠﴾
37:10. Except such as snatch away something by stealth, and they are pursued by a flaming fire, of piercing brightness.
C4039. See last note and Cf. 15:18 and notes 1951-53.
Asad’s Version:
37:6 Behold, We have adorned the skies nearest to the earth with the beauty of stars,
(37:7) and have made them secure against every rebellious, satanic force, 3
[[Asad’s note - 3 For an explanation of this passage, see note 16 on 15:17.
Note 16 on 15:17: The term shaytan ("satan") - derived from the verb shatana ("he was [or "became"] remote") - often denotes in the Qur'an a force or influence remote from, and opposed to, all that is true and good (Taj al-'Arus, Raghib): thus, for instance, in2:14 it is used to describe the evil impulses (shayatin) within the hearts of "those who are bent on denying the truth". In its widest, abstract sense it denotes every "satanic force", i.e., every impulsion directed towards ends which are contrary to valid ethical postulates. In the present context, the phrase "every satanic force accursed (rajim)"- like the phrase "every rebellious (marid) satanic force" in a similar context in 37:7 - apparently refers to endeavours, strongly condemned in Islam, to divine the future by means of astrological speculations: hence the preceding reference to the skies and the stars. The statement that God has made the heavens "secure" against such satanic forces obviously implies that He has made it impossible for the latter to obtain, through astrology or what is popularly described as "occult sciences", any real knowledge of "that which is beyond the reach of human perception" (al-ghayb).]]
Yuksel’s Version:
37:6 We have adorned the lowest heaven with the decoration of planets.
37:7 To guard against every rebellious devil.
37:8 They cannot listen to the command up high; and they are bombarded from every side.
37:9 Outcasts; they will have an eternal retribution.
37:10 Any of them who snatches something away, he is pursued by a piercing flame.
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24. [an-Nur, Medina 102]
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
...وَلَقَدْ
أَنزَلْنَا
إِلَيْكُمْ
آيَاتٍ مُّبَيِّنَاتٍ...
24: 34. We have already sent down to you verses making things clear,
...وَمَثَلًا مِّنَ الَّذِينَ خَلَوْا مِن قَبْلِكُمْ وَمَوْعِظَةً لِّلْمُتَّقِينَ ﴿٣٤﴾
an illustration from (the story of) people who passed away before you, and an admonition for those who fear (Allah).
C2995. This prepares the way for the magnificent Verse of Light that follows, and its sublime meaning. (R).
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اللَّهُ
نُورُ
...
Allahu Nuru
24:35. Allah is the Light ...
C2996. Embedded within certain directions concerning a refined domestic and social life, comes this glorious parable of light, which contains layer upon layer of transcendent truth about spiritual mysteries.
No notes can do adequate justice to its full meaning. Volumes have been written on this subject. In these notes I propose to explain the simplest meaning of this passage. (R).
... السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ...
Allahu nooru alssamawati waal-ardi
... of the heavens and the earth.
C2997. The physical light is but a reflection of the true Light in the world of Reality, and that true Light is Allah.
We can only think of Allah in terms of our phenomenal experience, and in the phenomenal world, light is the purest thing we know, but physical light has drawbacks incidental to its physical nature: e.g.
- it is dependent upon some source external to itself;
- it is a passing phenomenon; if we take it to be a form of motion or energy it is unstable, like all physical phenomena;
- it is dependent on space and time;
its speed is 186,000 miles per second, and there are stars whose light takes thousands of years before it reaches the earth.
The perfect Light of Allah is free from any such defects. (R).
...مَثَلُ نُورِهِ كَمِشْكَاةٍ فِيهَا مِصْبَاحٌ...
mathalu noorihi kamishkatin feeha misbahun
The parable of His Light is as if there were a Niche and within it a lamp:
...الْمِصْبَاحُ فِي زُجَاجَةٍ...
almisbahu fee zujajatin
the Lamp enclosed in Glass:
C2998. The first three points in the Parable centre round the symbols of the Niche, the Lamp, and the Glass.
1. The Niche (Mishkat) is the little shallow recess in the wall of an Eastern house, fairly high from the ground, in which a light (before the days of electricity) was usually placed. Its height enabled it to diffuse the light in the room and minimised the shadows.
The background of the wall and the sides of the niche helped to throw the light well into the room, and if the wan was white-washed, it also acted as a reflector: the opening in front made the way for the light.
So with the spiritual Light; it is placed high, above worldly things; it has a niche or habitation of its own, in Revelation and other Signs of Allah; its access to men is by a special Way, open to all, yet closed to those who refuse its rays.
2. The Lamp is the core of the spiritual Truth, which is the real illumination; the Niche is nothing without it; the Niche is actually made for it.
3. The Glass is the transparent medium through which the Light passes. On the one hand, it protects the light from moths and other forms of low life and from gusts of wind, and on the other, it transmits the fight through a medium which is made up of and akin to the grosser substances of the earth (such as sand, soda, potash, etc.), so arranged as to admit the subtle to the gross by its transparency.
So the spiritual Truth has to be filtered through human language or human intelligence to make it intelligible to mankind.
...الزُّجَاجَةُ كَأَنَّهَا كَوْكَبٌ دُرِّيٌّ...
alzzujajatu kaannaha kawkabun durriyyun
the glass as it were a brilliant star:
C2999. The glass by itself does not shine. But when the light comes into it, it shines like a brilliant star.
So men of God, who preach Allah's Truth, are themselves illuminated by Allah's light and become the illuminating media through which that Light spreads and permeates human life.
Yuksel’s Version:
God's Message: a Universal Light
24:35 God is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The example of His light is like a concave mirror within a lamp, the lamp is within a glass, the glass is like a radiant planet, which is lit from a blessed olive tree that is neither of the east nor of the west, its oil nearly radiates light even if not touched by fire. Light upon light. God guides to His light whom He pleases. God sets forth parables for mankind; God is aware of all things.*