36. Surah Ya Sin (O Thou Human Being) Mecca 41
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
وَآيَةٌ
لَّهُمْ اللَّيْلُ...
36: 37 And a Sign for them is the Night:
... نَسْلَخُ مِنْهُ النَّهَارَ فَإِذَا هُم مُّظْلِمُونَ ﴿٣٧﴾
We withdraw therefrom the Day, and behold they are plunged in darkness;
C3982. "Withdrawing the Day from the Night" is a striking phrase and very apt.
The Day or the Light is the positive thing. The Night or Darkness is merely negative. We cannot withdraw the negative. But if we withdraw the real thing, the positive, which filled the void, nothing is left but the void.
The whole of this section deals with Signs or Symbols,-things in the physical world around us, from which we can learn the deepest spiritual truths if we earnestly apply ourselves to them.
وَالشَّمْسُ
تَجْرِي
لِمُسْتَقَرٍّ...
36: 38. And the Sun runs his course for a period determined for him:
C3983. Mustaqarr may mean:
- a limit of time, a period determined, as in 6:67, or
- a place of rest or quiescence; or
- a dwelling place, as in 2:36.
I think the first meaning is best applicable here; but some Commentators take the second meaning.
In that case the simile would be that of the sun running a race while he is visible to us, and taking a rest during the night to prepare himself to renew his race the following day. His stay with the antipodes appears to us as his period of rest.
... لَّهَا ذَلِكَ تَقْدِيرُ الْعَزِيزِ الْعَلِيمِ ﴿٣٨﴾
that is the decree of (Him), the exalted in Might, the All-Knowing.
Asad’s Version:
36:37 And [of Our sway over all that exists] they have a sign in the night: We withdraw from it the [light of] day - and lo! they are in darkness.
(36:38) And [they have a sign in] the sun: it runs in an orbit of its own" - [and] that is laid down by the will of the Almighty, the All-Knowing;
Yuksel’s Version:
36:37 A sign for them is the night, We remove the daylight from it, whereupon they are in darkness.
36:38 The sun runs to a specific destination, such is the design of the Noble, the Knowledgeable.