يولِجُ اللَّيلَ فِي النَّهارِ وَيولِجُ النَّهارَ فِي اللَّيلِ ۚ وَهُوَ عَليمٌ بِذاتِ الصُّدورِ
He makes the night pass into the day and makes the day pass into the night, and He knows best what is in the breasts.
EXEGESIS
Yūliju (makes pass into) is from walaja. It implies to enter, encroach, or penetrate something. It occurred earlier in the surah in the words, whatever enters (yaliju) the earth (verse 4; also see 34:2). The meaning of penetrating is seen in the verse, until the camel penetrates (yalija) through the needle’s eye (7:40). From this as well is walījah, which refers to someone or something that enters or is introduced where it does not belong, as, for example, those who do not take, besides Allah and His Apostle and the faithful, anyone as [their] confidant (walījah) (9:16), meaning they do not introduce (perhaps very gradually and without realisation) a polytheist or outsider as a close friend (who is inimical to God and His Apostle).[1]
And He knows best what is in the breasts comes after the surah has previously declared, and Allah sees best what you do (verse 4). This is to emphasise that not only does God’s knowledge encompass what you do outwardly, but He is also fully and equally aware of your innermost thoughts and intentions. For He is also the Outward and the Inward or the Manifest and the Hidden (verse 3).
God’s attribute of ʿalīm (all-knowing) was already introduced in verse 3. He knows best what is in the breasts occurs frequently, usually as the conclusion to verses (see 3:119, 3:154, 5:7, 8:43, 11:5, 29:10, 31:23, 35:38, 39:7, 42:24, 64:4, 67:13). The Quran also describes God as aware of the stealthiest glances and what the hearts conceal (40:19), and His omniscience is not limited to man alone. It encompasses what is in the breasts of all creatures and all the worlds (ʿālamīn) (29:10).
Dhāt is the feminine of dhū, a possessive prefix. Dhāt al-ṣudūr therefore means ‘the possessor of breasts’. In the Quran, this refers to the thoughts and intentions that occupy (‘possess’) one’s soul. The use of dhāt as a metaphor to imply essence, as the reality or core of something, came to use later, after the Quran’s revelation. But even with this meaning, it would still hold true here: God knows the ‘possessor of the breasts’ (dhāt al-ṣudūr) means He knows the essence and innermost core of what the breasts conceal.
Ṣudūr (sing. ṣadr) is anything that is front-facing. So when referring to the human anatomy, it refers to the chest or breast, that which houses the heart (22:46). But it can also be a metaphor for one’s inner faculties, like the powers of lust (shahwah) and anger (ghaḍab), which are the ‘face’ of one’s intellect (ʿaql), often referred to with its own metaphor – the ‘heart’ (qalb). With this meaning, ‘the possessor of the breasts’ (dhāt al-ṣudūr) would be the intellect that ‘possesses’ the faculties by regulating their affairs. Once again, God as ʿalīmun bi-dhāt al-ṣudūr would be the All-Knowing of what is in the minds of people. For more on this, see the Review of Tafsīr Literature section.
EXPOSITION
The common understanding of God making the night pass into the day and makes the day pass into the night is the obvious daily alternating and passing (īlāj) of the night into the day and the day into the night whereby He increases the night causing it to encroach upon the day, and vice versa; or that He increases the night with a part of the day by taking from the latter and adding it to former, and likewise increases the day with a part of the night highlighting the night and day’s ever-changing lengths due to the annual cycle in seasons in the northern and southern hemispheres of the world, which are a blessing from God as well as a manifestation of His power.[2] A subtler meaning to this statement is that God’s knowledge and control over whatever happens remains unchanged in the day or night for it is He who ends the day by the night and ends the night by the day. This is shown in the several verses similar to this, for example, That; and whoever retaliates with the like of what he had been made to suffer, and then is wronged again, Allah will surely help … That is because Allah makes the night pass into the day and makes the day pass into the night, and because Allah is all-hearing, all-seeing (22:60-61), Have you not regarded that Allah makes the night pass into the day and makes the day pass into the night … and that Allah is well aware of what you do? (31:29), He makes the night pass into the day and makes the day pass into the night … That is Allah, your Lord; to Him belongs all sovereignty. As for those whom you invoke besides Him, they do not control so much as the husk of a date stone (35:13).
The purpose of the verse is therefore to occupy one with thanksgiving to God and to inspire reflection on God’s signs and awe for Him.[3]
In the context of this surah, just as the creation of the heavens and the earth was in six days (verse 4), and not instantaneous – though it was easy for God to do so – the night and day transitions are also gradual – even if almost imperceptible as they pass into one another endlessly.
INSIGHTS FROM HADITH
- Someone asked Imam al-Sajjād (a) about God’s unicity (tawḥīd) and he said: ‘Indeed, God the exalted knew that there would be, towards the end of times, people of profound thoughts, so God revealed: Say: ‘He is Allah, the One. Allah is the all-embracing …’ [112:1-2], and [the opening] verses from Sūrat al-Ḥadīd until … and He knows best what is in the breasts [verse 6]. Whoever looks beyond that will perish!’[4]
REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE
Rāghib has argued that the Quran’s reference to ṣadr may not always be the literal chest or breast and may refer to the faculties of man that dominate or are dominated by the intellect, which he equates to the heart. So just as the breast is apparent and what is seen, a man’s inner powers and appetites manifest the state of his intellect. He argues this by saying the words, There is indeed an admonition in that for one who has a heart (qalb) (50:37) prove the ‘heart’ is the intellect, and: He said: ‘My Lord! Open my breast (ṣadr) for me’ (20:25) is beseeching God to reform all of one’s (inner) powers and faculties and to moderate them through the intellect, and likewise: Have they not travelled over the land so that they may have hearts (qulūb) by which they may apply reason (22:46) means intellects (ʿuqūl) which can be a guide and regulator to the rest of the faculties instead of losing control of them.[5] This understanding has an appeal because then, the verse, Indeed it is not the eyes that turn blind, but the hearts (qulūb) turn blind – those that are in the breasts (ṣudūr)! (22:46) would mean it is the intellects that go blind that are under the control of the other faculties (the breasts).
But this theory becomes untenable in some cases, where the intellect is equated directly to the breast rather than the possessor of the breasts. Lane, for example, explains the expression ḍāqa ṣadruhu (his chest contracted) to mean: ‘his mind became straitened and constrained’. Similar is the understanding in a host of verses including 6:125, 15:97, 16:106, 26:13, and 94:1 where the Quran speaks of the constriction or dilation of the breast (ṣadr) to mean the shrinking or expansion of spiritual and intellectual capacities.[6]
Tabatabai takes a simpler interpretation, noting that intentions and inner feelings are normally associated with the ‘heart’ but breasts (ṣudūr) is mentioned because it houses the heart, and to show that He knows everything, even besides the heart, that is inside you as well.[7]
Nasr also sees the mention of God seeing what you do (verse 4) earlier and knowing what is in the breasts here as a prelude to the surah discussing the hypocrites in verses 13-15, ‘who are often unable to discern between inner intentions and outward actions or who would prefer that there was no way to discern between inner intentions and outward actions’.[8]
Indeed, the frequent mention of God’s knowledge of what man hides in his inner being is to serve as a warning to the insincere (50:16).
Muslim mystics cannot help but notice the beautiful juxtaposition of the night-day alternating with the mention of the breasts. This is because the breast, too, experiences ‘night’ through spiritual constriction (qabḍ), a feeling of desolation, and isolation from God, as the ego crumbles; and ‘day’ through spiritual expansion (basṭ), a feeling of joy, and love for its connectedness to God. Neither spiritual state remains indefinitely fixed and there is a constant alternating of the two. It is, thus, comforting for God’s sincere servants, that even as they experience these states of ‘nights’ and ‘days’, He knows best what is in the breasts.
For Tustarī, the night represents the natural self (nafs al-ṭabʿ) and the day is the spiritual self (nafs al-rūḥ). ‘If God, exalted is He, wishes good for His servant, He reconciles and brings together his natural self and his spiritual self through the perpetuation of [His] remembrance (dhikr), and makes this manifest in the corresponding lights of humble submission (khushūʿ) [to God].’[9] In other words, for the righteous, God helps them succeed by allowing their spiritual self to dominate over their natural self and thus He makes the night pass into the day, and for the wicked, the opposite comes to pass as He makes the day pass into the night, and this He does because He knows best what is in the breasts. It is similar to the verse, Allah is the guardian of the faithful: He brings them out of darknesses into light. As for the faithless, their patrons are the rebels, who drive them out of light into darkness (2:257). It is also akin to the words, You bring forth the living from the dead and You bring forth the dead from the living (3:27) that many exegetes have interpreted to mean God brings forth the faithful from the loins of the faithless and the faithless from the faithful. See Review of Tafsīr Literature for 3:27 for details.
[1] Lane, w-l-j.
[2] See also the Exposition for 3:27.
[3] Razi, 29/449.
[4] Kafi, 1/91, h. 3; Tawhid, pp. 283-284, h. 2.
[5] Raghib, ṣ-d-r.
[6] Lane, ṣ-d-r.
[7] Mizan, 19/147.
[8] Nasr, p. 1332.
[9] Tustari, p. 161.