بِسمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحمٰنِ الرَّحيمِ

وَاللَّيلِ إِذا يَغشىٰ

By the night when it envelops.

EXEGESIS

The wāw at the beginning of the sentence is for oath (qasam). The verse swears by the night when it envelops.

Yaghshā is the present continuous tense of ghashiya, the root of which means to cover something in a way that completely hides it.^{‎[1]Tibyan, 10/362.}

EXPOSITION

The object of the verb envelops has not been explicitly mentioned. The object could either be the sun, thus the meaning would be: By the night when it envelops the sun. Or it could be the earth, and thus the meaning would be: By the night when it envelops the earth.^{‎[2]Safi, 5/336.} The object could also be more general and refer to everything that the night envelops in its darkness.^{‎[3]Daqaiq, 14/303.} According to Tabatabai, in light of 7:53, the object could be the day, and thus the meaning would be: By the night when it envelops the day.^{‎[4]Mizan, 20/302.}

Allah begins the chapter by swearing by a particular quality of the night, that it envelops everything in darkness. This phenomenon has a tinge of fear to it and thus gives a feeling of awe and greatness and also danger.^{‎[5]Tabrisi, 10/759.} Night is one of the great blessings of Allah for it has numerous benefits: it moderates the heat of the sun on earth, allows for balanced growth of the earth’s vegetation, gives peace and rest to the inhabitants of the earth, and offers a conducive atmosphere for those who wish to engage in worship and conversation with their Lord.^{‎[6]Amthal, 20/254.}

INSIGHTS FROM HADITH

1. Muhammad ibn Muslim narrates that he said to Imam al-Bāqir (a): ‘The words of Allah, By the night when it envelops, By the star when it sets [53:1], and what resembles that.’ So he said: ‘It is for Allah to swear by whatever He wishes from His creation, and it is not for the creatures to swear except by Him.’^{‎[7]Kafi, 7/14; a similar narration is also in Faqih, 3/236/1120.}

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

In Sūrat al-Shams – the surah previous to this surah – mention was first made of the day (91:3) and then the night (91:4), whereas in the current set of verses, mention is first made of the night and then the day. According to Ibn ʿĀshūr, this is because this chapter was revealed much before Sūrat al-Shams and when this chapter was revealed, most of the society was covered in disbelief, and thus it would make sense to first indicate this darkness by first swearing by night, and Islam was gradually beginning to rise and remove society from darkness to light, and thus swearing by day came second.^{‎[8]Ibn Ashur, 30/334; Munyah, 30/399.} If this point is accepted then it would have to be said that Sūrat al-Shams was not revealed during the early period of Islam but must have been revealed much later when Islam had become more dominant.^{‎[9]Munyah, 30/400.}

[1] Tibyan, 10/362.
[2] Safi, 5/336.
[3] Daqaiq, 14/303.
[4] Mizan, 20/302.
[5] Tabrisi, 10/759.
[6] Amthal, 20/254.
[7] Kafi, 7/14; a similar narration is also in Faqih, 3/236/1120.
[8] Ibn Ashur, 30/334; Munyah, 30/399.
[9] Munyah, 30/400.