وَاللَّيلِ إِذا عَسعَسَ
By the night as it retreats.
EXEGESIS
The perfect tense verb ʿasʿas means to clear away, to pull away, to descend. It is derived from ʿasʿasatun, meaning the soft, delicate, and tender darkness, which is obtained both at the beginning and end parts of the night. The night watchman or night patrol is called ʿasas in Arabic.
EXPOSITION
Due to the nature of the term ʿasʿas, which is the state of tender darkness obtained both at the beginning and end of night, this verse may be understood to refer to either of the two times, early night or early dawn. This verse, however, refers to the tender darkness at the end of the night near to the break of dawn rather than to the softness of the night at sunset in light of the succeeding verse. The oath here resembles the oath in 74:33. Furthermore, Imam Ali (a) is attributed to have explained this verse to mean the night when it recedes. Ṭabarī records a report, related by Abū Ẓibyān, who said: ‘I was following Ali ibn Abī Ṭālib (may God be pleased with him) while he was going somewhere in the direction of the east when dawn occurred and he recited this verse, By the night as it retreats.’
The night is one of the great blessings and signs of God, being the time for repose and being much cooler than the day. As for the emphasis laid on it by the Quran, this may be due to this period of time having great merit for such rituals as prayers, supplications, and intimate spiritual discourse, as well as representing the point which marks the beginning of the time when the world and its inhabitants begin to move and wake up.
REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE
It was observed previously that the word ʿasʿas means the state of tender darkness obtained both at the beginning and end of night, and Thaʿālabī writes that ʿasʿas al-layl means when the night is not intense in darkness, which Imam Ali (a) particularly understood to mean the tender darkness at the end of night, near to dawn, rather than the tender darkness at the beginning of the night.
This was also the opinion of ʿAbd-Allāh ibn Abbas, Qatādah, Mujāhid, al-Ḍaḥḥāk, and Ibn Zayd. On the other hand, Hasan al-Baṣrī and Mujāhid, according to one report, understood this verse to mean the night’s darkness as it descends rather than as it retreats, as did Jubbāʾī. The tenth century Shia exegete Qummī also preferred the latter meaning.
Ṭūsī writes that the Arabs use the word ʿasʿas in relation to the night when its darkness retreats. Ṭūsī then cites from the dictionary al-ʿAyn that the word ʿass meant a big cup or drinking vessel made from wood or other material. The original meaning of this word meant for something to become full with what was in it. Hence it was in the nature of a cup of yoghurt that it be full of it. In a similar fashion, night becomes full when it becomes replete with darkness. Therefore, ʿasʿas means the night as it retreats from its state of full darkness.
[1] Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’ānic Usage, p. 621.
[2] Amthal, 19/462.
[3] Al-Aqsām fī al-Qurʾān, p. 139; Mizan, 20/217.
[4] Tabari, 30/50; Mizan, 20/221; Tabrisi, 10/676.
[5] Tabari, 30/50.
[6] 2:164, 3:27, 3:190, 7:54, 10:6, 13:3, 14:33, 16:12, 17:12, 21:33, 22:61, 23:80, 24:44, 25:62, 27:86, 28:73, 30:23, 31:29, 35:13, 36:37, 39:5, 41:37, 45:5, and 57:6.
[7] 6:60, 6:96, 10:67, 25:47, 27:86, 28:73, 30:23, 40:61, and 78:10.
[8] 3:113, 11:114, 17:78, 17:79, 20:130, 21:20, 25:64, 30:18, 32:16, 39:9, 41:38, 50:40, 51:17, 52:49, 73:2, 73:6, 73:20, and 76:26.
[9] Amthal, 19/462.
[10] Thaalabi, 5/557.
[11] Suyuti, 6/321.
[12] Tibyan, 10/285-286.
[13] Tabrisi, 10/677.
[14] Cited in Daqaiq, 14/154.
[15] Tibyan, 10/285-286.