[25].Surah Al-Furqan [The Criterion]: Ayat 45-46

 

৪৫. তুমি কি তোমার পালনকর্তাকে দেখ না, তিনি কিভাবে ছায়াকে বিলম্বিত করেন? তিনি ইচ্ছা করলে একে স্থির রাখতে পারতেন। এরপর আমি সূর্যকে করেছি এর নির্দেশক। 

৪৬. অতঃপর আমি একে নিজের দিকে ধীরে ধীরে গুটিয়ে আনি।

Ayat 45. Have you not seen how your Lord spread the shadow. If Allah willed, He could have made it still then Allah made the sun its guide [i.e. after the sunrise, it (the shadow) squeezes and vanishes at midnoon and then again appears in the afternoon with the decline of the sun, and had there been no sun light, there would have been no shadow].

Ayat 46. Then We withdraw it to Us a gradual concealed withdrawal. 

[Tafseer] of Ayat 45. Hast thou not turned thy vision to thy Lord? How He doth prolong the shadow! If He willed, He could make it stationary! then do We make the sun its guide; We saw in 24:35 that Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. We have now, another sublime passage, in which we are asked to contemplate the Glory of Allah by a parable of the subtle play of Light and Shade in Allah's creation. In our artificial life and surroundings we fail to see some of the finest mysteries of Light and Shade. We praise, and rightly so, the wonderful colours of sunset. We see, particularly in climates more northerly than that of India , the subtle play of Light and Shade in the twilights succeeding sunsets. If we were as assiduous in seeing sunrises and the play of Light and Shade preceding them, we should see phenomena even more impressive, as the early morning seems to us more holy than any other time in the twenty-four hours of the sun's daily journey. There is the first false dawn, with its curious uncertain light and the curious long uncertain shadows which it casts. Then there are the streaks of black in the East, succeeded by the true dawn, with its delicate tones of colours, and light and shade. The light of this true or false Dawn is not given by the direct rays of the sun. In a sense it is not light, but the shadows or reflections of light. And they gradually merge into actual sunrise, with its more substantial or more defined shadows, which we can definitely connect with the sun. The morning shadows are long but more definite, and their length and direction are seen to be guided by the sun. But they change insensibly every second or fraction of a second. Tafseer of Ayat 46. Then We draw it in towards Ourselves,- a contraction by easy stages. As the sun rises higher and higher, the shadows contract. In regions where the sun actually gets to the zenith at noon , there is no shadow left at that time. Where does it go? It was but a shadow cast by a substance and it gets absorbed by the substance which produced it. Let us now reverently turn our vision (as far as we are able) to the symbolic meaning. Allah is the Light. All things in creation-whether concrete or abstract-are but shadows, depending on His Light. All shadows are not equal. He gives length or size of substance to such as He pleases. And some shadows almost become reflected lights, like the light of the false or the true Dawn. Such are holy men, in all kinds of gradations. The shadows are constantly in a state of flux; so are all things in Creation, all things we see or covet in this life. Allah, if He wills, can give some of them greater fixity or comparative stability.

Hazrat Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allah [SAWW](PBUH) said, "He who repents before the sun rises from the west, Allah will forgive him".   [Muslim Book 05, Chapter 35, Hadith # 6525]. 

 

Lesson : as mentioned above in Surah Al-Furqan Ayat 45."the decline of the sun, and had there been no sun light, there would have been no shadow" Taubah means returning to Allah from sins. When a person commits a sin, he goes away from Allah. When he repents, he returns to Allah and desires for being pardoned by Him, and getting near Him. This returning towards Him is Taubah. When it is said that `Allah turns towards him', it means that Allah accepts his repentance.