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lā sh-shamsu yanbaghī lahā ʾan tudrika l-qamara wa-lā l-laylu sābiqu n-nahāri wa-kullun fī falakin yasbaḥūna
Neither it behooves the sun to overtake the moon, nor may the night outrun the day, and each swims in an orbit.
— Ali Quli Qarai
36Yā-SīnيسVerse 40 of 83
Ya-Sin36. Yā-Sīnيس
Yā Sīn
Ya Sin
MeccanVerse 40 of 83
Surah Ya-Sin - Verses 39-40
39. “And (as for) the moon, We have fixed for it the stages till its returns to be bent like an old palm branch.”
40. “Neither is it expedient for the sun that it should overtake the moon, nor can the night outstrip the day; and each swims along in (its own) orbit.”
The orb of the movement of the sun and the moon has been arranged in a way that they never crash each other, and there will not appear any confusion in the creation of the night and the day. In spite of the attitude which said the sum was fixed, the Holy Qur’an says that the sun has motion, and a motion with a proper direction. Therefore, in order to complete this discussion, these noble verses of the Holy Qur’an speak about the moon and its zodiacal signs, the system of the division of the days of the moon.
It says:
The objective meaning of ‘stages’ is the same twenty eight places at the moon passes before ‘its absence in the last nights of a lunar month’ and absolute darkness, because when a lunar month is fully thirty days, the moon is visible in the sky until the twenty eighth night, but by this night the moon appears very narrow with a yellow colour and a little light. It is not visible during the ‘two remaining nights’ which is called in Arabic /muhaq/. In the lunar months, of course, which contains twenty nine days, the moon is usually seen in the sky until twenty seventh night, and ‘the two remaining aq/ (the absence of the moon).nights’ is /muh
These stages are completely exact and accurate, in a manner that the astronomers, according to their minute calculations, can foretell them from one hundred years sooner. This marvellous system gives order to the men’s living. It is a natural celestial calendar which everybody is able to study. It is so that if a person is careful in the situation of the moon in different nights, he can, by looking at its situation, know, exactly or approximately, which night of the lunar month that night is.
This fact has been experienced, because, at the beginning the tips of the crescent are upward and gradually the bulk of the moon increases until the seventh night when a complete half of the moon is fully made manifest. Then its increasing state will continue on to the fourteenth night when it becomes a full moon. From this night on, the moon decreases from down side until the twenty first night when the moon appears in a semicircle form. It continues being decreased until the twenty eighth night when the moon is seen with a weak colourless crescent the tips of which are downward.
Yes, the main basis of the men’s living is formed by order, and without defining the exact time having order is impossible; and Allah has set this exact monthly and yearly calendar in the sky for this very aim. It is from this hint that the tender concept of the Qur’anic phrase /kal ‘urjun-il-qadim/ (to the best like an old palm branch) is made clear. As most commentators and philologists have said, the Arabic word /‘urjun/ means that part of the bunch of dates which is attached to the tree. The explanation is that: dates appear on the tree in the form of bunch of dates.
The end of this bunch is in the form of yellow wooden arc which is attached to the tree, and its tip is like a sweep, and the dates, like grapes, are joined to its strings. When the bunch of dates is cut, that wooden arc branch remains on the tree. When it dries, it is completely similar to the crescent before /muhaq/, because, as the crescent of the last nights of the lunar month, which is in the east of the sky, appears nearly in the morning. It is like arc, yellow and withered, the tips of which is downward, and /‘urjun-il-qadim/ is also like this.
This similarity, in fact, appears in different dimensions. They are from the point of arc form of the date branch, from the point of yellow colour, from the point of withered state, from the point of its tips being downward, and from the point of it being inside the mass of green branches of the palm tree which is not unlike to the crescent of the last night inside the dark sky. The moon is qualified as ‘old’ which points to its oldness, because the more old these branches are, the more narrow, withered, and yellowish they become, and they are more alike to the crescent of the last lunar month. Glory be to Allah! That how many tenders and beauties there are in a short phrase of the Holy Qur’an!
The last verse of the group of verses under discussion speaks about the perseverance and permanence of this order of year, month, day and night. The Lord has arranged such a program for them that there appears the least change in their situation, and it is for this very perseverance that the history of man can be arranged fully. It says:
We know that the sun spends its term in twelve months during one year while the moon passes its stages during one month. Therefore, the circular movement of the moon in its orb is twelve times quicker than the movement of the sun in its orb. That is why it implies that the sun in its own movement never reaches the moon so that it performs its one-year movement during one month and that the one year system varies. Also, the night never outstrip the day so that it brings a part of it into itself and that the present system alters, but all of them continue their path without the least change for millions of years.
And, thus, the state of sun and moon swimming in their orbits also comes forth from this. There is also this probability that the purpose of the ‘sun swims in its orbit’ is its movement accompanied with the solar system and accompanied with the galaxy inside which we are, because it has been proved that our solar system is a part of the great galaxy which is rotating round itself. As many known commentators believe, the Qur’anic sentence:
refers to each of the sun, the moon and stars that have a separate orbit for themselves, though the word ‘stars’ has not formerly been mentioned in the verses, with regard to the mention of /layl/ (night) and companionship of stars with the sun and the moon, the recognition of this meaning does not seem impossible, in particular that un/ has been mentioned in plural form.the term /yasbah There is also this interpretation that this sentence refers to each of sun, moon, night and day, because each of night and day has an orb for itself and exactly they turn round the earth. Always half of the earth is dark while another half has light and these two turn round the earth one complete round during twenty four hours.
The Qur’anic term /yasbaḥun/ is derived from /sabahat/ that, according to Mufradat by Raqib, originally means move ‘speedily’ in water and space, which points to the quick movement of the heavenly spheres. It has likened them to some intellectual beings that continue swiftly their rotation. This fact has also been proved today that the celestial spheres are moving in their path with very surprising speeds, and sometimes with extra ordinary speed.