Verse 2
The Sun • makkah
View Aspects
Important Words:
واو is a particle of swearing, meaning 'by' or 'I swear' or 'I cite as witness or call to witness' (Lane & Aqrab). See also 37:2.
الشمس (the sun), is a substantive noun from شـمس (shamasa). They say شـمس الرجل i.e. the man abstained from and refused to obey because he considered himself too big to give allegiance to anyone. شـمس الفرس means, the horse refused to be ridden or became rebellious against its rider and ran away refusing to be ridden by reason of the vehemence of its force of resistance. شـمس لی فلان means, such a one showed enmity to me (Lane & Aqrab).
Commentary:
God’s swearing by His creatures is a method adopted by the Quran. The Quranic oaths have deep meaning underlying them. In ordinary transactions when a person takes an oath, his object is to supply the deficiency of insufficient testimony. The object and meaning of God’s oaths must, however, be distinguished from those of the oaths of mortals. Divine laws reveal two aspects of the works of God, viz. the obvious and the inferential. The former are easily comprehensible; in the comprehension of the latter there is room for error. In the taking of oaths God has called attention to what may be inferred from what is obvious.
Taking the oaths mentioned in the following verses, we see that the sun and the moon, the day and the night, heavens and earth belong to the "obvious;" their properties as referred to in these verses are universally known and acknowledged. But the same properties found in man’s soul are not obvious. To lead to an inference of the existence of these properties in the soul of man God has called to witness His obvious works.
"The sun" in the verse may refer to the sun of the spiritual universe—the Holy Prophet—who is the source of all light and who will continue to enlighten the world till the end of time. For a detailed note on this and the following five verses see v. 7.
The Quranic oaths have deep meaning underlying them. Divine laws reveal two aspects of the works of God viz. the obvious and the inferential. The former are easily comprehensible; in the comprehension of the latter there is room for error. In His oaths God has called attention to what may be inferred from what is obvious. In the oaths mentioned in verses, 2-7, the sun and the moon, the day and the night, the heavens and the earth belong to the "obvious"—their properties, referred to in these verses being universally known and acknowledged. But the same properties found in man’s soul are not obvious. To lead to an inference of the existence of these properties in the human soul God has called to witness His obvious works. See also {2465}.
"The sun" in the verse may refer to the sun of the spiritual universe— the Holy Prophet—who is the source of all spiritual light and who will continue to enlighten the world till the end of time.