Tafsir of Al-Furqan 25:47

This is an exposition of some of the wonders of the effects of His Power—Mighty and Majestic is He—and the masterpieces of the rulings of His Mercy and the grace overflowing upon creation. The transition in the address serves to fulfill the status of gratitude appropriately. The prepositional phrase "for you" (lakum) is linked to "made" (ja'ala), and its precedence over the two direct objects is to emphasize that what follows is for their benefit. In following the exposition of the states of the shadow with the exposition of the rulings of the night—which is the shadow of the earth—there is a subtlety of approach that cannot be surpassed. That is: He is the One who made the night for your benefit as a garment, covering you with its darkness just as a garment covers you.

"And made sleep [as] a rest..." Sleep, which occurs during the night, is usually caused by the domination of vapors over the faculties, according to custom. It has also been said: it is by the scent of a breeze that blows from beneath the Throne, though this is hardly authentic. A "rest" (subatan) means a respite for the bodies by cutting off the activities that occur during wakefulness. The root of sabt is cutting off. It is said that the Sabbath (yawm al-sabt) was named as such because it was the custom to rest on that day, as some have claimed; or, as others say, because God Almighty created nothing on that day. It is said of a sick person when they find relief from the fatigue of an illness: "he is masbut." Abu Muslim holds this view.

Abu Hayyan stated: Subat is a type of faintness that befalls a wakeful person as an affliction, so sleep is likened to it. Sabt also means remaining in a place, so sleep is a form of stillness.

"And made the day a resurrection..." Meaning, possessing a "resurrection" (nushuran) during which people spread out to seek their livelihood. It is like His saying: "And We made the day for livelihood." Making the day the resurrection itself is a hyperbole. It is also said that nushuran means "spreading" (nashiran) based on metaphorical attribution. It is permissible that subat (sleep) refers to death, due to the cessation of sensation or life within it, and sleep is expressed as such because of the perfect similarity between them in the interruption of the rulings of life. This is supported by His saying: "And He is the One who takes you by night," and His saying—Exalted is He: "God takes the souls at the time of their death, and those that do not die in their sleep." And "resurrection" (nushuran) refers to the Raising [from the dead]; meaning, He made the day a time for rising from that sleep, or the very act of rising itself, by way of hyperbole.

Al-Zamakhshari rejected the interpretation of "rest" for subat, stating that nushuran (resurrection) in parallel to it makes such an interpretation repugnant, like "the pure water being made murky." This seems to be because nushur in the Quran is almost never found to mean "spreading out and movement to seek livelihood." In al-Kashf, he reasoned that al-Zamakhshari rejected it for this reason, and also because the preceding and succeeding verses—along with the reminders of grace and power they contain—incorporate evidence for the Afterlife; thus, it is not fitting to differentiate this verse from its counterparts.

It is as if he made the making of the night a garment and the sleep within it a rest as a combined unit, in contrast to making the day a resurrection. For this reason, the verb "made" was repeated, because nushur carries the meaning of appearance and strenuous movement, or the meaning of appearance and resurrection. This path was not followed in the verse of Surat al-Naba' for reasons that are not hidden.