Tafsir of Ya seen 36:38

(And the sun) is a conjunctive to (the night), meaning: And a sign for them is the sun. His statement, the Exalted, (runs...) is an inauguration to explain its status as a sign. It is said that (the sun) is the subject (mubtada') and what follows it is the predicate (khabar), and the sentence is a conjunctive to (the night: we strip...), and other things have been said; so do not be negligent.

Jary (running) signifies rapid movement, originating from the flow of water; when it runs, it causes it to run, and the meaning is: it travels rapidly. (To a resting place for it) means a specific limit it reaches in its orbit at the end of the year. It is likened to the resting place of a traveler once he has completed his journey, in the sense that there is an end to every specific location, even if the traveler has a place of stillness other than the sun. This has been narrated from al-Kalbi and chosen by Ibn Qutaybah. Mustaqarr (resting place) is a noun of place, and the lam (the 'l' in limustaqarr) is in the sense of "to" (ila). It has also been read with ila instead of the lam. It is permissible that it be causal, or for a limit for it among the daily eastern and western points, as it has an eastern and a western point until it reaches its furthest extreme, then it returns; that is its limit and its resting place, because it does not exceed it. This has been narrated from al-Hasan. It is agreed upon that the mustaqarr is a noun of place, and the lam is as you have heard, but they differ in that the first is based on the traveler's stopping, likening the end of the cycle to the end of a journey, while this one is based on the arcs of elevation and reaching its furthest limit, and the arcs of depression likewise. The "resting" here is based on not exceeding the first in the completion of eastern points and the second in the completion of western points; or it is a limit for it from its journey every day in the view of our eyes, which is the setting (the west). Mustaqarr is also a noun of place, and the lam is as you have heard, or for the zenith of the sky and the meridian circle. Thus, the mustaqarr and the lam are analogous to what has preceded.

The fact that this is its place of rest is either a metaphor for slow movement, or it is in accordance with what is apparent. Dhu al-Rumma said, describing his horse and its running at noon in the intense heat: Running amidst the shimmering heat, shaking, while the sun is bewildered, circling in the atmosphere. Or, it has no rest and stays in each of the twelve zodiac signs along a specific path; thus mustaqarr is a mim-prefixed verbal noun (masdar), and the lam is entering upon the goal or the carrier. It is said it runs to its "house," which is the sign of Leo, and its resting is an expression of its excellence there, but this is unacceptable except to the astrologers, and their ruling is not hidden from the researchers of Islam.

Qatadah and Muqatil said the meaning is: it runs until a time for it which it does not exceed. Al-Wahidi said: According to this, its mustaqarr is the end of its movement at the expiration of the world. This is the choice of al-Zajjaj. As al-Nawawi said in his commentary on Sahih Muslim: mustaqarr is a noun of time. In more than one of the Sahih collections, it is narrated from Abu Dharr that he said: I was with the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, in the mosque at sunset. He said: "O Abu Dharr, do you know where this sun goes?" I said: Allah and His Messenger know best. He said: "It goes to prostrate, then it seeks permission and is permitted. Soon it will prostrate and it will not be accepted from it, and it will seek permission and will not be permitted, and it will be said to it: Return from whence you came, so it will rise from its setting place. That is His saying, the Mighty and Majestic: (And the sun runs to a resting place for it)." In one narration: "Do you know where this sun goes?" They said: Allah and His Messenger know best. He said: "It runs until it ends at its resting place under the Throne, so it falls prostrate." There are several narrations regarding this, and it has been narrated in a very abridged form.

Ahmad, al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi, al-Nasa'i, Ibn Abi Hatim, Abu al-Shaykh, Ibn Marduyah, and al-Bayhaqi extracted from Abu Dharr that he said: I asked the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, about the saying of Allah, the Exalted: (And the sun runs to a resting place for it), and he said: "Its resting place is under the Throne." Thus, mustaqarr is a noun of place, and the apparent meaning is that the sun has a literal resting place there. Al-Nawawi said: A group has said to follow the literal meaning of the hadith. Al-Wahidi said: According to this saying, when the sun sets every day, it rests under the Throne until it rises. Then al-Nawawi said: Its prostration is by a discernment and perception that Allah, the Exalted, creates within it.

Ibn Hajar al-Haytami mentioned in his Fatawa Hadithiyyah that its prostration under the Throne is only at its sunset, and he narrated therein from some that it rises from heaven to heaven until it prostrates under the Throne and says: "O Lord, a people are disobeying You." It is said to it: "Return from whence you came," and it descends from heaven to heaven until it rises from the East. With its descent to the lowest heaven, the dawn rises. In it also, Abu al-Shaykh extracted from Ikrimah that when it sets, it enters a river under the Throne and praises its Lord until, when morning comes, it asks its Lord to be excused from rising, and He, the Glorified, says: "Why?" It says: "Because if I go out, I will be worshipped instead of You."

Prostration under the Throne has also come from the narrations of the Imamiyyah, and they have strange accounts regarding that, among which is that upon the sun are seventy thousand "dogs" (chains/restraints), and each is pulled by seventy thousand angels from its east to its west, then they pull the light from it and it falls prostrate under the Throne. Then they ask their Lord: "Shall we clothe it in the garment of light or not?" They are answered according to what He, the Glorified, wills. Then they ask Him, the Mighty and Majestic: "Shall we cause it to rise from its east or its west?" And the call comes to them with what He, the Glorified, wills. Then they ask about the measure of light, and the call comes to them with what the creation needs regarding the shortening and lengthening of the day.

In al-Hay'ah al-Sunniyyah by Jalal al-Suyuti, there are accounts of this kind, and the authentic accounts are few. I do not rely on the authenticity of the accounts of the Imamiyyah, and most of what is in al-Hay'ah al-Sunniyyah is reliance [on weak chains]. Yes, what preceded from Abu Dharr is something about whose authenticity there is no dispute. And what can be said about Abu Dharr and the truthfulness of his speech? The matter regarding this is difficult if the prostration and resting occur every night under the Throne, whether it is said it rises from heaven to heaven until it reaches it to prostrate, or it is said it rests and prostrates under it without rising.

Imam al-Haramayn and others have explicitly stated that there is no disagreement that it sets for some people and rises for others, and the night lengthens for some and shortens for others. Night and day are clarified by the difference in length and shortness at the equator. In the lands of Bulghar, the dawn might rise before the twilight of sunset sets. At ninety degrees latitude, it is continuously rising as long as it is in the northern zodiac signs, and setting as long as it is in the southern zodiac signs. Thus, the year is half night and half day as detailed in its place. The proofs are that it does not become stationary at its sunset, otherwise it would be stationary at its rising, based on the fact that its sunset in one horizon is a rising in another. Also, it is established that it does not leave its orbit, so how could it rise from heaven to heaven until it reaches the Throne? Rather, the fact that the matter is not as such is clearer than the sun and does not require clarification at all. Likewise, its being under the Throne always in the sense of the Throne encompassing it and its being within its interior, just like the rest of the celestial spheres that are above and below its sphere.

I have asked many of the eminent contemporaries about reconciling what I have heard of the authentic narrations with what contradicts them based on observation and demonstration, but I have not succeeded in obtaining from them that which quenches the thirst and heals the sick. What crosses my mind in solving this problem—and Allah, the Exalted, knows the truth of the state—is that the sun, as well as the rest of the planets, are perceiving and rational, as indicated by His, the Exalted, coming statement: (Each in an orbit swimming), where the verb is used attributed to the pronoun of the plural of rational beings; and His, the Exalted, statement: (I saw eleven planets, and the sun and the moon—I saw them prostrating to me) for a reason similar to what was mentioned. The appearance of what was narrated from Abu Dharr that it prostrates and seeks permission points to this, for the immediate understanding of "seeking permission" is that which is speech, not the state of the situation.

Allah, the Exalted, created perception and discrimination within it at the time of prostration and seeking permission, then took it away from it, which is something there is no need to commit to; rather, it is extremely far-fetched. The evidence from the Book, the Sunnah, and the speech of the Progeny regarding it being possessed of perception and discrimination is too numerous to count. Some indicate the establishment of this for it specifically, and some indicate its establishment for it by way of inclusion in the general or by analogy, since no one claims a difference. Once it is like this, it is not far-fetched that it possesses a rational soul like the human soul. Indeed, some of the Sufis explicitly stated it possesses a complete rational soul. The sages established the soul for the celestial sphere, and some explicitly stated it for the planets as well, saying: Everything in the upper world of planets, universal and particular spheres, and epicycles is alive and rational.

The human rational souls, if they are sanctified, may strip away from the bodies and go forth, appearing and manifesting in the forms of their bodies or in other forms—just as Gabriel, peace be upon him, manifests and appears in the form of Dihyah or the form of some Bedouin, as came in the authentic narrations—wherever Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, wills, with a type of attachment remaining to the original bodies, through which the issuance of actions from them is feasible. As it is narrated about some of the saints—may their secrets be sanctified—that they are seen at one time in several places, and that is only because of the power of the abstraction of their souls and the intensity of their sanctity, so they manifest and appear in one place while their original body is in another. Do not say its house is in the east of Najd; every Najd is a house for the beloved. This is a matter established among the masters of the Sufis, famous among them, and it is not the folding of distance. The denial of those who deny both of these things against them is obstinacy that does not come except from an ignorant or an obstinate person. The scholar al-Taftazani was astonished at some of the Sunnis—like Ibn Muqatil—who judged as disbelief the one who believes what was narrated about Ibrahim ibn Adham—may his secret be sanctified—that they saw him in Basra on the Day of Tarwiyah, and he was seen that same day in Mecca. His basis was the claim that this is of the kind of great miracles, and it is something that does not establish a miracle for a saint. You know that the reliable view for us is the permissibility of the establishment of a miracle for a saint absolutely, except in what is proven by evidence that it is impossible, such as bringing a surah like one of the surahs of the Quran. More than one has established the manifestation of the soul and its development to our Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, after his death, and claimed that he, upon him be blessings and peace, might be seen in several places at one time while he is in his noble grave praying. Discussion of this has preceded in detail. It is authentic that he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, saw Musa, peace be upon him, praying in his grave at the Red Sand Hill, and he saw him in heaven, and there occurred between them what occurred regarding the matter of the prescribed prayers. His, upon him be blessings and peace, ascension to heaven with the body that was in the grave after the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, saw him is something no one has stated definitively, and stating it is a remote possibility. He, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, saw on the night of the Isra a group of prophets other than Musa, peace be upon him, in the heavens, even though their graves are on earth, and no one said they were moved from them to there by the analogy of what you have heard just now. This is not something the sages claimed was impossible regarding one soul occupying more than one body, but it is a matter beyond that, as is not hidden from one whose insight Allah, the Exalted, has illuminated.

Thus, it is possible to say: The sun has a soul like those sanctified souls, and it strips away from the observed, known body with a type of attachment remaining to it, so it ascends to the Throne and prostrates under it without an intermediary, rests there, and seeks permission. This does not contradict the movement of this known body and its lack of stillness as claimed by the astronomers and others. This would be when it sets and crosses the true horizon, and the view of the inhabitants of the inhabited earth of it is severed. Its rising at that time in ninety degrees latitude and the like does not harm it, because what we mentioned of the prostration and stillness being in accordance with the soul that has stripped away and manifested in whatever Allah, the Exalted, wills, does not contradict the movement of the known body. Even if it were noon at the equator, it would not harm it either. It is permissible to say its prostration is after its setting from the horizon of Medina, and its being rising at that time in another horizon does not harm it, according to what you have heard. However, that which dominates the conjecture is what was mentioned first. On this model, what is narrated that the Kaaba used to visit one of the saints is interpreted by saying: The Kaaba is a reality other than what the commoners know, and it is in accordance with that reality that it visits, while people observe it in its place as built stones.

The Greatest Master—may his secret be sanctified—mentioned in the Futuhat a long speech that is apparent in that it has a reality other than what the commoners know, and in it is that there were between him and it, during the time of his neighboring it, constant correspondence, supplications, and reproaching, and that he recorded some of that in a part he called Taj al-Wasa'il wa Minhaj al-Rasa'il. Najm al-Din Umar al-Nasafi asked the human and the jinn about what is judged that the Kaaba used to visit, etc.—is it permissible to say it? He said: Breaking the habit by way of a miracle for the people of sainthood is permissible according to the Sunnis. The scholar al-Sa'd and others accepted this, but I have not seen anyone who explained its visiting on this model. The apparent speech of some of them is that it is by the departure of the observed body from it to the visited person and its transition from its place. In 'Iddat al-Fatawa, al-Walwalijiyyah, and others: If the Kaaba went to visit some of the saints, then the prayer [should be] toward its air. It is possible that what was intended by it is other than what is narrated, for it—and Allah, the Exalted, knows best—was not by the transition of the observed body.

Reconciling the hadith regarding the sun with what the senses and the speech of the astronomers require in this way is something I have not seen for anyone. However, I have seen in some of the writings of our contemporary, al-Rashti, the head of the Shaykhiyyah Imamiyyah sect, that the prostration of the sun at its sunset under the Throne is an expression of the lifting of the vessel and the stripping of the cloak of quiddity. This is, in my view, a type of jargon that one who has no experience with his terminology does not understand, even if he were a person of wit. He said in another place, after he mentioned the previous hadith of the "dogs": This does not contradict the speech of the astronomers, not even by the thickness of a needle's eye. He did not explain the aspect of the lack of contradiction, even though it is clearer than the sun, excusing himself by saying that the discussion of it is long. I do not think, if he were to bring it, it would be anything but of that kind. This is what I have, so let it be pondered, and Allah, the Exalted, is the Guide to the straight path.

Abdullah, Ibn Abbas, Zayn al-Abidin and his son al-Baqir, Ikrimah, and Ata ibn Abi Rabah read: (No resting place for it), with la negating the genus and mustaqarr being indeclinable upon a fatha, so it necessitates the negation of every literal resting place for its observed body. This is in the world, meaning: It runs in the world always, it does not rest. Ibn Abi Ablah read with la also, except that he raised mustaqarr and nunated it, acting upon it as laysa acts, as in his saying: Be patient, for nothing on earth is lasting, nor is there a refuge from what Allah has decreed. (That) is a reference to the running understood from (runs), meaning: that running of wonderful status, containing profound wisdoms that minds and intellects are bewildered in understanding, (is the estimation of the All-Mighty), the Vanquisher by His power over every ordained thing, (the All-Knowing), the One whose knowledge encompasses everything known.

Some mentioned in the wisdom of its running until it prostrates every night under the Throne what the previous report requires: the renewal of the acquisition of light from the Throne, and there results in the world of nature and elements what results. That it acquires light from the Throne has been stated by more than one. Among the strange things is what al-Rashti mentioned: that it derives light from the exterior of the Throne and extends the sphere of the moon, and from the interior of the Throne and extends the sphere of Saturn, and derives from the exterior of the Footstool and extends the sphere of Mercury, and from its interior and extends Jupiter, and derives from the exterior of the intersection of the two points of the zodiacal zones and extends the sphere of Venus, and from its interior the sphere of Mars. Would that I knew from where he derived what he said! That is something in which we found no transmission, nor do we think it passed through the imagination. The Greatest Master—may his secret be sanctified—said: The light of the sun is not from the perspective of its essence; rather, it is from a constant manifestation to it from His name, the Exalted, al-Nur (the Light), and the light of the rest of the planets is from its light, and it is in reality from the manifestation of His name, the Glorified, al-Nur. So there is nothing there except His light, the Mighty and Majestic.

Many of the eminent researchers claimed that the light of all the planets—the fixed and the wandering—is derived from the light of the sun, and it is poured upon them from the Absolute Giver, Glorified be His Majesty and Great be His bestowal. In the verse is a refutation of those who say that the sun is stationary and is the center of the world, and the planets and the earth are spheres revolving around it.