Tafsir of Ghafir 40:61

(Allah is the One Who made for you the night that you may rest therein) — meaning, that you may find repose therein, for He—Glorified be He—has caused the sun to set during it, making it cool and dark. He—Mighty and Majestic be He—made its coolness a cause for the weakening of the motive powers, and its darkness a cause for the calming of the external senses, in addition to other things He rendered as causes for stillness and rest.

(And the day, giving sight) — meaning, that one may see during it or by means of it. Thus, the day is either a temporal container for seeing or a cause for it. Regardless of which it is, attributing "giving sight" (mubsiran) to the day is a metaphorical attribution due to the connection between them. There is hyperbole in this, signifying that the state of visibility has reached such a degree that it has permeated the day of the seer. It is for this reason that He did not say, "that you may see in it," in the same style as its parallel (the night).

If it is asked: "Why did He not say 'He made for you the night still (sakinan)' so that the aforementioned hyperbole could be achieved, thus rendering both parallel clauses in the same style of hyperbole?" I would respond: It is answered that the blessing of the day is more complete and greater than the blessing of the night, so He adopted the path of hyperbole in the former, while leaving the other upon its apparent meaning to draw attention to that [superiority].

It is also said: The two blessings are like two horses in a race; He indicated the superiority of the former through precedence, and the superiority of the latter through hyperbole—though you can see the state of this argument. Others have said: He did not say "still" because the night is truly and literally described as "still," as when one says "a still night," meaning one without wind. It is not far-fetched that stillness in this sense is a conventional reality. If one were to say "still," the intended meaning would not be distinct in an absolute sense, even if it were to be distinguished by the context of contrast.

The preference for this style is because speech that is precise and clear in itself from the outset is the principle, especially in a discourse presented in the context of bestowing favors upon both the elite and the commoners, who vary in their understanding, their knowledge, and their levels of insight. Since "seeing" is not the final cause in itself, but rather the cause is "seeking the bounty"—as is explicitly stated in Surat al-Qasas—unlike the stillness and rest in the night, He stated the cause explicitly in the first and hinted at it in the second, while providing a subtle point in the metaphorical attribution.

Al-Jalabi said: If the verse is interpreted through ihtibak (mutual ellipsis), and it is said: "The intent is: He made for you the night dark so that you may rest in it, and the day bright so that you may spread out in it and seek the bounty of Allah, the Exalted," then by deleting from the first on account of the second, and from the second on account of the first, there is no need for what was mentioned in explaining the omission of hyperbole in the first clause. This is the well-known interpretation of the verse, and Allah—Glorified and Exalted be He—knows best.

(Indeed, Allah is full of bounty) — a bounty to which no other bounty is comparable. By intimating this, He did not use the [explicit] word "Bountiful" (al-Mufdil). (Upon the people) — both the righteous and the wicked among them. (But most of the people do not give thanks), due to their ignorance of the Bestower and their neglect of the places of blessing. The repetition of the word "people" is for the purpose of attributing ingratitude specifically to them, which is achieved by using their explicit, manifest noun in place of a pronoun, indicating that this is a matter of their nature and their particular attribute in most cases.