Tafsir of An-Naba' 78:13

(And We made): that is, We created and originated.

(A burning lamp): radiant and sparkling, derived from the phrase "the fire flared" (wahajat al-nar), meaning it shone, or perhaps intense in heat from the term wahaj (incandescence). The intent here is the Sun. Expressing it as a "lamp" is among the rhetorical counterparts to expressing the creation of the heavens as "building."

Sirajan (lamp) is in the accusative case because it is the direct object, and wahhajan (burning) serves as an adjective modifying it. Some have permitted that both words be considered direct objects of the verb "made," on the basis that ja'ala here takes two objects. However, this has been countered by noting that it contradicts the apparent meaning, given that both words are indefinite (nakirah), even if it is said that "the lamp" is the Sun, and because it is unique to its individual category, it functions like a proper noun.

There is disagreement regarding the location of the [Sun's] "making" (sphere). The popular view is that it is in the fourth heaven. We have not seen any evidence for this other than what is found in Al-Bahr [Al-Muhit] from Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-Aas, who said: "The Sun is in the sky, its back is toward us, and its flame blazes upward."

It is mentioned in the books of the ancients that they established seven spheres for the seven wandering stars (planets) in an order where each obscures the one below it. The farthest is Saturn, then below it is Jupiter, then Mars, then the Moon, then Mercury, and then Venus—as they observed the Moon obscuring six of the planets and many of the fixed stars that align with its path through the zodiac. According to this arrangement, they found that the lower obscures the higher, and the fixed stars are obscured by all of them. The obscurer is distinguished from the obscured by the difference in color; whichever color appears during the obscuration is the obscurer, and whichever color is hidden is the obscured.

However, doubt remained regarding the Sun, as no obscuration of any planet by it has been known—due to the fading of their light in its brilliance when they are near it—nor has its own obscuration by any planet been known, except for the Moon. Some of the ancients held that the spheres of Venus and Mercury are above the Sun's sphere, using as evidence the fact that they do not obscure it as the Moon does. This is invalid, because a condition for the lower to obscure the higher is that they be aligned with the observer on one straight line, yet the Moon does not obscure [the Sun] in every conjunction. If that is the case, it is possible that their orbits lie between the Sun and our vision, and because their bodies, in their view, are small and not dark like the body of the Moon, they would not obscure it. Furthermore, if the Moon obscures an area of the Sun’s body equal to or greater than the size of one of these two planets, the obscured body would not be visible to the eyes, as Ptolemy stated in Al-Iqtisas.

Some of the earlier scholars held that they are beneath the sphere of the Sun, even if it is not obscured by them, out of preference for the beauty of the arrangement and the excellence of the system, as has been explained in its place. Ptolemy leaned toward this; he said in the Almagest: "We see the order of the ancients as closer to convincing, because it is more similar to the natural state, given the position of the Sun between those that are extremely distant from it and those that are only slightly distant." He then strengthened his resolve when he saw the distance of the Sun from the Earth as suitable for this position. Because he found between the farthest distance of the Moon and the nearest proximity of the Sun a space where the spheres of Venus and Mercury could exist, he said in Al-Iqtisas: "Such a space should not be left empty, nor is it fitting for Mars to be there, let alone others, so let them be there."

This was further confirmed by some later scholars, as Venus was observed on the solar disk at two times, with more than twenty years between them. The first instance was at the apogee of its epicycle, and the second was at its perigee. This invalidates the notion that Mercury and Venus are with the Sun in one sphere and its epicycle center, for it is impossible for Venus to be seen at the apogee in that manner.

These are weak matters; some are rhetorical and persuasive, and some are explained in their proper place. Some people have claimed that just as a smudge is found on the face of the Moon, so too is there a black spot on the face of the Sun, slightly above its center. The astronomers of today, as we have heard from more than one, are certain that there is darkness and various markings on its disk, and they have discourse on this mentioned in their books. Based on this, the comparison of it to a "lamp" contains a degree of beauty. Some have said that light is like a canopy over it, and I have seen in some of their books that it splits from around its body.

Discussion regarding the size of its body and its distance from the Earth, according to all the ancients and contemporary philosophers, is something we have no need for in this context, especially given the disagreements that lead—if explained with all their pros and cons—to excessive length.