Tafsir of An-Naba' 78:9

Surah An-Naba' (The Tidings): Verse 9

{And We made your sleep a subāt (rest/repose).}

Some heretics objected to this verse, saying: Subāt means sleep, so the meaning becomes, "We made your sleep sleep."

The scholars have offered several interpretations (wujūh) for this:

First Interpretation (Al-Zajjaj): Subāt means death. The one in subāt (al-masbūt) is the deceased, derived from sabat, meaning to cut off, because the sleeper is cut off from movement.

• Evidence 1: Allah says, {It is He who takes your souls at night} (Al-An'am: 60) until {then He resurrects you} (Al-An'am: 60).
• Evidence 2: Since sleep is equated with death, wakefulness is equated with livelihood, as stated in {And We made the day a means of living} (An-Naba': 11).
• Critique: I find this view weak because the blessings mentioned in this verse are great favors. Death is not fitting for this context. Furthermore, the intended meaning of "death" here is not the soul departing the body, but rather the cessation of the apparent senses, which is precisely what sleep is. Thus, the meaning reverts to: "We made your sleep sleep."

Second Interpretation (Al-Layth and Abu 'Ubaydah): Al-Layth said: Subāt is a sleep resembling fainting (ghashyah). It is said, "The patient is masbūt." Abu 'Ubaydah said: Subāt is the fainting that overcomes a person, resembling death.

• Critique: This view is also weak. If ghashyah means sleep, the original ambiguity returns. If subāt means the intensity of that fainting, it is invalid because not all sleep is that intense, and intense fainting is an illness, which should not be mentioned among a list of blessings.

Third Interpretation (Based on the root meaning of Sabat): The root sabat fundamentally means cutting off. For example, "The man sabata his head" means he shaved his hair. Ibn al-A'rabi interpreted subātan as a cutting off. Based on this, several possibilities arise:

1. Intermittent Sleep: The meaning is: We made your sleep intermittent, not constant. Sleep, in the measure needed, is one of the most beneficial things. However, its continuity is one of the most harmful things. Since its cessation (interruption) is a great blessing, Allah mentioned it in the context of bestowing favors.
2. Cutting Off Fatigue: When a person is tired and then sleeps, that sleep removes the fatigue. This removal is called sabat or cutting off. This is what Ibn Qutaybah meant by {We made your sleep subātan}, meaning rest/relief. His intent was not that subāt is a synonym for rest, but that sleep cuts off and removes fatigue, thereby resulting in rest.
3. Light Sleep (Al-Mubarrid): Al-Mubarrid said: {We made your sleep subātan} means We made it a light sleep that you can push away and interrupt. The Arabs say, "A masbūt man" if sleep overcomes him while he is resisting it. It is as if the meaning is: We made your sleep a gentle sleep that you can repel, and We did not make it an overwhelming fainting, as that is a severe illness.

All these interpretations are sound.

{And We made the night a covering/garment}