Surah An-Nazi'at: (29) And He darkened its night and brought forth its daylight.

There are several issues concerning this verse:

Issue 1: The word aghṭasha (أغطش) can be intransitive, meaning "the night became dark" (aghṭasha al-layl). It can also be transitive, meaning "Allah made it dark" (aghṭashahu Allāh). Ghaṭash (الغطش) means darkness, and al-aghṭash (الأغطش) refers to someone partially blind (like al-aʿmash).

A question arises here: Since night (al-layl) is already the name for the time of darkness resulting from sunset, the phrase {And He darkened its night} seems redundant—making the dark time darker.

The Answer: The meaning is that the darkness occurring during that time was brought about by the planning and decree of Allah. Once this is understood, the apparent contradiction is resolved.

Issue 2: His saying: {And brought forth its daylight} (wa akhraja ḍuḥāhā). This means He brought forth the day. The day is referred to specifically as ḍuḥā (forenoon/bright daylight) because the ḍuḥā is the most complete part of the day in terms of light and radiance.

Issue 3: Allah attributes the night and the day to the heaven (al-samāʾ). This is because the occurrence of night and day is due to the setting and rising of the sun, and the setting and rising of the sun occur due to the movement of the celestial sphere (the heavens). Therefore, He attributes the night and day to the heaven.

Furthermore, after describing the manner of creating the heaven, He follows it by describing the manner of creating the earth, for several reasons:

! 7 < { And the earth, after that, He spread out } . > 7 !