Tafsir of Al-An'am 6:96

"The Cleaver of the Dawn" (fāliq al-iṣbāḥ): Al-iṣbāḥ is a verbal noun used to name the morning (ṣubḥ). Al-Ḥasan read it with a fatḥa on the hamza as the plural of ṣubḥ. He cited the verse: “It enriched Rabāḥ and the sons of Rabāḥ, The one who abrogates the evening and the morning.” (Using both the kasra and fatḥa as verbal nouns, and as the plural of masā’ and ṣubḥ).

If you ask: What is the meaning of "cleaving the morning," when it is the darkness that splits open to reveal the morning? As the poet said: “It wrapped itself in it, then it split from its surface, As the night splits from the whiteness of the day.”

I say: There are two interpretations:

1. It means the cleaver of the darkness of the morning, which is the dimness at the end of the night, the final part of it that precedes the morning.
2. It means the cleaver of the morning—which is the pillar of dawn—from the whiteness of the day and its brightness. They say: "The pillar of dawn has split" (inshaqqa) and "The dawn has cracked" (inṣada‘a). They called the dawn falaq in the sense of maflūq (that which is split). Al-Ṭā’ī said: “The blue dawn appears before its white, And the first of the rain is drops, then it pours.”

Readings:

• Fāliqa al-iṣbāḥa wa-jā‘ila al-layla (in the accusative case) is read as an expression of praise.
• Al-Nakha‘ī read: Falaqa al-iṣbāḥa wa-ja‘ala al-layla.

"A place of rest" (sakan): That which a person finds rest in and feels at ease with, seeking comfort and solace, such as a spouse or a loved one. Hence, fire is called sakan because one finds comfort in it; do you not see that they call it "the companion" (al-mu’nisa)? The night is a place where one finds rest from the fatigue of the day, finding comfort and repose in it. It is also possible that it means "made to be rested in," based on the verse: "that you may rest therein."

"And the sun and the moon" (wa-al-shamsa wa-al-qamara): These are read with all three vowel endings:

1. Accusative: Implies a hidden verb indicated by "the maker of the night" (jā‘il al-layl), meaning: "And He made the sun and the moon as a calculation." Or, they are coordinated with the grammatical position of al-layl.
2. If you ask: How can al-layl have a grammatical position when the genitive construction is literal (since the active participle is in the sense of the past, and you do not say "Zayd is the striker of ‘Amr yesterday")?
3. I say: It is not in the sense of the past; rather, it indicates a continuous act of creation across different times. It is like saying "God is Powerful, All-Knowing," where you do not intend one time over another.
4. Genitive: Coordinated with the word al-layl.
5. Nominative: As an initial subject (mubtada’), with the predicate omitted, meaning: "And the sun and the moon are made as a calculation" or "are calculated as a calculation."

"As a calculation" (ḥusbānan): Meaning He made them according to a calculation, because the reckoning of times is known by their rotation and movement. Ḥusbān (with a ḍamma) is the verbal noun of ḥasaba, just as ḥusbān (with a kasra) is the verbal noun of ḥasiba. Examples include kufrān and shukrān.

"That" (dhālikum): A reference to making them a calculation, meaning that movement according to a known calculation is "the estimation of the Almighty"—He who subdued and subjected them—"the All-Knowing"—of their management and their rotation.

"And it is He who made the stars for you that you may be guided by them in the darkness of the land and the sea. We have detailed the signs for a people who know."