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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: (So I swear by the twilight)

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Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: (So I swear by the twilight)]

In the previous session, we concluded with the saying of Allah the Exalted:
(16) So I swear by the twilight glow (17) And [by] the night and what it envelops (18) And [by] the moon when it becomes full (19) [That] you will surely experience state after state.فَلا أُقْسِمُ بِالشَّفَقِ * وَاللَّيْلِ وَمَا وَسَقَ * وَالْقَمَرِ إِذَا اتَّسَقَ * لَتَرْكَبُنَّ طَبَقاً عَنْ طَبَقٍ
[Al-Inshiqaq: 16-19] This sentence consists of an oath, the thing by which the oath is sworn, the thing about which the oath is sworn, and the one who swears.

So the oath is in His saying:
So I swear by the twilight glowفَلا أُقْسِمُ بِالشَّفَقِ
[Al-Inshiqaq: 16] One might think that the meaning of (I do not swear) is negation, but that is not the case; rather, it is affirmation, and the (not) here is used for emphasis. If it were omitted in anything other than the Qur'an, the speech would still be correct.And it has parallels, such as His saying:
I do not swear by this cityلا أُقْسِمُ بِهَذَا الْبَلَدِ
[Al-Balad: 1]
I swear by the Day of Resurrectionلا أُقْسِمُ بِيَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ
[Al-Qiyamah: 1]
So I swear by the Lord of [all] risingsفَلا أُقْسِمُ بِرَبِّ الْمَشَارِقِ
[Al-Ma'arij: 40]
So I swear by what you seeفَلا أُقْسِمُ بِمَا تُبْصِرُونَ
[Al-Haqqah: 38] In all of these, the scholars say that the (not) is for emphasis, and that the oath is affirmed.
As for the one who swears, it is Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and as for the thing by which the oath is sworn in the verse, it is the twilight and what is conjoined with it.If someone were to say: Why does Allah swear by His news, when He is the Truthful without an oath? And likewise, why does the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) swear by his news, when he is truthful without an oath?We said: An oath confirms the speech, and the Qur'an was revealed in the Arabic language.
And since it is the custom of the Arabs to confirm their speech with an oath, this style became common on their tongues.

And his statement: (By the twilight) The twilight is: the redness that appears after the sun sets. When this redness disappears, the time of Maghrib ends and the time of 'Isha' begins. This is the opinion of the majority of scholars.And some said: When the whiteness disappears—and it disappears about half an hour after the redness—But what the majority is upon, and it is said: Abu Hanifah (may Allah have mercy on him) returned to the view that the twilight is the redness, and when this twilight disappears, the time of 'Isha' begins and the time of Maghrib ends.
Source shamela.ws

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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