The meaning of His saying, "And if they see a rift in the sky falling down, they will say: 'It is a cloud gathered together.'"

The Shaykh : This means a punishment descending upon them, but they did not believe in it; rather, they said, "This is a cloud gathered together," and they did not believe in the punishment. The parallel to this is what happens in our time today: when they see an eclipse of the sun or the moon, they say, "This is a natural matter that does not require us to fear it or to turn to prayer and remembrance." These people are heedless of the fact that the solar and lunar eclipses have two causes: a natural cosmic cause and a legal, revealed cause that came through revelation. As for the natural cosmic cause, the cause of the solar eclipse is the moon interposing itself between the sun and the earth; the moon blocks the light of the sun from the side that is obscured by the moon's shadow. In the case of the lunar eclipse, the cause is the earth interposing itself between the sun and the moon, because the moon's light is derived from the sun. Therefore, whenever the moon is close to the sun, the opposition between them is weak, and the light in the moon is diminished. And whenever it moves away from the sun, the opposition between it and the sun increases, and the light increases. If Allah (Mighty and Majestic) wills to cause a lunar eclipse, the earth interposes itself between the moon and the sun. This is a known matter, and no one doubts it. However, we ask: what created the cause for the moon to interpose itself between the sun and the earth, and for the earth to interpose itself between the sun and the moon? Who is it? Allah created it to frighten the servants with it. This is the legal cause about which the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) informed us, and no one can know it except through revelation. As for the first one, which is the natural cause, even the disbelieving atheists know it. But the legal cause, which is frightening the servants with this event, is known only to the one to whom Allah revealed it, namely the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Accordingly, those people who take the matter of the solar and lunar eclipses lightly and say, "This is a natural matter that does not concern us and we should not pay attention to it," resemble those polytheists who, when they saw a rift in the sky falling down, said, "It is a cloud gathered together."