What is the interpretation of the noble verse: “Lord of the Easts and Lord of the Wests,” and the other verse: “That is the decree of the Exalted, the Knowing”?

The questioner : What is the interpretation of the noble verse: and the other verse: ?

The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and I send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions.
The answer regarding the first verse is that Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, informs us about Himself that He is the Lord of the Easts and the Lord of the Wests. What is meant by them is the sunrise of summer and winter. The sunrise of summer is where the sun is at the farthest point of its orbit toward the north, and the sunrise of winter is where the sun is at the farthest point of its orbit toward the south. Allah, the Exalted, specified this because of the great benefits for creation in their difference, and because of the clear indication in their difference of the perfection of the power of Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, and the completeness of His mercy and wisdom. Indeed, no one is able to direct the sun from one sunrise to another and from one sunset to another except Allah, Mighty and Majestic. For this reason, He said: And in following this verse with the previous one, it is indicated that this is among the favors and great blessings of Allah upon His servants. So, what is meant by the Easts and the Wests is the sunrise of the sun in summer and winter, and its sunset in summer and winter.
And Allah, the Exalted, said in another verse: So He combined the East and the West. And He, the Exalted, said in a third verse: And there is no contradiction between these noble verses. What is meant by the verse of the dual is what we have mentioned before, and what is meant by the verse of the collective is either the sunrises and sunsets of the sun, considering its sunrise and sunset every day, because every day has a sunrise and sunset different from its sunrise and sunset of the previous day, or what is meant by the sunrises and sunsets is the sunrises and sunsets of the stars, planets, sun, and moon.
As for His saying, the Exalted: what is meant by it is the side, meaning that He is the Owner of everything and the Lord of everything, whether that thing is in the East or in the West.
And let it be known that the Book of Allah and what is authentic from the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) cannot contain any contradiction, neither among the texts themselves, nor between them and reality. If one imagines a contradiction or conflict, that is either due to a deficiency in his knowledge, a lack in his understanding, or a shortcoming in his reflection and contemplation. Otherwise, the established reality is that there is no contradiction between the texts of the Book and the Sunnah, nor between them and reality.
As for His saying, the Exalted: which is the second part of his question, its meaning is that this great sun, which Allah, the Exalted, made a blazing lamp, immense in heat and immense in light, this sun moves by the permission of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, meaning it travels meaning to a limit determined by Allah, Mighty and Majestic, with His knowledge. For this reason, He said: So, by His might, Glorified and Exalted is He, and His subjugation, He created this great sun and made it move by His command and in accordance with His knowledge and wisdom to where Allah, Mighty and Majestic, willed. The resting place is its resting place under the Throne, for it goes every day when it sets and prostrates under the Throne, the Throne of the Most Merciful, Exalted and Majestic is He, and seeks permission. If He permits it, otherwise it returns from where it came and exits from its sunset. And this is what is indicated by His saying, the Exalted: So, if people see it exit from the West, they will all believe, but the faith of a soul will not benefit it if it did not believe before or earn good in its faith.
Likewise, it moves to another resting place, which is its end on the Day of Resurrection, as indicated by His saying, the Exalted: .
In this verse, there is a clear indication that the sun revolves around the earth, which is what the apparent meaning of the Qur'an indicates, and which we believe and worship Allah with, until we are presented with a tangible, clear proof that justifies for us to interpret the apparent meaning of the verse to what is now said, that the difference between night and day and the rising and setting of the sun is due to the rotation of the earth. Indeed, it is not permissible for anyone to deviate from the Book and the Sunnah except with a proof that is an argument for him before Allah, Mighty and Majestic, on the Day of Resurrection, that justifies for him to divert the apparent meaning of the Qur'an and the Sunnah to what matches that claimed thing. And as long as we have not seen anything tangible that our souls are reassured by and we see as justifying for us the permissibility of diverting the Qur'an from its apparent meaning, it is obligatory upon us, O believers, to believe in the apparent meaning of the Qur'an and the Sunnah and not to pay attention to the saying of anyone who contradicts them, whoever he may be. And up to now, the truth of what these people have held, that the difference between night and day by sunrise and sunset is due to the rotation of the earth, has not become clear to me.
Therefore, my belief, by which I worship Allah, is that the sun is that by which the difference between night and day occurs, and it is that which revolves around the earth, and Allah is Able over all things. Have you not seen His saying, the Exalted: And have you not seen His saying, the Exalted: And have you not seen His saying, the Exalted: In these multiple verses, the rising and setting, the visiting, the borrowing, and the hiding are attributed to the sun. So why do we divert these actions attributed to the sun from their apparent meaning to a saying that has not become clear to us as a tangible reality? Indeed, this is never permissible. It is obligatory upon us to believe in what the apparent meaning of the Book and the Sunnah indicates, except with a tangible proof that a person can face his Lord with on the Day of Resurrection and say, “O my Lord, I saw the tangible matter contradict the apparent meaning of what You addressed us with, and You are the All-Knowing and the Most Wise, and Your Book is sanctified from contradicting tangible reality.” If it becomes clear by clear, distinct tangible evidence that the difference between night and day is due to the rotation of the earth, then my understanding will be wrong. But as long as the matter is just mere sayings, I believe that it is not permissible for anyone to contradict the apparent meaning of the Book and the Sunnah with such matters.
In summary, the meaning of His saying, the Exalted: is that Allah informs that the sun moves by the permission of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, to a resting place for it, to a limit it reaches, which is the Day of Resurrection, and to a resting place for it, to a limit it reaches daily, which is its prostration under the Throne, as is authentic from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in the hadith of Abu Dharr, which al-Bukhari and others narrated.