The Meaning of the Saying of Allah the Exalted: "And the alternation of night and day," and the Explanation of a Rule of Exegesis.

The Shaykh : The alternation of night and day: does this mean their difference in heat and cold, or in length and shortness, or in the events that occur in them, or in all of these? We will give you a rule, and I think we have given it to you before. "If the Qur'an or the Sunnah is susceptible to multiple meanings, and there is no contradiction between them and no evidence preferring one over the other, then they all apply." So, does the alternation of night and day refer to their length and shortness? Yes, it refers to their length and shortness. Night becomes at its longest when it returns, and at its shortest. The same applies to the day. In this are lessons. Who brings the night when the day has gone? Allah. And who brings the day when the night has gone? Allah the Exalted. No one else can do that. Allah the Exalted said: The answer: No one. The answer: No one. So, the alternation of night and day in length and shortness is among the signs of Allah. Their alternation in heat and cold is among the signs of Allah, is it not?
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : The weather may be hot and scorching on one day, so much so that a person might say, "There is a fire burning around me." Then it becomes extremely cold, as if one were in a refrigerator. Water freezes on some nights. Who caused this difference? Allah the Exalted. Glory be to Allah! You find the whole atmosphere as if it is in a freezer from Allah. You find it in intense heat, as if fires have been kindled around you and their heat is passing over you. Likewise, the alternation of night and day in the events that occur in them is even greater and greater, as He the Exalted said: You may find someone in great wealth, then he becomes poor. You may see someone poor, then he becomes wealthy. You may see someone noble, then he becomes humble. You may see someone humble, then he becomes noble. And you may see—may Allah have mercy on you. And you may see someone as an owner, then he becomes an owned slave. Who decrees these events? Allah the Exalted. In them are signs and lessons. Now, if a person thinks about history, thinks about history, and thinks about great nations that perished as if they had never been. 'Ad became arrogant on earth and said, "Who is stronger than us in power?" Where did they go? 'Ad perished, the last of them perished. Allah sent upon them the wind, the gentle, easy wind. He sent it upon 'Ad and it destroyed them, destroying everything by the command of its Lord. So they became such that you would see nothing but their dwellings. They were uprooted as if they were the trunks of date palms, hollowed out. This is among the signs of Allah the Exalted. Great nations; think about how they perished? How they were destroyed? How they became nothing worth mentioning? Look at your current era. Have you not realized that there were people with you on the face of the earth who ate as you eat, drank as you drink, wore as you wear, and enjoyed as you enjoy? Where are they? Where are they?
The student: Under the soil.

The Shaykh : Under the soil. They went as if they had not been, as if they had not been anything worth mentioning. A person, before his birth, was not anything worth mentioning, as He the Exalted said: . And after his death, he is mentioned, but it is not as if he had not been on earth. But he is remembered. A person, before his birth, you cannot speak about him. But after his death, you can speak about him. And in this, the wise poet says:
"While the person sees himself in it as a narrator, until he sees" what? "a story among the stories". Now we are alive, narrating about those who have passed. And there will come a day when we will be a story that is narrated about us. It will be said, "So-and-so was in this place. He used to say such and such, he used to do such and such." And he is nothing. He went to the Hereafter .