Commentary
﴿Allah﴾ that is: the All-Encompassing in the Attributes of Perfection ﴿Who made for you﴾ no one else ﴿the night﴾ [that is]: dark ﴿so that you may find rest in it﴾ a superficial rest through sleep, which is the minor death, and a true rest through worship, which is the everlasting life ﴿and the day bright﴾ so that you may spread out in it with the wakefulness, which is a revival in meaning. The verse is from the ambiguity: the omission of darkness first because it is not one of the blessings intended in itself, due to what it indicates of sight, which is the intended blessing of light in itself. And the omission of spreading out because it is part of what arises from the blessing of sight, due to what it indicates of stillness, which is the greatest intended purpose of the night: for rest for those who seek it, and worship for those who rely on it and seek to increase it.
And when some of the disbelievers attribute actions as previously mentioned to the natures and make them without choice, he said, beginning anew or explaining and affirming: ﴿Indeed, Allah﴾ that is: the Possessor of Glory and Honor ﴿is certainly the Possessor of Great Favor﴾ that is: very great by His choice ﴿upon the people﴾ that is: all of them, with the difference of night and day and what they contain of benefits. And when these verses reached a level of indication of Oneness, resurrection, and the negation of the matter of natures that is rarely found in others, the opposing one was condemned to the utmost degree of condemnation. Thus, the general condemnation of the opposers occurred in the most appropriate of places, and the name may be intended with some of its meaning, and what is meant here is the generalization. It made clear for understanding the intention of that, and it did not imply for the judgment to be related to the descriptive understanding of the one indicating that its possessor is deficient from the rank of the first of the believers, so he knows that this type is naturally inclined to that. He said: ﴿But most of the people﴾ that is: due to their disturbance and lack of stability in adhering to the truth ﴿do not give thanks﴾ so they attribute His actions, glorified is He, to others in ignorance, or they act in ways that strip them of the name of gratitude, such as polytheism and others. It may be that what is meant by the people is primarily everyone from whom the action can arise, which is everyone who has emerged from existence, and secondarily, both jinn and humans - and Allah knows best.
Explore Other Scholars on This Verse
Compare different scholarly perspectives on Surah Ghafir verse 61