Meccan, and its verses are 30, and it is said 29. [Revealed after the night] 'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.'

He swears by the dawn as he swore by the morning in His saying, 'By the morning when it brightens, and the morning when it breathes.' It is said: by the prayer of dawn. He meant by the ten nights: the ten of Dhul-Hijjah. If you say: why is it indefinite among what he swore by? I say: because they are specific nights among the kind of nights: the ten are part of them. Or they are specified by a virtue not found in others. If you say: why not specify them with the definite article, since they are known nights? I say: if that were done, it would not convey the meaning of the virtue that is in the indefiniteness, and it is better that the definite articles be homogeneous, so that the speech is further from riddles and obscurity.

And by the even and the odd: either all things are even and odd, or the even of these nights and their odd. It may be that their even is the day of sacrifice, and their odd is the day of Arafah, because it is the ninth of their days and that is the tenth. It has been narrated from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, that he explained them thus.

[Note: The reasoning is from the words of Al-Zamakhshari. Its origin is with Al-Nasa'i, Ahmad, Al-Bazzar, Al-Hakim, and Al-Bayhaqi in the twenty-third chapter from the narration of Khayr ibn Na'im from Abu Al-Zubair from Jabir. He said: We do not know it except by this chain.]

They have elaborated on the even and the odd to the point that they nearly encompass the types in which they occur, and that is of little benefit, worthy of distraction. After he swore by the specific nights, he swore by the night in general, 'When it passes,' as in His saying, 'By the night when it retreats,' and 'By the night when it darkens.' And it is recited: 'and the odd' with the opening of the waw; both are two languages like 'hibr' and 'hibr' in number, and in 'watara': the break alone.

[Note: The saying 'In watara, the break alone' in Al-Sihah means 'the one who has been avenged for a slain person but did not attain his blood; you say: he avenged him and avenged him, and likewise: he avenged him his right, meaning: he diminished it.]

And it is recited: 'the odd' with the opening of the waw and the breaking of the taa; it was narrated by Yunus from Abu Amr, and it is recited: 'the dawn,' 'the odd,' and 'when it passes' with the tanween, which is the tanween that occurs instead of the letter of release. And from Ibn Abbas: 'and ten nights,' in addition. He means: and ten days' nights. And the ya of 'yasri' is omitted in the flow, sufficing with the kasrah. And in the pause, it is omitted with the kasrah.

And it is said: the meaning of 'yasri' is 'it passes in it.' Is there in that, meaning in what I swore by of these things, a swearing by which the one who has reason is worthy? He means: is it right for him that they be magnified by swearing by them? Or: is there in my swearing by them for the one who has reason, meaning: is it a great oath that is confirmed by a similar oath? And 'the reason' is the intellect, because it prevents one from rushing into what is not appropriate, as it is called intellect and restraint, because it restrains and forbids. And a stone: from the counting, which is the control. And Al-Farra said: it is said: he is of reason, if he is dominant over himself, controlling it. And the one who is sworn to is omitted, which is 'surely He will punish them,' indicated by His saying: 'Have you not seen?' to His saying: 'So your Lord poured upon them a scourge of punishment.'