The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 4) — Page 368
CH. 24 R. 6. AN-NŪR PT. 18 اَلَمْ تَرَ انَّ اللهَ يُسَبِّحُ لَهُ مَنْ فِي السَّمَوتِ Hast thou not seen that it is. 42 Allah Whose praises all who are وَالْأَرْضِ وَالطَّيْرُ صَفتِ كُلٌّ قَدْ عَلِمَ in the heavens and the earth صَلَاتَهُ وَتَسْبِيحَةُ وَاللهُ عَلِيمٌ بِمَا ?with their wings outspread يَفْعَلُونَ celebrate, and so do the birds Each one knows his own mode of prayer and praise. And Allah knows well what they do. 2623 kingdom of the heavens and the وَلِلَّهِ مُلْكُ السَّمَوتِ وَالْاَرْضِ ۚ وَإِلَى And to Allah belongs the. 43 earth, and to Allah shall be the return. اللهِ الْمَصِيرُ Commentary: 17:45; 59:25; 61:2; 62:2. 3:190; 5:121. In vv. 38-39 above an appreciative reference was made to a class of men—the lovers of divine light and the righteous servants of God. The present and the immediately preceding verse speak of another class of people the sons of darkness. People of one class accept the divine light and walk in it with the result that they are doubly blessed, both in this world and in the next. Their enviable condition is described in the simile, "light upon light. " The other class of people reject the divine light, choose to grope in the darkness of doubts and misgivings and hanker after the illusory and transient pleasures and profits of this world and end by incurring God's displeasure. All their works prove futile and deceptive like a mirage. They love darkness, follow darkness and live in darkness and thus their unenviable condition has been very aptly and graphically described in the words, "their deeds are like thick darkness in a vast and deep sea, covered by a wave, over which is a wave, above which are clouds layers of darkness, one upon another. " 2282 2623. Commentary: The word (who) taken to mean both animate and inanimate things, the expression "who are in the heavens and the earth and the birds with their wings outstretched" would signify three classes of beings i. e. (1) angels of the heaven; (2) animate and inanimate things which live upon or are related to the earth such as man, animals, vegetables, and minerals; (3) and the birds which fly in the air. Taken in a spiritual sense, the words "who are in the heavens," would mean persons of very high spiritual status, and "who are in the earth" would signify those unfortunate worldly-minded persons