The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 4) — Page 370
CH. 24 AN-NŪR PT. 18 يُقَلِّبُ اللَّهُ الَّيْلَ وَالنَّهَارَ إِن في ذلك Allah alternates the night. 45 فِي ذَلِكَ and the day. Therein surely is a (rain) is derived from the root (wadaqa). They say became near to him. rained. (flash) is infinitive noun from of his pilgrim's mind by the Sun of Divine i. e. he love and grace remain unfelt in the means, it earlier stages spiritual means, the sword development with the result that the became sharp. means, rain, impatient spiritual wayfarer sometimes loses patience and gives violent or gentle (Lane & Aqrab). up the endeavour in despair. The simile points out that like invisible vapours which assume a visible form, the change in man's moral and spiritual progress under Divine mercy assumes a palpable form and begins to be dimly perceptible. But the character and nature of the change is still in a formative stage, where it has not yet attained fixity and strength enough to be helpful to others. The progress, however, continues till like vapours that condense and take the form of showers of rain and sometimes (sanā). They say i. e. the fire became high in its light. means, the lightning shone, shone brightly or gleamed or shot up. means, light, or the light of lightning; or light shining or diffusing itself and rising, a high light; shining of weapons (Lane). Commentary: The verse gives another simile about the spiritual development of man and about the changes and processes which it undergoes to reach its perfection. The knowledge of such changes and processes is essential to the spiritual pilgrim because without such knowledge he may not know what turnings and crossroads he may have to meet on the way and consequently may despair of success. The verse purports to say that man's spiritual development is like the formation of clouds from vapours. It begins in this way. The sun of God's love and grace shines upon that inexhaustible store of man's capacity to receive and assimilate the Divine Word with which he has been endowed and then it raises vapours which are moved about by the winds of Divine mercy. Just as in the earlier stages the vapours are not visible, so does the change wrought in the of hail, the God- intoxicated spiritual wayfarer, who has donned the mantle of a Divine Messenger, becomes i. e. the Bearer of good news for the believers and i. e. Warner for those who reject the heavenly messages. Even among the believers his influence is not uniform; some benefit by his precept and practice more than the others according to their natural aptitudes, as are the different parts of earth benefited by rain according to the nature of the soil. 2284 Or the significance of the verse may be that for some the revealed Law serves as timely rain which proves highly beneficial and for others it takes the form of hail and storm which brings in its wake destruction and ruin.