The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 4) — Page 765
PT. 23 AȘ-ṢĀFFĀT CH. 37 وَرَبُّ الْمَشَارِقِ ة them and the Lord of the sun's risings. 3275 إِنَّا زَيَّنَا السَّمَاءَ الدُّنْيَا بِزِيْنَةِ We have adorned the lowest. 7 الكَوَاكِبِ وَحِفْظًا مِنْ كُلِّ شَيْطَنٍ مَّارِيةٌ heaven with an adornment—the planets; 3276 8. And have guarded it against all rebellious satans. 3277 a15:17; 41:13; 67:6. 15:18; 41:13; 67:6. 3275. Commentary: of (Sun's risings) being the plural which means, the place where the sun rises; the words may signify that God is the Lord, the Source and Centre of every kind of light, or the implied reference in the words "the Lord of sun's risings" may be to the spread of Islam first in eastern countries, then from there to other parts of the world. 3276. Commentary: It is not only the beautiful appearance of planets and stars at night that is meant here. It would be too trivial for a Divine revealed Book to make special mention, merely of the ornamental character of these heavenly bodies. They serve another very useful spiritual purpose. In fact, the verse points to a parallelism between the physical and spiritual realms, viz. that just as physical heaven is sustained by physical planets and stars, so is the spiritual heaven sustained by its spiritual counterparts who are the Prophets and Divine Reformers. Each one of them serves as an ornament for the spiritual heaven, as the stars and 2679 planets beautify and embellish the physical heaven. 3277. Important Words: (rebellious) is active participle from which means, he exalted himself; he was insolent and audacious in pride and in acts of disobedience; he was excessively proud or rebellious; he was refractory; he outstripped others in pride or disobedience; therefore means, rebellious, excessively proud, insolently disobedient (Lane & Aqrab). Commentary: The analogy between the physical and spiritual systems, which was begun in the preceding verse, is continued in the present one. We are here told that just as each star serves as an ornament for the physical heaven and guards it by gravitation and other means which are yet unknown to man, similarly every Prophet is an ornament for the spiritual heaven, and by appearing at a time when his presence is urgently needed, helps to guard the same. Moreover, every Prophet fights and routs those wicked people who seek to distort the Word of God and