Al-Furqan · Makki · ayah 62 of 77

Al-Furqan 25:62

وَهُوَ ٱلَّذِى جَعَلَ ٱلَّيْلَ وَٱلنَّهَارَ خِلْفَةً لِّمَنْ أَرَادَ أَن يَذَّكَّرَ أَوْ أَرَادَ شُكُورًا

“And it is He who has made the night and the day in succession for whoever desires to remember or desires gratitude.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Night and day take turns, so what slipped in one can be made up in the other, for whoever wants to remember or thank.

A reflection

Two reigns that never meet

Wa huwa alladhī jaʿala al-layla wa al-nahāra khilfatan: and it is He who made the night and the day succeed each other. The word khilfa occurs in the Quran only here.

One classical scholar describes the succession vividly. Night and day never meet and never sit side by side. One covers the other and pursues it swiftly, until it has driven it from its rule. Then the other comes after it and pursues it, until that one too is driven out. They are always chasing each other, and neither ever catches the other.

Every day, then, a reign ends. The day's rule over the earth, with all its noise and business, is taken away by the night. Then the night's rule is taken away by the morning. No one votes on it. No one can delay it by a minute.

Picture an airport departures board late in the evening. Flight after flight flips over and vanishes, replaced by the next. Each was urgent an hour ago. The board does not pause for any of them.

Here the ego meets the ayah. Human beings love to feel permanent. The founder imagines the company cannot run without him. The head of the family imagines the house will fall apart if she rests. Night and day quietly disagree. Whatever reigns in your life now will be succeeded. Only the One who made the succession has no successor.

A reader may ask why Allah keeps pointing to His own works. This ayah gives the answer in its last words. It is for whoever wants to remember, or wants to give thanks. The pointing is for the one who looks, not for the One who points.

So tonight, when the light goes, watch it go. It is not a defeat. It is a reminder of who rules, and a fresh page.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.