Ash-Shams · Makki · ayah 2 of 15

Ash-Shams 91:2

وَٱلْقَمَرِ إِذَا تَلَىٰهَا

“And [by] the moon when it follows it”

Saheeh International

Essence

The moon follows the sun and shines with what it receives: the most loved light of the night owns none of its brightness.

A reflection

The most loved light owns none of it

Talā is to follow close behind, with nothing in between. The Arabs called a weaned kid trotting after its mother a tilw. A she-camel with her foal at her heels was mutliya.

The commentators give several pictures of how the moon follows the sun. It rises as the sun sets in the first half of the month. The thin crescent appears just after sunset. At the full, it lights the night as the sun lights the day. And one early grammarian read 'follows it' as 'takes from it', the way a student follows a teacher and learns from him.

Sit with that last picture. The moon is the light poets write about. Lovers look at it; travellers steer by it. Yet none of that brightness is its own.

Picture a bestselling cookbook with a famous face on the cover. Every recipe was tested in a small kitchen by a team whose names appear nowhere. At the launch, the author speaks of his journey. The team watch from the back of the room.

The ego does this constantly, and usually without meaning to. The patience we are praised for was learned from someone. The skill we are paid for was taught. The faith we are admired for arrived through parents, teachers and a chain back to the Prophet ﷺ. 'Whatever blessing you have is from Allah' (16:53).

Does Allah point this out because He wants the credit? Sulaymān (as) answered that when he saw the Queen of Sheba's throne set before him. 'Whoever gives thanks, gives thanks for his own soul. Whoever is ungrateful, my Lord is Free of need, Generous' (27:40). Thanks adds nothing to Him. It fixes something in us.

The moon is not shamed by borrowing. It is the most loved light of the night precisely because it reflects well. The shame would be in claiming to be the sun.

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.