The Quranic Day & Night
by Br Joe
According to Qur'an, what is the Qur'anic day? What is the Qur’anic
daytime? What is the Qur’anic
night? Those are the 3 questions this article is all about; and
answers them as follow:
1- The Qur’anic daytime starts at dawn and ends at sunset.
2- The Qur’anic night (or nighttime) starts at sunset and
ends at dawn.
3- The Qur’anic day starts at dawn the same day and ends at
dawn the following one. The Qur’anic
Friday will start then from Friday dawn and will end Saturday
dawn.
This article is divided into 2 parts. The first part proves the
first statement. The second part proves
the second and third statements altogether.
A- The Qur’anic Day:
Basically, there are 2 understanding of the Qur’anic day.
1- The first understanding that states that a Qur’anic day
starts from dawn the same day and ends at
dawn the following one. For instance, a Qur’anic Friday
starts from Friday dawn and ends Saturday
dawn.
2- The second understanding states that a Qur’anic day is
like the Jewish one. It starts at sunset the
day before and ends at sunset the same day. For example, the Qur’anic
Friday will start then
Thursday sunset and will end Friday sunset.
The whole argument of this second approach is this: Each time GOD
speaks in Qur’an about
daytime and night, He always begins with night first. Therefore,
a Qur’anic day must start with night
first.
I do not agree with this second approach, and I agree with the
first one. Indeed, The Qur’anic day
must start at dawn the same day and end at dawn the following
one. This is the closest understanding
to Qur’an. So, let's look at what Qur’an says about
this matter.
In English, the word day can express 2 meanings. It could mean
the 24-hour day or it could mean
daytime, depending on the context. Unlike English, Arabic has 2
different words for these 2 different
meanings. "yawm" = the 24-hour day, "nahar" =
daytime. In Qur’an, GOD uses both words. Here
there is an example of the use of "daytime" in Qur’an:
91:3-4, "The daytime that reveals. The night that
covers." In this example, GOD is talking
about daytime before night. We have seen that the whole second
approach's argument is that GOD
talks always about night before daytime. Here we have a counter
example. This approach, then,
does not hold water anymore.
Let's prove now that, Qur’anically, daytime comes first
before night; which will lead us to the
conclusion that the 24-hour day or simply day starts with daytime
and ends with night. For that
purpose I'll use, GOD willing, 2 arguments.
1) When GOD talks about night and daytime as turning one after
another, merging one into another,
rolling one over another, He always starts with night first and
daytime second. For instance, GOD
merges night into daytime first. Daytime must be there before
night in order this merging process to
take place.
2) 36:40, "The sun is never to catch up with the moon, nor
does the night precede the
daytime..." Nowhere in Qur’an GOD says that the daytime
should not precede night. Therefore,
this verse is a clear evidence that daytime is before night.
These 2 arguments prove that the Qur’anic daytime is always
before the Qur’anic night.
In conclusion to this first part, the Qur’anic day starts
with daytime and ends with night.
N.B. 69:7, "He unleashed it upon them for seven nights and
eight days, violently..."
If a day is daytime then night, we end up with the right account.
If it is the opposite, we end up with
7 nights and only 7 days!
Reminder About The Jewish Day:
Bible Genesis 1 1:5, "In the beginning God created the
heavens and the earth. And the earth was
formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep;
and the Spirit of God was
moving over the surface of the waters. Then God said, 'Let there
be light'; and there was light. And
God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from
the darkness. And God called
the LIGHT DAY, and the darkness He called night. And there was
evening and there was
morning, one DAY."
From those first verses of the bible, clearly the day for the
Jews starts with night first and ends with
daytime. To them darkness was before lightness. It is not so
according to Qur’an. 24:35, "GOD is
the light of the heavens and the earth..." Since GOD was
there before anything else, therefore
lightness was before darkness.
B- The Qur’anic Daytime and Night:
Often we assume that the daytime is the lighted part of the day;
and the night or nighttime is the
darkened part of the day. That's why it is very important here to
notice that nowhere in Qur’an, the
Qur’anic daytime is described as lighted; and nowhere in Qur’an
either, the Qur’anic night is
described as dark. The only thing it is stated is that the
complete darkness of a day, when there is
any, belongs to night. 10:27, "...Their faces will seem like
covered with pieces from the depth
of the darkness of night..."
So, Qur’anically, what is daytime and what is night (or
nighttime)? I use 2 ways: way A, the shortest
one, and way B, the longest one, to prove the same conclusion.
A) The Shortest Way:
2:187, "Permitted for you is sexual intercourse with your
wives during the night of
fasting...You may eat and drink until the white thread (of light)
becomes distinguishable
from the black thread at dawn. Then, you shall fast until the
night..."
GOD defines specifically here what are night and daytime. Night
stops when the white thread (of
light) becomes distinguishable from the black thread at dawn.
This is exactly when daytime starts.
Similarly, daytime stops when the black thread (of darkness)
becomes distinguishable from the white
thread at sunset. This is exactly when night starts.
That's how we shall fast during daytime i.e. from dawn to sunset;
and break the fast during night i.e.
from sunset to dawn.
In conclusion, daytime starts at dawn and stops at sunset; while
night starts at sunset and ends at
dawn.
B) The Longest Way:
The second way to prove the same thing is to break down the
24-hour day in 4 parts:
1- From dawn to sunrise (Lightness taking slowly over darkness)
2- From sunrise to sunset (Complete lightness)
3- From sunset to dusk (Darkness taking slowly over lightness)
4- From dusk to dawn (Complete darkness)
Let's start with the easiest parts: The second one and the fourth
one.
No one argues that from sunrise to sunset (which is complete
lightness) belongs to daytime. 10:67,
"He is the One who rendered the night for your rest, and
rendered the daytime (for you) to
see..." No one argues either that from dusk to dawn (which
is complete darkness) belongs to night.
36:37, "Another sign for them is the night: we remove the
daytime therefrom, whereupon
they are in darkness." Also 17:12 confirms both statements.
17:12, "We made the night and
the daytime two signs. We erase the night's sign and We made the
daytime's sign (for you)
to see, that you may seek provisions from your Lord
therein..."
From sunrise to sunset (the second part of this 24-hour day)
belongs to daytime. From dusk to
dawn (the fourth part of this 24-hour day) belongs to night.
Let's talk now about the less obvious parts, the first and the
third of this 24-hour day.
The question here is: From dawn to sunrise (about 1.5 hour in
some regions that may vary during the
year) belongs to which one, daytime or night? The same question
goes for the time (about the same
1.5 hour in those regions) between sunset and dusk. I'll use, GOD
willing, 4 arguments to prove that
from dawn to sunrise belongs to daytime, and from sunset to dusk
belongs to night.
1) From dawn to sunrise, it is lightness that takes over
darkness. Since lightness is the characteristic
of daytime, this approximate 1.5 hour of time must then belong to
the daytime. Similarly, from sunset
to dusk, it is darkness that takes over lightness. Since darkness
is the characteristic of night, this
approximate 1.5 hour must belong to the night.
2) In many verses, GOD talks about night merging into daytime and
daytime merging into night. For
instance, 3:27, "You merge the night into the daytime, and
merge the daytime into the
night..."
In order this merging process to take place, a Qur’anic
daytime must have a portion of darkness in
it. Similarly, a Qur’anic night must have a portion of
lightness in it.
Since at its beginning GOD merges night into daytime, its first
part must not be completely dark. It
must have some lightness in it. This is exactly the time between
sunset and dusk. From sunset to dusk
(the third part of this 24-hour day) belongs then to night.
Since at its beginning GOD merges daytime into night, its first
part must not be completely lighted. It
must have some darkness in it. This is exactly the time between
dawn and sunrise. From dawn to
sunrise (the first part of this 24-hour day) belongs then to
daytime.
3) 36:37, "Another sign for them is the night: we remove the
daytime therefrom,
whereupon they are in darkness." It is clear in this verse
that night should have some lightness in
it to remove daytime from it, before this night becomes
completely dark. The portion of the
24-hour day where lightness disappears slowly is the time between
sunset and dusk (the third part of
the 24-hour day). Therefore this third part belongs to night. In
order for daytime to have some
darkness in it, from dawn to sunrise (the first part of the
24-hour day) must belong to daytime.
4) 2:187, "Permitted for you is sexual intercourse with your
wives during the night of
fasting...You may eat and drink until the white thread (of light)
becomes distinguishable
from the black thread at dawn. Then, you shall fast until the
night..."
This verse shows us the followings:
a- Sexual intercourse, eating, and drinking are permitted during
night until dawn. Therefore, night
ends at dawn. Hence, from dawn to sunrise (the first part of this
24-hour day) belongs to the
Qur’anic daytime.
b- In order to have a portion of lightness in a Qur’anic
night, from sunset to dusk (the third part of
this 24-hour day) must belong then to the Qur’anic night.
c- That's how we must fast during daytime until the beginning of
night, which means from dawn to
sunset.
Using the 4 preceding arguments in this part B), we proved that
from dawn to sunrise (the first part
of this 24-hour day) belongs to daytime. We also proved that from
sunset to dusk (the third part of
this 24-hour day) belongs to night.
So far we have proved that Qur’anically:
1- From dawn to sunrise belongs to daytime
2- From sunrise to sunset belongs to daytime
3- From sunset to dusk belongs to night
4- From dusk to dawn belongs to night
In conclusion for this second and longest way B), we proved that
there is strong Qur’anic evidence
to believe that:
a- The Qur’anic daytime starts at dawn and ends at sunset.
b- The Qur’anic night starts at sunset and ends at dawn.
This is exactly the same conclusion as the one of the shortest
way A).
Qur’anic Beautiful Descriptions:
Besides GOD describing night and daytime as turning one after
another, merging one into another,
rolling one over another, He uses other beautiful descriptions
such as the following ones.
17:12, "We made the night and the daytime two signs. We
erase the night's sign and We
made the daytime's sign (for you) to see, that you may seek
provisions from your Lord
therein..." GOD contrasts here clearly night and daytime as
two mutually exclusive signs for us. Yet
25:62 describes night and daytime as generating one another.
25:62, "And He is the one who
designed the night and daytime generating one another: a
sufficient proof for those who wish
to take heed, or to be appreciative."
It is not the only time GOD uses such descriptions. 22:55,
"And for those who disbelieve, they
will continue to harbor doubts, until the Hour comes to them
suddenly, or the retribution
of a sterile day comes to them." The Hour implies its day
will be the last day for all the people.
But a sterile day implies it will be the last day for those
people only.
51:41, "In 'Aad (there is a lesson). We sent upon them
sterile wind." This wind was the last
one for them only.
36:37, "Another sign for them is the night: we peel/skin off
the daytime therefrom,
whereupon they are in darkness." Nowhere in Qur’an GOD
says the same thing about night.
Rather, He describes night as covering or enshrouding daytime.
7:54, "...He makes night to
cover/enshroud daytime, as it purses it gradually..."
Nowhere He gives the same description
for daytime.
Lightness is confined only to the very thin layer of the air
(atmosphere) that is dense enough to
disperse light on the part of the earth facing the sun; hence the
use of peel/skin off daytime from
night like a skin off an animal. At sunrise in an airless Earth,
we would go from complete darkness to
complete lightness instantaneously. Due to the dispersion of
light in the air, we see before the sun has
risen. Darkness (when there is any) is the characteristic of
night. It is also the property of the universe
around us, hence the use of night as to
"cover/enshroud" daytime.
All those beautiful descriptions prove once more that Qur’an
is the word of GOD to Whom we
should prostrate continuously.
Conclusion:
We have seen in the first part of this article that Qur’anically,
the day (24-hour day) begins with
daytime and ends with night. The second part of this article
proves that daytime is from dawn to
sunset; while night is from sunset to dawn. Since daytime starts
at dawn and night ends at the
following dawn, the day is then from dawn the same day to dawn
the following one.
The conclusion of this article is:
1- The Qur’anic daytime starts at dawn and ends at sunset.
2- The Qur’anic night starts at sunset and ends at dawn.
3- The Qur’anic day starts at dawn the same day and ends at
dawn the following one. The Qur’anic
Friday will start then from Friday dawn and will end at Saturday
dawn.
"...GOD knows, while you do not know." 24:19