The Quran

Preface

يولِجُ اللَّيلَ فِي النَّهارِ وَيولِجُ النَّهارَ فِي اللَّيلِ وَسَخَّرَ الشَّمسَ وَالقَمَرَ كُلٌّ يَجري لِأَجَلٍ مُسَمًّى ۚ ذٰلِكُمُ اللَّهُ رَبُّكُم لَهُ المُلكُ ۚ وَالَّذينَ تَدعونَ مِن دونِهِ ما يَملِكونَ مِن قِطميرٍ

Yusuf Ali

He merges Night into Day,¹ and he merges Day into Night, and he has subjected the sun and the moon (to His Law):² each one runs its course for a term appointed. Such is God your Lord:³ to Him belongs all Dominion. And those whom ye invoke besides Him have not the least power.⁴

Cf. 22:61. The phases of Light in nature may have other uses. But for man they mark periods of rest and activity, and-have great influence on his physical, moral, and spiritual life.
Cf. 13:2. The sun and the moon mark phases of light, and serve man during the periods of the day and night. The sun marks the seasons, and is the source of heat and energy and physical life for the whole solar system. The sun and the moon run according to fixed laws, and they will continue to do so, not forever, but for the period appointed for their duration by God.
God’s might and majesty, and God’s goodness and wisdom, having been shown by a few examples, it follows that it is folly to seek or worship any other power but God. It only throws off man into false paths, and takes him farther and farther away from the Truth.
Qitmir. the thin, white skin that covers the date stone. It has neither strength nor texture, and has no value whatever. Any one relying on any power other than that of God relies on nothing whatever. The Qitmir is worse than the proverbial “broken reed”, Cf. 4:53 and 4:124, where the word naqir, ’the groove in a date stone', is used similarly for a thing of no value or significance.