The Quran

Preface

وَجَعَلنَا اللَّيلَ وَالنَّهارَ آيَتَينِ ۖ فَمَحَونا آيَةَ اللَّيلِ وَجَعَلنا آيَةَ النَّهارِ مُبصِرَةً لِتَبتَغوا فَضلًا مِن رَبِّكُم وَلِتَعلَموا عَدَدَ السِّنينَ وَالحِسابَ ۚ وَكُلَّ شَيءٍ فَصَّلناهُ تَفصيلًا

Yusuf Ali

We have made the Night and the Day two¹ (of Our) Signs: the Sign of the Night have We obscured, while the Sign of the Day We have made to enlighten you; that ye may seek bounty from your Lord,² and that ye may know the number and count of the years: all things have We explained in detail.

If we were to cry when it is night, we shall look foolish when it is day; for the night is but a preparation or the day: perhaps, as the last verse says, we pray for the day when we want rest for the night. Both are Signs from God. Darkness and light stand for ignorance and knowledge. “Where ignorance is bliss, ’tis folly to be wise.” Darkness and light may also stand for shadow and sunshine, sorrow and joy: both may be necessary for our development.
By the physical light we see physical facts. And this physical gift of God is good for us in two ways; (1) we can arrange for our livelihood, or we can attain knowledge of the physical sciences and gain some control over the physical forces of nature; and (2) the daily rising and setting of the sun gives us the computation of days and years, for the physical natural year is the solar year. But there is spiritual light even more precious: by it we can similarly attain two objects, viz. (1) our spiritual livelihood and knowledge, and (2) our computation of the stages we reach in our spiritual years. Let us be patient and seek everything as from God-in joy and in sorrow, in knowledge and in want of knowledge of those things which are above us. Let us rejoice in what God has given us, and not be impatient about those things which He in His wisdom has thought fit to withhold from us. But all things should be sought and striven for under the guidance of the All-Knowing God.