Al-Inshiqaq Verse 16

So, I do swear by the twilight!

Indeed, I swear by the twilight,

No! I swear by the twilight

I swear by the glow of sunset,

I swear by the afterglow of sunset,

So I do call to witness the ruddy glow of Sunset;

Nay; I swear by the twilight;

So indeed I call to witness the evening twilight,

So by oath of the late evening’s light.

I swear by the evening glow,

So I swear by the afterglow of sunset,

Behold! I call to witness the twilight of sunset,

So I do not swear/make oath with the twilight .

So by oath of the late evening’s light.

So I do call as witness the glow of sunset,

So I swear by the afterglow of sunset;

And the night and that which it drives on,

But nay! I swear by the sunset redness,

Oh, I swear by the afterglow of sunset,

I do not need to swear by the sunset,

I swear by the twilight;

But no! I swear by Ash-Shafaq;

I swear by the glow of sunset,

I swear by the twilight.

So I swear (fa-l; l is extra) by the twilight (al-shafaq), the reddishness visible in the horizon after the sunset,

Swearing by the Various Stages of Man's Journey

Allah swears,

فَلَ أُقْسِمُ بِالشَّفَقِ




But no! I swear by Ash-Shafaq;

It has been reported from Ali, Ibn Abbas, Ubadah bin As-Samit, Abu Hurayrah, Shaddad bin Aws, Ibn Umar, Muhammad bin Ali bin Al-Husayn, Makhul, Bakr bin Abdullah Al-Muzani, Bukayr bin Al-Ashaj, Malik, Ibn Abi Dhi'b, and Abdul Aziz bin Abi Salamah Al-Majishun, they all said,

"Ash-Shafaq is the redness (in the sky).

Abdur-Razzaq recorded from Abu Hurayrah that he said,

"Ash-Shafaq is the whiteness."

So Ash-Shafaq is the redness of the horizon, either before sunset, as Mujahid said or after sunset, as is well known with the scholars of the Arabic Language.

Al-Khalil bin Ahmad said,
"Ash-Shafaq is the redness that appears from the setting of sun until the time of the last `Isha' (when it is completely dark). When that redness goes away, it is said, Ash-Shafaq has disappeared."'

Al-Jawhari said,

"Ash-Shafaq is the remaining light of the sun and its redness at the beginning of the night until it is close to actual nighttime (darkness)."

Ikrimah made a similar statement when he said,

"Ash-Shafaq is that what is between Al-Maghrib and Al-Isha'."

In the Sahih of Muslim, it is recorded from Abdullah bin Amr that the Messenger of Allah said,

وَقْتُ الْمَغْرِبِ مَا لَمْ يَغِبِ الشَّفَق

the time of Al-Maghrib is as long as Ash-Shafaqhas not disappeared."

In all of this, there is a proof that Ash-Shafaq is as Al-Jawhari and Al-Khalil have said.

وَاللَّيْلِ وَمَا وَسَقَ