سورة الفُرقان
Surah Al-Furqân 25:45
The Standard of Truth and Falsehood · Verse 45 of 77
أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ كَيْفَ مَدَّ الظِّلَّ وَلَوْ شَاءَ لَجَعَلَهُ سَاكِنًا ثُمَّ جَعَلْنَا الشَّمْسَ عَلَيْهِ دَلِيلًا
Abdul Mannan Omar
Do you not see (the wonderful doing of) your Lord how He stretches the shadow? If He had pleased He could have made it still. Not only that (We stretch the shadow) We make (the position of) the sun its indicator.
Abdullah Yusuf Ali
Hast thou not turned thy vision to thy Lord?- How He doth prolong the shadow! If He willed, He could make it stationary! then do We make the sun its guide;
Ahmed Ali
Have you not seen how your Lord lengthens out the shadow? He could have kept it motionless if He liked. Yet We make the sun its pilot to show the way.
11 more translations
Ali Unal
Have you considered your Lord – how He spreads the shade? If He willed, He would surely make it stationary, but We have made the sun its pilot.
Daryabadi
Hast thou not observed thine lord-how He hath stretched out the shadow? And if He had willed He would have made it still. Then We have made the sun for it an indication.
Faridul Haque
O dear Prophet, did you not see your Lord, how He spread the shade? And if He willed, He could have made it still; then We made the sun a proof upon it.
Maulana Muhammad Ali
Seest thou not how thy Lord extends the shade? And if He pleased, He would have made it stationary. Then We have made the sun an indication of it,
Maulvi Sher Ali
Dost thou not see how thy Lord lengthens the shade? And if HE had pleased, HE could have made it stationary. Then WE make the position of the sun an indicator thereof.
Muhammad Musin Khan
Have you not seen how your Lord spread the shadow. If He willed, He could have made it still then We have made the sun its guide [i.e. after the sunrise, it (the shadow) squeezes and vanishes at midnoon and then again appears in the afternoon with the decline of the sun, and had there been no sun light, there would have been no shadow].
Muhammad Pickthall
Hast thou not seen how thy Lord hath spread the shade - And if He willed He could have made it still - then We have made the sun its pilot;
Muhammad Sarwar
Have you not seen that your Lord increases the shadow. Had He wanted He would have made it stationary), and has made the sun their guide.
Muhammed ali Shakir
Have you not considered (the work of) your Lord, how He extends the shade? And if He had pleased He would certainly have made it stationary; then We have made the sun an indication of it
Rashad Khalifa
Have you not seen how your Lord designed the shadow? If He willed, He could have made it fixed, then we would have designed the sun accordingly.
Shabbir Ahmed
Are you not aware of your Lord by His works? He spreads the shade, and if He willed, He could have made it still! Then We would have made the sun its pilot.
Commentary 25:45-46 This and the previous verse are a metaphorical allusion to the rise, progress, power, and decline of Muslims, and illustrate it as the example of a…
On 25:45–46
أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ كَيْفَ مَدَّ الظِّلَّ وَلَوْ شَاءَ لَجَعَلَهُ سَاكِنًا ثُمَّ جَعَلْنَا الشَّمْسَ عَلَيْهِ دَلِيلًا﴿٤٥﴾ ثُمَّ قَبَضْنَاهُ إِلَيْنَا قَبْضًا يَسِيرًا
25:45-46 This and the previous verse are a metaphorical allusion to the rise, progress, power, and decline of Muslims, and illustrate it as the example of a phenomenon of nature. An object in the proximity of a source of light casts a large shadow; as it recedes, the shadow shrinks. The early Muslims, being nearer to the Muhammadan light, cast their shadows to faraway lands. As time passed, and the distance to the Muhammadan light increased, the shadows decreased. When the sun is in the back of an object its shadow lengthens; similarly when Allâh is behind the Muslims their power and influence increases. As in many other places in the Holy Qur’ân, the abrupt change from the third-person pronoun “He” to the first-person plural “We” is meant to illustrate the fact that Allâh is indefinable—that it is only the inadequacy of human speech that makes it necessary to refer to the Supreme Being by pronouns, which in reality are applicable only to finite, created persons. The change from “He” to “We” also indicates the employment of several forces by Allâh in that particular process. The references to Allâh, through “He,” “We,” “I,” or “Allâh,” which sometimes even occur within a single sentence, are not haphazard and accidental and are not even what one might call poetic license, but are deliberate and ultra-linguistic devices. “I” and “My” are expressions of closeness between servant and Master (87:27-29; 20:12-15; 28:30). Through “We” and “Our” form He is referring to His might, majesty, kingship and sovereignty. In His He-ness, nothing is like Him as He says in His own words (42:11). And “Allâh” is the proper name combining all His Attributes.