The above verses disclose some of the secrets of Monotheism through some of God's bounties.

      The stress of the word here is, on the shadow and its blessings and manifold profits for Man and animal. These are manifested through the night and sleep and rest, through the day and raising to life and work, through the winds that act as heralds for God's Mercy which is the rain, and thereby the revival of the parched earth.

      In other word, whatever we see or we feel in this wide nature, if we go through it we shall find it to be a clear sign of our Merciful Lord. The sun and the moon, the day and the night, the light and the shade, the wind and the rain, and whatever else on which we point our finger, they are all signs and symbols which to some extent illustrate the Infinite Knowledge, Wisdom and Power of God. They all prove to work according to a general and universal plan accompanied with a unity of purpose throughout the universe:-

      ``Did you not see how your Lord expanded the shadow? Had He willd, He would have made it still. Then We made the sun a guide over it.''

      The reference here is to the great usefulness of the moving shadows which do not stand still.

      Some commentators have known the shadow mentioned here to be the impressive phenomenon of light and shade, which may appear in the early morning before the sun rise.

      At first, the false dawn appears with its uncertain light, and long shadow followed by streaks of black in the East. After that, the true dawn will appear with beautiful colours of light and shade. These are merely due to the reflections of light, and are not made by the direct beams of sunlight.

      Some other commentators are of opinion that the shadow mentioned here is the dark night itself, that creates for us the opportunity of rest and repose through our inevitable sleep. But the ending of the verse implies that the shadows are made and guided by the sun. This is to say that, if there was no sun and its light, shadow could have no meaning, and that we have to study shadow through its opposite and antagonist, which is the light.

      If we go deeply through the matter, we see that the morning shadows are larger than those which appear about noon, and their lengths and directions are guided by the sun. As the sun rises higher and higher, the shadows contract, and become shorter and shorter. In the regions where the sun gets actually to Zenith at noon, there is no shadow left at the time because the substance that produces the shadow will then absorb it.

      Here a mystical opinion is that, everything and every material substance is a shadow which is cast by the only true reality, which is the light of God:-

      ``Allah is the light of the heavens and earth. The parable of His light is a niche in which is a lamp....''

      Therefore, God is the only light, and anything else whether concrete or abstract, are only shadows, depended and guided by the light. It is the light that gives length, size, form, or substance, to all things. Even the sun is nothing except a shadow of God's light.

      Then comes the verse NO.48; the immediate reference of which is to the winds:-

      ``And it is He Who sent winds, as bearers of glad-tidings before His Mercy. And We sent down from the sky purifying water so as to revive a dead land by it....''

      The roles of the winds is not hidden from us, knowing them to be the forerunners which are sent before, to announce the approach of the rain which is a great Mercy of God.

      Had there been no wind, there would have been not a drop of rain and hence the calamity. So the winds are the heralds of God's Mercy.... the rain which is a distilled pure water for drink, and the best of purifying means too. A means by which a parched piece of land may quickly come to life, and grow plants and vegetations and all sorts of fruits, flowers and produces!

*****

      Some expounders of Qurän have taken the pronoun, ``IT'' related to the verb, circulated, (V.NO.50) to be the water that comes down as rain:ِ

      ``And verily We have circulated it among them to be mindful.'' But some others, and among them HAZRAT AYATULLAH MAKAREM, have understood it to be the revelation of God which comes down from the heavens which in this case it is the Holy Qurän.

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