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Shadow
الظل
In the Quran
أَلَمۡ تَرَ إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ كَيۡفَ مَدَّ ٱلظِّلَّ وَلَوۡ شَآءَ لَجَعَلَهُۥ سَاكِنٗا ثُمَّ جَعَلۡنَا ٱلشَّمۡسَ عَلَيۡهِ دَلِيلٗا ٤٥ “Have you not considered your Lord - how He extends the shadow, and if He willed, He could have made it stationary? Then We made the sun for it an indication”
Translation of the meaning · Saheeh International
The word for “shadow” occurs 14 times in 14 verses · Quranic Arabic Corpus lemma count
How we count
We count every word in the Quran that the Quranic Arabic Corpus tags with this word's dictionary form (lemma). Counting by root would mix different words, so we don't.
The number is given for reference only. We don't attach any meaning or significance to it.
qac-lemma-word-token@0.4
ثُمَّ قَبَضۡنَٰهُ إِلَيۡنَا قَبۡضٗا يَسِيرٗا ٤٦ “Then We hold it in hand for a brief grasp”
Translation of the meaning · Saheeh International
أَوَلَمۡ يَرَوۡاْ إِلَىٰ مَا خَلَقَ ٱللَّهُ مِن شَيۡءٖ يَتَفَيَّؤُاْ ظِلَٰلُهُۥ عَنِ ٱلۡيَمِينِ وَٱلشَّمَآئِلِ سُجَّدٗا لِّلَّهِ وَهُمۡ دَٰخِرُونَ ٤٨ “Have they not considered what things Allah has created? Their shadows incline to the right and to the left, prostrating to Allah, while they are humble”
Translation of the meaning · Saheeh International
Commentary · al-Tabari (d. 310 AH)
Jami' al-Bayan 'an Ta'wil Ay al-Quran · جامع البيان عن تأويل آي القرآن25:45
ثم دللناكم أيها الناس بنسخ الشمس إياه عند طلوعها عليه، أنه خلْق من خلق ربكم، يوجده إذا شاء، ويفنيه إذا أرادReviewer's summary (not a translation)
Then We showed you, people, by the sun removing the shadow when it rises upon it, that the shadow is one of your Lord's creations: He brings it into being when He wills and ends it when He wishes. (Researcher's paraphrase of al-Tabari.)
Quoted word for word from the book · Source
Explanation (not Quran text)
The Quran asks the reader to consider how the Lord stretches out the shadow, which He could have left still, makes the sun its guide, and then draws it in little by little (25:45–46). It describes the shadows of things turning to the right and to the left as a humble prostration to Allah (16:48). Al-Tabari explains that the sun, by moving the shadow, shows that the shadow too is something created, brought into being and removed as Allah wills.
In Muslim civilisation
Because the times of the daily prayers follow the sun's position, scholars in Muslim civilisation developed sundials and shadow tables (gnomonics) to tell the time from the length and direction of a shadow.
Sources
- King, D. A. (1996). Astronomy and Islamic society: Qibla, gnomonics and timekeeping. In R. Rashed (Ed.), Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science, vol. 1. London: Routledge.
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