Al-Mulk 67:5
The Sovereignty · Meccan · Juz 29 · Page 562
The Adorned Sky
وَلَقَدۡ زَيَّنَّا ٱلسَّمَآءَ ٱلدُّنۡيَا بِمَصَٰبِيحَ وَجَعَلۡنَٰهَا رُجُومࣰا لِّلشَّيَٰطِينِۖ وَأَعۡتَدۡنَا لَهُمۡ عَذَابَ ٱلسَّعِيرِ ٥
And verily We have beautified the world’s heaven with lamps, and We have made them missiles for the devils, and for them We have prepared the doom of flame.
Translation: Marmaduke Pickthall
Meaning
Allah adorned the nearest heaven with lamps, the stars, made them missiles against devils, and prepared for them the punishment of the blaze.
Insight
Elmalılı stresses that “as-sama’ ad-dunya” means “the nearest heaven”, not “the heaven of the world”. In the Qur’an “dunya” is always an adjective meaning “near, low”; “the life of the dunya” is “the near life”.
Reflect
What changes when you think of “this world” as “the near, passing life”?
This short note is based on Elmalılı Hamdi Yazır’s Turkish commentary and has not yet been reviewed by a scholar.
Elmalılı’s commentary
An English translation of Elmalılı’s full commentary is coming soon. Read the original Turkish ›