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Is the "blackness" in the verse (So We erased the sign of the night) referring to the darkness of the night or the dark spots on the moon?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

There are two interpretations for the verse: ﴿فَمَحَوْنَا آيَةَ اللَّيْلِ﴾ (Then We effaced the sign of the night):

1. "The sign of the night" refers to the night itself, and its effacement means that it is not perpetually dark. 2. "The sign of the night" refers to the moon, and its effacement can be understood in one of two ways: The darkness (or spots) on the moon. That it was not given light like the sun, so things cannot be clearly seen by its light.

Allah the Almighty has bestowed His grace upon His creation by making the night and day distinct, for several reasons, including:

1. Resting at night and spreading out during the day for livelihoods and work. 2. Knowing the number of days and years, calculation, and discerning the passage of appointed times. 3. Making a distinct sign for each: the night with its darkness and the appearance of the moon, and the day with its light and the appearance of the sun. 4. Distinguishing between the luminescence of the moon and the brilliance of the sun, so that one can be known from the other.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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