Sūrah Al-Layl The Night
سورة الليل
Al-Ṭabarī analyses Al-Layl as a surah of two contrasting human types defined by giving, God-consciousness, and affirmation versus withholding, self-sufficiency, and denial, investigating via Companion chains whether "the most God-fearing" (al-atqā) in 92:17 refers to Abū Bakr specifically.
Surah Overview
Key Themes from Al-Ṭabarī
Al-Ṭabarī opens with an analysis of the three sworn entities night, day, and male-and-female arguing via an Ibn ʿAbbās chain that "mā khalaqa dh-dhakara wa l-unthā" (92:3) means "the One Who created male and female" and not merely "the creating of male and female." The referent of the oath is thus Allah Himself in each instance. He then develops the binary structure: three qualities lead to ease (giving, fearing Allah, affirming good), and three lead to hardship (withholding, self-sufficiency, denying good), noting that the "good" (al-ḥusnā) in 92:6 was interpreted by Ibn ʿAbbās as "Lā ilāha illā Allāh."
On the identification of al-atqā (92:17), al-Ṭabarī assembles a Mujāhid chain, a Qatādah chain, and a chain via ʿUrwah ibn al-Zubayr all pointing to Abū Bakr as the one who spent his wealth freeing enslaved Muslims including Bilāl ibn Rabāḥ. Al-Ṭabarī validates these chains via isnād analysis and then applies his standard principle: even if the verse was revealed about a specific individual, its ruling applies to anyone who fulfils the same description giving freely seeking only the face of Allah (92:20).
- Oath referent: Via Ibn ʿAbbās chain, al-Ṭabarī establishes that mā in all three oaths is a divine relative pronoun the One Who created night, day, and male-and-female.
- Triple formula: Al-Ṭabarī treats 92:5–7 and 92:8–10 as symmetrical legal-moral formulae three positive qualities → ease; three negative qualities → hardship.
- Abū Bakr chains: Multiple converging chains from Mujāhid, Qatādah, and ʿUrwah identify al-atqā as Abū Bakr without contradiction al-Ṭabarī uses chain convergence as a verification tool.
- Particular occasion, general scope: Al-Ṭabarī explicitly states that Abū Bakr's specification does not restrict the verse anyone giving purely for Allah's face falls under al-atqā.
- Ḥusnā definition: Al-Ṭabarī records Ibn ʿAbbās's identification of "al-ḥusnā" as the Shahādah, linking doctrinal affirmation to practical generosity as inseparable in the believer's path.