LessonsSupplementary Practice 27 — Comparative Rhetoric of Sūrat al-Shams and Sūrat al-LaylQuiz

وَالشَّمْسِ وَضُحَاهَا ۝ وَالْقَمَرِ إِذَا تَلَاهَا ۝ وَالنَّهَارِ إِذَا جَلَّاهَا ۝ وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا يَغْشَاهَا
By the sun and its brilliance; the moon as it follows it; the day as it reveals it; and the night as it covers it. (91:1–4)

The first wāw is an oath particle; subsequent coordinated expressions continue that oath sequence. Treating every wāw as if it introduced an unrelated assertion would obscure the structure.

Day and night form a contrast; sun and moon have a close association. These links unite the oath objects. Coordination of nouns and phrases must be distinguished from the separate rhetorical question of connecting two independent clauses.

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Al-Shams: an extended sequence of oaths

Supplementary Practice 27 — Comparative Rhetoric of Sūrat al-Shams and Sūrat al-Layl

وَالشَّمْسِ وَضُحَاهَا ۝ وَالْقَمَرِ إِذَا تَلَاهَا ۝ وَالنَّهَارِ إِذَا جَلَّاهَا ۝ وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا يَغْشَاهَا
By the sun and its brilliance; the moon as it follows it; the day as it reveals it; and the night as it covers it. (91:1–4)

The first wāw is an oath particle; subsequent coordinated expressions continue that oath sequence. Treating every wāw as if it introduced an unrelated assertion would obscure the structure.

Day and night form a contrast; sun and moon have a close association. These links unite the oath objects. Coordination of nouns and phrases must be distinguished from the separate rhetorical question of connecting two independent clauses.