Night and day made continuous: a paired challenge
قُلْ أَرَءَيْتُمْ إِن جَعَلَ ٱللَّهُ عَلَيْكُمُ ٱلَّيْلَ سَرْمَدًا إِلَىٰ يَوْمِ ٱلْقِيَٰمَةِ مَنْ
qul araʾaytum in jaʿala llāhu ʿalaykumu l-layla sarmadan ilā yawmi l-qiyāmati man — Say, “Have you considered: if Allah were to make the night continuous upon you until the Day of Resurrection, what…”
Two consecutive verses pose the same rhetorical challenge with one element swapped: night made continuous demands a god who brings radiance (28:71), while daytime made continuous demands a god who brings a night for rest (28:72). The difference shows each half of the day–night cycle answering a distinct need.
The two verses open identically: the command “Say” followed by “Have you considered: if Allah were to make … continuous upon you until the Day of Resurrection” (28:71, 28:72). The structure is a challenge question: “what god, other than Allah, could come to you with…?” In 28:71 the hypothetical is the night made continuous (سَرْمَدًا), and the required gift is “radiance” (بِضِيَاءٍ)—light set against darkness. In 28:72 the hypothetical is the daytime made continuous, and the required gift is “a night in which you become still and settle down” (بِلَيْلٍ تَسْكُنُونَ فِيهِ)—rest set against unbroken activity. Each verse thus names the absence its scenario creates and asks who other than Allah could supply it. The closing appeals differ in verb: “Will you then not listen?” (تَسْمَعُونَ, 28:71) versus “Will you then not perceive?” (تُبْصِرُونَ, 28:72), pairing hearing with the radiance scenario and sight with the night scenario. The surrounding verses frame the pair: 28:70 declares “there is no god except Him,” which the questions presuppose, and 28:73 resolves them—“from His mercy He has made for you the night and the day, so that you may come to rest in it, and so that you may seek of His bounty”—naming rest (سُكُون) as the purpose of the night, the very need 28:72 poses, and bounty-seeking as the day's role.
Where it occurs
- 28:71 Poses the night-made-continuous scenario and asks what god other than Allah could bring radiance, closing with an appeal to listen.
- 28:72 Poses the daytime-made-continuous scenario and asks what god other than Allah could bring a night for rest, closing with an appeal to perceive.
All Qur'anic expressions