Sūrah ash-Shams and Sūrah al-Layl

Observations of the parallels between Sūrah ash-Shams and Sūrah al-Layl

Sūrah ash-Shams (The Sun) and Sūrah al-Layl (The Night) form the 91st and 92nd suwar of the Quran, respectively. When their contents are viewed side-by-side it appears that the two suwar parallel one-another.

Connections

[A/A’] - Allah ﷻ begins both suwar with a series of oaths by His creation. Both suwar have reference to the night, the day, and end with human beings.

[B/B’] - The suwar continue with Allah ﷻ expressing the different paths humans can take. They may choose to be guided or misguided and we see the diversity of those efforts in the world around us.

[C/C’] - Next is an encouragement to purify one’s soul and stick to guidance. Sūrah ash-Shams broadly states that the one who purifies their soul will be successful, but we find the details of what purifying and success look like in Sūrah al-Layl.

[D/D’] - The next āyāt in both suwar warn against the one who lets their soul become corrupted. Again Sūrah ash-Shams is more general and only speaks of one who fails because they let their soul corrupt, while we find the details of what failing and corruption look like in Sūrah al-Layl.

[E/E’] - Both suwar conclude with examples that illustrate the consequences of choosing between guidance and misguidance. The primary focus in Sūrah ash-Shams is the result of denying guidance while Sūrah al-Layl highlights the one who chooses guidance instead.

To summarize it another way, one may look at it as so:

والله أعلم - And Allah knows best

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Sources

Personal notes and research