Surah 6. Al-An'am

All praise is for Allah Who created the heavens and the earth and made darkness and light.¹ Yet the disbelievers set up equals to their Lord 'in worship'.

  - Mustafa Khattab

 “Light” is always used in the Quran in the singular (nûr), whereas “darkness” is used in the plural (ẓulumât). Nûr is usually used in a metaphorical sense to refer to true guidance, whereas ẓulumât refers to different forms of misguidance.

Praise be to Allah Who created the heavens and the earth and made the darkness and the light. Yet those who reject Faith hold (others) as equal with their Guardian-Lord. ^{834 835}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Adala has various meanings: (1) to hold something as equal to something else, as here; to balance nicely; (2) to deal justly, as between one party and another, xiii.15; (3) to give compensation or reparation, or something as equivalent to something else, vi. 70; (4) to turn the balance the right way, to give a right disposition, to give a just bias or proportion, lxxxii. 7; (5) to turn the balance the wrong way, to swerve, to show bias. iv 135.

The argument is threefold: (1) God created everything you see and know: how can you then set up any of His own creatures as equal to Him? (2) He is your own Guardian-Lord; He cherishes and loves you: how can you be so ungrateful as to run after something else? (3) Darkness and Light are to help you to distinguish between the true from the false: how then can you confound the true God with your false ideas and superstitions? There may also be a repudiation of the Duality of old Persian theology; Light and Darkness are not conflicting Powers; they are both creatures of the one true God.

He is the One Who created you from clay,¹ then appointed a term 'for your death' and another known only to Him 'for your resurrection'- yet you continue to doubt!

  - Mustafa Khattab

 i.e., created your father, Adam, from clay. Some scholars suggest that if we examine all the minerals found in the earth (potassium, nitrogen, and carbon), we find that these are the same minerals that make up our body. Furthermore when we die, our bodies are absorbed back into the ground. And when we are resurrected, we will be resurrected from the ground (see 20:55).

He it is who created you from clay and then decreed a stated term (for you). And there is in His presence another determined term; yet ye doubt within yourselves!. ^{836 837}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

After the general argument, the argument comes to man personally. Can such a miserable creature, created from clay, put himself in opposition to his Creator? And can man forget or doubt that he is here only for a short term of probation? And then, after a period, comes the Day of Account before God.

This life is a period of probation. The other term leads up to Judgement.

He is the Only True God in the heavens and the earth. He knows whatever you conceal and whatever you reveal, and knows whatever you do.

  - Mustafa Khattab

And He is Allah in the heavens and on earth. He knoweth what ye hide and what ye reveal and He knoweth the (recompense) which ye earn (by your deeds). ⁸³⁸

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

It is folly to suppose that God only reigns in the heavens. He also reigns on earth. He knows all our secret thoughts and motives, and the real worth of all that is behind what we care to show. It is by our deeds that He judges us; for our deeds, whether good or evi, we shall get due recompense in due time.

Whenever a sign comes to them from their Lord, they turn away from it.

  - Mustafa Khattab

But never did a single one of the Signs of their Lord reach them but they turned away therefrom.

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

They have indeed rejected the truth when it came to them, so they will soon face the consequences of their ridicule.

  - Mustafa Khattab

And now they reject the truth when it reaches them: but soon shall they learn the reality of what they used to mock at.

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali