The Moon which Reflects Light


هُوَ الَّذِي جَعَلَالشَّمْسَ ضِيَاءً وَالْقَمَرَنُورًا

 It is He [Allah] who made the sun a shining light and the moon aNoora - derived light (from the Sun)...

[Yusuf 10:5]



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We find in Tafsir (interpretation of) Ibn Kathir, a prominent and leading Muslim scholar in the 13th century [800 years ago!], the following commentary about the Moon receiving light from the Sun:



"The sun rises each day and sets at the end of the day, giving one kind of light all the time,but it moves, rising and setting at different points in the summer and winter, thus making the days and nights longer or shorter alternatively according to the season. Its authority is in the daytime, for it is the heavenly body that dominates the day. As for the moon, Allah has decreed that it should pass through different phases.

At the beginning of the month, the moon appears small when it rises. It gives off little light, then on the second night its light increases and it rises to a higher position, and the higher it rises the more light it gives -- even though it is reflected from the sun -- until it becomes full on the fourteenth night of the month." 

(http://www.tafsir.com/default.asp?sid=36&tid=43568 - Tafseer surah Yasin)



"He created the night with its darkness and the day with its light, and they alternate without ceasing. And He created the sun with its shining light, and the moon with its reflected light. and He allotted their stages and gave them separate orbits in the heavens." 

(http://www.tafsir.com/default.asp?sid=41&tid=46752 – Tafseer surah Fussilat......First big paragraph)










Definitions' of the word: Noor:
1 - نور (noor):  بيّن(bayyan)  reveal, reflect.
2 - إستنار به (istanaara bihi): إستمدّ شعاعة  (istamadda shu'aaa'uh) was supplied by its light.
3 -انار المكان (anaara al-makaan):  وضعفيهالنور(wada'aa feehi al-noorPut light into it, or reflected light off of it.
4 -نوّرتِ الشجرو انارت ايضاً(nawwarat al-shajarah wa anaarat aydan):  اخرجت نورها(akhrajat nooraha)The plant reflected the light off of itself, or it showed the light off of itself.  However, plants, as we know, are not a source of light.
5 - انار النبت (anaara al-nabtu):  ظهر و حسن (tha-hara wa hasan)  the plant was revealed well from light.
6 - نور(noor):  be revealed, to be lighted, to receive light.


Definitions of the word 'Noor' According to;

1.  Lisan Al-Arab dictionary [1] , Book 3, Pages 805, 808.
2.  Al-Muheet dictionary [2], Page 454.
3.  Al-Muajam Al-Waseet dictionary [3], Page 962.
4.  Al-Mawrid dictionary Arabic-English section [4], Page 1196.
5.  Arabic-English dictionary the Hans Wehr dictionary [6], Page 1008, 1009.


So clearly, when Allah Almighty Said that the Sun is ضياء(diyaa'a), a source of light, and the moon a نورا(Noora), then clearly the moon:
1- Is reflecting to light, because it isإستمدّ شعاعة (was supplied by light), as this is the meaning of إستنار, which is derived from the root word نور noor.
2- Is reflecting to light, because it is ظهر و حسن (was revealed well from light) , as this is the meaning of انار, as in انار النبت.
3- Is reflecting to light, becauseit receives light from the sun and it is lighted and revealed by it.





هُوَ الَّذِي جَعَلَالشَّمْسَ ضِيَاءً وَالْقَمَرَنُورًا

 It is He [Allah] who made the sun a shining light and the moon aNoora - derived light (from the Sun)...

[Yunus 10:5]





Definition of “Diyaa'a” [ ضياء] according to Classical Dictionaries:

The Source of Light.

 

1 - ضياء(diyaa'a): الضوء,ما اضاء لك (al-dawa', ma adaa'a laka)  the light, and what it originated from light to you.

 

2 - The following poem proves that ضياء(diyaa'a) refers to the original light:

3 - إستضاء(istadaa'):إستمدّ نورهُ (istamadda noorahu) the original light stretched its NOOR [light] forth
4 -   تضوَّأ(tadawwa'a):  قام فى ظلمةٍ ليرىبِضَوْءِ النار اهلها  he got up during the darkness of the night to see from the light of the fire, the people in the place.

 

5 - ضوء(dawa'): to gleam, radiate, to illumine, illuminate, to shed light, cast light.




If we see surah Noor 24:35, this word is also used:
35الله نور السماوات والارض مثل نوره كمشكاة فيها مصباح المصباح في زجاجة الزجاجة كانها كوكب دري يوقد من شجرة مباركة زيتونة لاشرقية ولاغربية يكاد زيتها يضيئ ولو لم تمسسه نار نور على نور يهدي الله لنوره من يشاء ويضرب الله الامثال للناس والله بكل شئ عليم

Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth. An example of its brilliance: there is a lamp in a luminous niche. The lamp is in a glass which itself gleams like a radiant star. It is lit by the oil of the blessed tree _ neither from the West nor the East. The oil of the lamp is ready to glow by itself[yaDeey'u] even without being kindled.The bright luminous light is atop another brilliant light. Allah guides towards this light whomever He wants and Allah quotes this parable for the people. Allah is knowledgeable of all things!

[translatation of meaning by;
Dr. Munir Munshey]


Meaning
: The oil is about to
يضيئ(yudee'o) [GLOW]without being kindled by fire.  Notice how the OIL, in the Parable, is the SOURCE OF LIGHT, and the Arabic word  yudee'o يضيئis derived from the root words  ضياء (diyaa'a) and  ضوء (dawa').

 

Definition of Diyaa'aaccording to;
1.  Lisan Al-Arab dictionary [1] , Book 1, Page 119.
2.  Al-Muheet dictionary [2], Page 56.
3.  Al-Muajam Al-Waseet dictionary [3], Page 546.
4.  Al-Mawrid dictionary Arabic-English section [4], Page 715.
5.  Al-Mawrid dictionary English-Arabic section [5], Page 528.
6.  Arabic-English dictionary the Hans Wehr dictionary [6], Page 547.


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