Surah Ad-Duha, saying, "By the morning brightness. And [by] the night when it covers with darkness"
These are the opening verses of Surah Ad-Duha, verse 93, and they were revealed when the Prophet ﷺ fell ill once. And for two or three nights, the Prophet ﷺ could not wake up for Tahajjud. During this time, Abu Lahab's wife, Arwa, came to the Prophet ﷺ and said,
Sahih Bukhari # 4950 and 4983, "O Muhammad, it seems your devil has abandoned you. I see that he hasn't come to you for two or three nights."
But have you ever wondered what is so special about the verses of Surah Ad-Duha that they were sent to console and comfort the heart of the Prophet ﷺ? And why do these verses begin with the mention of the first light of morning? By the end of this blog, InshaAllah, you will surely find the answer to this question.
What is Duha? It refers to the first light that reaches the earth from the sun. No word in Urdu, whether it's shu'aa or kiran, or even the English word rays can truly capture the essence of the Arabic word Duha. Therefore, throughout this blog, I will continue to use the word Duha.
The creation of Duha actually begins inside the sun around 170,000 years earlier. Even now, if you step outside and look at the rays of the sun, what you see isn't recent but light that is 150,000 years old. This light remains inside the sun for a long time, and the particles of Duha, which we call photons, only begin their journey toward the earth once they escape the sun's surface.
Although it takes about 8.3 minutes for Duha to reach our Earth, its glow starts becoming visible even before it reaches us, appearing in the sky as a beautiful light band known as the zodiacal light. This is the time we refer to in Urdu as Subha e Khazib refers to the time just before dawn. As Duha passes through the dust left behind by meteors that have burned up between the sun and Earth, its first reflection starts to appear on Earth as a ring of light.
After this, when Duha gets just a little closer to the Earth, the time it reaches is known as Dawn, or Subha e Sadiq in Arabic, the time of the true light. At this time, Duha creates a deep blue color on Earth. Those who love art may know that during the Renaissance period of the 15th century, artists frequently painted this moment. In fact, French painters even gave it a name: L'Heure Bleue, or The Blue Hour. During this time, most small stars have disappeared, but a few large stars and planets like Jupiter and Venus are still visible. In fact, 4,000 years ago, sailors considered this blue reflection of Duha to be the perfect time to navigate their ships. At this time, the difference between the earth and water begins to become visible.
After that, when Duha is just a little farther from the horizon, it's a time for playing with colors. In English, this is called Twilight neither complete darkness nor full light. During this time, Duha fills the sky with some very beautiful colors.
On the eastern horizon, where Duha is coming towards the Earth, up to 7,000 colors can change within just 120 seconds. This is the beautiful moment that Allah swears by in:
Surah Al-Inshiqaq, saying, "I swear by the redness of the sunset when it spreads."
On the opposite side of the sunrise, in the west, there is a deep blue strip forming on the horizon.
Interestingly, this is Earth's own shadow, cast into space by Duha. In English, it's called the Earth's shadow. At this point, I can't help but think of verse 45 from Surah Al-Furqan:
"Look how your Lord has spread the shadow."
And did you know that Earth's shadow extends 1.4 million kilometers into space?
Before Duha becomes visible to us, during the twilight time, a colorful band forms just 10 degrees above the horizon, known as The Belt of Venus. This band can be orange, purple, or pink, and it appears just before Duha reaches Earth.
Now, when the sun rises above the horizon, meaning when the sun's disk becomes visible, we call it Tulu-e-Aftab in Pakistan. This is the moment when our eyes first see Duha. At this time, its color is very orange because the atmosphere between the horizon and us is about 40% denser, or in simpler terms, much more polluted. That's why this light by the time it reaches us, changes its color. Science has named this light God Ray or Sun Beam.
The Sun Beam first touches the highest peaks of mountains. When it falls on the snow-covered mountain tops, it is undoubtedly one of nature's most beautiful sights, known as the Alpine Glow.
As the Sun's disk rises higher and higher in the sky, Duha begins to turn white because the air above the horizon is 40% thinner. As a result, Duha's color doesn't change much.
At this time, the shadows of objects become clear and sharp, and Duha itself becomes so crisp that it can pass through small openings and create deep shadows. The images you're seeing right now are from the mountains of Oman, specifically from a place called Majlis Al-Jinn, which literally means The Meeting Place of the Jinns. Here, you can easily see the crispness of Duha.
This is a very large cave, and as soon as I see it, I'm reminded of verse 81 from Surah An-Nahl.
"It is Allah who has made shadows in His creation and created caves in the mountains."
Outside the caves, the open sky is usually blue at this time. However, if dust and sand clouds from the world's largest desert, the Sahara, spread across the globe, the sky's color changes from blue to white. This dust often reaches regions like Arabia and Pakistan.
But does it affect the play of Duha? Let's see. Sometimes, tiny ice crystals, known as The Diamond Dust in English, are suspended in the air above our Earth. This creates a stunning visual spectacle. If Duha passes through this Diamond Dust during its journey, it refracts beautifully, creating stunning light circles in the sky. These are called halos in English or hala in Urdu.
And as soon as the shape of these ice crystals changes slightly, Duha immediately alters its effect. For instance, if this Diamond Dust takes the shape of a plate, instead of forming a simple circle, Duha creates a colorful halo in the sky.
And even more fascinating, if these ice crystals take on a hexagonal shape, you get to witness one of the rarest sights of Duha, called parhelia or sun dogs. This creates the appearance of two additional suns beside the real sun.
While you can see these sun dogs in pictures, this time, I also want to share a written description along with the image. This account was written by Fulcher of Chartres, a Christian priest who participated in the First Crusade. In his journal, Historia Hierosolymitana, he wrote:
"On February 23, 1127, at around 9 am, during the third hour of our battle with the Muslims, we saw two additional suns rise alongside the real sun. Around them were many colors. The sight was so beautiful that both Muslims and Christians stopped fighting for a while to gaze at it."
This play of Duha is not limited to ice crystals. If clouds are present in the air at this time, what happens inside those clouds can create another breathtaking phenomenon as Duha passes through them. This phenomenon is called Cloud Iridescence. It's such a beautiful sight that the Greeks named it after their goddess Iris, calling it Iridescence. Since clouds are made of water vapor, the air begins to spread within them, creating this stunning effect.
Since clouds are made of water vapor, Duha begins to spread through them, starting a play of colors where up to 95% of the entire spectrum of colors can be seen. Do you know what this means? It means that there are a hundred thousand different shades of colors. And immediately, verse 164 of Surah Al-Baqarah comes to mind.
"In the clouds, there are many signs for those who reflect."
Now, the trick of Duha that almost all of us are familiar with: the colorful arc formed after rain, known as a rainbow. This forms when Duha passes through water droplets in the air. And if Duha passes through these droplets not once, but twice refracting then 2 rainbows can form. Not only that, but the beginning and end of the rainbow can also be seen There are also some fascinating stories about the locations where rainbows appear, particularly in Ireland, where it is said that where a rainbow touches the ground, a treasure is buried.
What happens is that when sunlight enters our atmosphere, the molecules in the air scatter the blue light, causing it to spread across the sky. This is known as the Rayleigh effect. As the sun begins to set toward the horizon, this effect weakens because more air molecules come between Duha and us, and the blue light can no longer scatter as quickly. This time is called the Golden Hour, or Magic Hour in cinema, and it lasts for about 20 minutes. During this time, Duha transforms into a brilliant golden color, like the light from a lamp, as described in:
Surah Noah, verse 16: "And made the moon therein a [reflected] light and made the sun a burning lamp?"
After the Golden Hour passes, the sky begins to turn red again, and the time for Twilight approaches. Beautiful things start to happen as Duha nears its effect. Instead of passing over the clouds, it now passes beneath them, reaching the clouds directly. If these clouds are polar stratospheric clouds, about 25 kilometers above the Earth, it looks like a beautiful array of colors in the sky.
As Duha moves closer to the horizon, its play intensifies, and sometimes it creates things on the horizon that aren't even there. The Latins defined this phenomenon as Mirage, which means to "wonder upon" something. This is where the word Mirage comes from. I'll show you an image of how Duha creates a mirage of a small city on the surface of the sea, which isn't really there.
Afterward, as the sun sets below the horizon, sometimes a very rare event occurs. This is the moment when Duha turns green for the last time, known as the Green Flash. This phenomenon is mostly seen over oceans, as the horizon there is very clear, and Duha reaches directly to our eyes. There are many technical explanations for this green light, but if I were to sum it all up in one word, it would be awe-inspiring.
Up until now, I've shown you the play of Duha during the day, but the interesting part is that the story doesn't end here. When the Sun's disc goes 18 degrees below the horizon, technically, nighttime is declared. In simple scientific terms, the definition of night is the absence of daylight or the spreading of ambient darkness. In other words, in the language of science, the absence of light is called darkness. But here, I want to share something interesting. The first verse of
Surah Al-An'am says, "All praise is due to Allah, who created the darkness." This means that just like light, darkness is also a creation, a creation of Allah swt.
The question known as Olbers' Paradox, asked a profound question that still lacks an answer, even after 300 years. In simple terms, he wondered that if the universe is truly infinite, with no boundaries, and contains countless stars, then when we look at the night sky, our gaze should always fall on a star, and the night sky should be much brighter. In simpler terms, what he was saying is that it seems like there is something physical called darkness that is hiding the light from us. This is such an interesting and intriguing topic that I won't go into more detail today, but I'll just say this: Night, or Layl, is indeed a physical entity that covers Duha.
Now, the sun has set below the horizon, and Duha is no longer visible, but does this game end here? Absolutely not. In fact, at that time, Duha performs a beautiful show at a very high altitude, about 85 kilometers above the ground, called noctilucent clouds.
This is one of Duha's most mysterious phenomena, and its true nature has not been fully understood yet. In Finland and Estonia, they refer to it as night-shining clouds. At this height, the temperature is extremely low, around minus 78°C, and there is also a high concentration of methane gas in the atmosphere. It is likely that these factors combine to create this stunning display. Describing their beauty might even fall short of words. However, remember that these are not clouds it's just one of Duha's effects that appears in the night sky. What you're seeing is merely one aspect of Duha.
You may recall when I spoke about ice crystals or diamond dust. often, these crystals remain suspended in the atmosphere even at night. As Duha passes beneath the horizon, it interacts with artificial lights on Earth, creating a visual spectacle. These light pillars, or ** solar pillars,** form from the artificial lights on the ground, extending from the Earth to the sky, and are typically visible on a cold, snowy night.
Duha, combined with the Earth's lights, creates beautiful light pillars, leading up to one of my favorite and the most beautiful natural light shows in the world. "Northern Lights," when the charged particles from Duha, which emerge from the Sun, reach the poles of the Earth, they scatter deep green lights across the sky. These lights can appear in the form of curtains, waves, or circles. The ancient Romans named these lights Aurora Lights after their goddess Aurora.
At the height where wind speeds are at least 300 km/h, the movement of these lights in the sky becomes visible due to the strong winds. And ultimately, Duha concludes by presenting us with one of the most beautiful light shows on Earth.
24-hour rotation of Al-Duha completes, and the second verse of Surah Ar-Ra'd comes to mind:
"The sun and the moon are under His control; He is the one who designs everything, and He is clearly showing His signs."
Do you remember when I mentioned the background of the revelation of the verses of Al-Duha? They were revealed when Awrāh taunted Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), saying,
"O Muhammad, it seems that you have been abandoned."
Now, take a moment to recall all the images and the video I've shown you. Think about Duha, the first light that emerges from the sun, bringing some of the most beautiful natural sights on Earth. Why is Allah mentioning these?
It,s like a great master, a skilled artist, showing his most beautiful paintings to a sad person, bringing joy to their heart, comforting them, reassuring them. This is because beauty is hardwired into the human brain. Observing beauty activates the brain's reward center, giving us a sense of happiness. And after showing His servant these beautiful signs through Duha, what does Allah say in the next verse? In the next verse, Allah says:
"Your Lord has not forsaken you, nor is He displeased with you."
But it doesn't end here. If you read the next verses, the meaning is even more profound:
"And your Lord will give you what will make you happy. Has He not given you a place when you were an orphan? Has He not guided you when you were lost? Has He not enriched you when you were in need?"
Feel these words in your heart, as Allah, through His Duha, shows His servant these beautiful signs, making them happy. He is telling them that by the oath of Duha, through which I scatter such beautiful colors, your heart will find peace. And be reassured that I will never leave you alone. After understanding these verses, I don't think any heart can read them and forget its sadness without falling in love with Allah.
I learned this from the YouTube channel 'Furqan Qureshi Blogs.' Images are sourced from across the internet, and I do not own them.