وَلِلَّهِ يَسْجُدُ مَن فِى ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ طَوْعًا وَكَرْهًا وَظِلَٰلُهُم بِٱلْغُدُوِّ وَٱلْءَاصَالِ ۩
Important Words:
ظلال (shadows) is the plural of both ظل (zill) and ظلة (zullah), which are derived from ظل (zalla). They say ظل الیوم i.e. the day became shady. ظل الشیء means, the thing became long or extended. ظلله means, he shaded him. اظله means, it cast its shade upon him; or he took him into his shelter or protection. ظل means, the light of the sun without the rays; shade; blackness of the night; an apparition or phantom or a thing that one sees like a shadow; a covering; might or power of resistance protection or shelter; person or corporeal form or figure which one sees from a distance. The Arabs say السلطان ظل الله فی الارض i.e. the sovereign is God’s means of protection or defence (or His representative) in the earth. In hadith we read الکافر یسجد لغیر الله و ظله یسجد لله ای جسمه i.e. an infidel prostrates himself before deities other than God but his ظل viz. his body, prostrates itself before God (meaning that his body is subject to divine law). ظلة means, anything that shades or covers or protects one (Lane & Bihar).
الغدو (mornings) is the plural of غدوة meaning, morning or early part of the forenoon (Lane).
الآصال (evenings) is the plural of اصیل which means, evening; time from the عصر (late afternoon) Prayer to sunset. The word also means, having root or foundation; rooted, fixed, stable or permanent; having lineage or pedigree (Lane).
Commentary:
The verse embodies a great truth. It says that all creation whether in the heavens or on the earth obeys or is bound to obey God-made laws of nature, willingly or unwillingly. The tongue must perform the function of tasting and the ear the function of hearing. This obedience to the laws of nature may be called compulsory. But then man is also given a certain freedom of action where he can use his volition and discretion. A hungry man chooses to eat to satisfy his hunger; another man goes about sight-seeing. Both these persons are free in what they do; but even in actions in which they appear to have been granted freedom, they are subject to a certain amount of compulsion, because they must obey God’s laws in whatever they do, willingly or unwillingly. It is to this point that the verse refers.
Figuratively, the verse also hints at the subtle ways in which God was helping the Holy Prophet. Certain things happened over which the disbelievers had no control but which were meant to help the cause of Islam. The Fall of Mecca, for example, helped to subjugate the whole of Arabia to the Holy Prophet, but the disbelievers could not prevent it. On the other hand, the terms of the Treaty of Hudaibiyyah were dictated by the disbelievers. They thought that these terms would bring disgrace to Muslims and that the cause of Islam would thereby suffer. But the treaty proved a blessing in disguise for the Muslims. Similarly, the Meccans forced the Holy Prophet to flee from Mecca and rejoiced to think that they had succeeded in driving Islam out of its Centre, but by doing so they dug their own grave and laid the foundation of the future prosperity and progress of Islam.
The words, willingly or unwillingly, may also refer to two classes of men, viz. believers who give willing submission to God and disbelievers who have to obey His laws and do it grudgingly.
Of the various meanings of ظلال given under Important Words, the word "shade" does not obviously apply here because shade, being the absence of light, is a negative thing which cannot be spoken of as submitting to God. But ظلwhich is the singular of ظلال also means, the body or corporeal substance of a thing. In this sense the verse would mean that the bodies of all things are subject to the laws of nature. Even the bodies of disbelievers have perforce to submit to God, though their hearts may rebel against Him. The word ظل also means, figuratively, the representative or follower of a thing or person. In this sense the verse would mean that not only all living things but also their followers and representatives obey the laws of God. Again as ظلال is also the plural of ظلة which means that which covers or shades or protects, the word would also signify "leaders or rulers of the people." Combining all these different senses of the word, the verse would therefore mean that the entire creation as well as leaders of men and their followers are all subject to the laws of God. What is hinted at is that disbelievers should beware of opposing the Holy Prophet because opposition to him means defiance of the whole of creation and of the very laws of nature, which is not possible to do. This interpretation of the verse is supported by 13:42.
By using the words, in the mornings and the evenings, which are the two times when the shadows of things are longest, the verse emphasizes that, however vast the power of disbelievers may grow, they cannot succeed against the Holy Prophet.
The verse embodies a great truth, viz. that all creation is bound to obey God-made laws of nature, willingly or unwillingly. The tongue must perform the function of tasting and the ear cannot help hearing. This obedience to the laws of nature may be called compulsory. But man is given a certain freedom of action where he can use his volition and discretion. But even in actions in which he appears to have been granted freedom, he is subject to certain amount of compulsion, and he must obey God’s laws in whatever he does, whether he likes it or not. The words, willingly or unwillingly, may also refer to two classes of men, viz. believers who give willing submission to God and disbelievers who obey His laws grudgingly.