Swearing by the Various Stages of Man's Journey

Allah swears,

فَلَا أُقْسِمُ بِالشَّفَقِ ﴿١٦﴾

But no! I swear by Ash-Shafaq;

It has been reported from Ali, Ibn Abbas, Ubadah bin As-Samit, Abu Hurayrah, Shaddad bin Aws, Ibn Umar, Muhammad bin Ali bin Al-Husayn, Makhul, Bakr bin Abdullah Al-Muzani, Bukayr bin Al-Ashaj, Malik, Ibn Abi Dhi'b, and Abdul Aziz bin Abi Salamah Al-Majishun, they all said,

"Ash-Shafaq is the redness (in the sky).

Abdur-Razzaq recorded from Abu Hurayrah that he said,

"Ash-Shafaq is the whiteness.''

So Ash-Shafaq is the redness of the horizon, either before sunset, as Mujahid said or after sunset, as is well known with the scholars of the Arabic Language.

Al-Khalil bin Ahmad said,

"Ash-Shafaq is the redness that appears from the setting of sun until the time of the last `Isha' (when it is completely dark). When that redness goes away, it is said, Ash-Shafaq has disappeared.'''

Al-Jawhari said,

"Ash-Shafaq is the remaining light of the sun and its redness at the beginning of the night until it is close to actual nighttime (darkness).''

Ikrimah made a similar statement when he said,

"Ash-Shafaq is that what is between Al-Maghrib and Al-Isha'.''

In the Sahih of Muslim, it is recorded from Abdullah bin Amr that the Messenger of Allah said,

وَقْتُ الْمَغْرِبِ مَا لَمْ يَغِبِ الشَّفَق

the time of Al-Maghrib is as long as Ash-Shafaq has not disappeared.''

In all of this, there is a proof that Ash-Shafaq is as Al-Jawhari and Al-Khalil have said.