Al-A'raf 7:54
The verse's most vivid image is night pursuing day.
إِنَّ رَبَّكُمُ ٱللَّهُ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ فِى سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍ ثُمَّ ٱسْتَوَىٰ عَلَى ٱلْعَرْشِ يُغْشِى ٱلَّيْلَ ٱلنَّهَارَ يَطْلُبُهُۥ حَثِيثًا وَٱلشَّمْسَ وَٱلْقَمَرَ وَٱلنُّجُومَ مُسَخَّرَٰتٍۭ بِأَمْرِهِۦٓ ۗ أَلَا لَهُ ٱلْخَلْقُ وَٱلْأَمْرُ ۗ تَبَارَكَ ٱللَّهُ رَبُّ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ
Your Lord is God; He who created the heavens and the earth in six days, then established Himself on the Throne. The night overtakes the day, as it pursues it persistently; and the sun, and the moon, and the stars are subservient by His command. His is the creation, and His is the command. Blessed is God, Lord of all beings
Al-A'raf 7:54 · Translation: talal-itani
Image
The verb "yaghshā" means "to cover, to drape" — night drapes over day like a veil. It is followed at once by "yaṭlubuhu ḥathīthā": "pursuing it swiftly." "Ḥathīth" in Arabic means one who chases without pause, without rest, without even a breath. The verse frames the change of night and day not as a static phenomenon but as a continuous pursuit.
Observation
In modern observation a line runs around Earth's surface between night and day: the terminator — the band where light meets darkness. At the equator this line moves westward at roughly 1,670 km/h. From space one sees a shadow sweeping like a veil over the Earth, pursuing the light without a break. The verse's picture of "swift pursuit" can be set beside the orbital observation; the verse gives no astronomical measurement, it names a rhythm.
Exegesis
Elmalılı dwells on the word "ḥathīthā" and reads it as a pursuit carried on without pause or breath. The classical tradition of tafsīr gathers the three cosmic beings named in this verse — sun, moon, stars — under a single attribute: "musakhkharāt," those who have submitted. Submission here does not mean loss of will but being bound to an order; each does its own work, and all obey the same command.
Sources
Tafsīr: Elmalılı Hamdi Yazır, Hak Dini Kur'an Dili; classical tafsīr tradition. Science: the terminator line; Earth's rotation on its axis (basic geophysics).