Rabbu almashriqayni warabbu almaghribayn (surah Rahman: 17)

Tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi

(55:17) Lord of the two easts and of the two wests is He. *17

Rabbul mashriqayni wa Rabbul maghribayni

*17) 'Both the Easts and both the Wests" may mean the two points of sunrise and the two points of sunset on the shortest day of winter and the longest day of summer as well as the easts and the wests of the two hemispheres of the earth. On the shortest day of winter the sun rises and sets making a small acute angle: on the contrary, on the longest day of summer-it rises and sets making a wide obtuse angle. Between them its points of rising and setting go on shifting every day, for which at another place in the Qur'an (AI-Ma'arij: 40) the words Rabbul-mashariq wal-magharib have been used. Likewise, at the time the sun rises in one hemisphere of the earth, it sets in the other hemisphere, thus producing two easts and two wests of the earth. There arc several meanings of calling AIIah Lord of both the Easts and both the Wests. Firstly, that it is by His Command that the system of the rising and setting of the sun and their changing pattern during the year is fimctioning. Second, that AIIah alone is the Master and Ruler of the earth and the sun; had they their own separate lords, this regular system of the rising and setting of the sun on the earth could not have functioned and continued to function permanently. Third, that the Master and Sustainer of both the Easts and both the Wests is One Allah alone; to Him belong the creations living between them. He alone is nourishing them, and it is for their sustenance that He has established this wise system of the rising and setting of the sun on the earth.