你的主是真主，祂在六个纪元中创造了天地，然后升上宝座。祂以黑夜遮盖白昼，黑夜急速地追逐白昼。太阳、月亮和星辰都奉祂的命令而运行。诚然，创造与主权都属于祂。至高无上的真主，是众世界的主。（第54节）
Your Lord is God who has created the heavens and the earth in six aeons, and is established on the throne. He covers the day with the night in swift pursuit. The sun, the moon and the stars are made subservient to His command. Surely all creation and all authority belong to Him. Blessed is God, the Lord of the worlds. (Verse 54)
一神论的伊斯兰信仰不允许人类凭自己的理智去构想神的任何具体概念：即神是怎样的，或神如何行事。神与任何事物都绝无相似之处。因此，人的理智不应试图去描绘至高的主。人所形成的概念，只能在人类理智所能界定的框架之内，基于它从周围世界所领会的事物而形成。既然绝无任何事物与神相似，那么人类理智便无法描绘出神的确切模样。
The monotheistic Islamic faith allows no room for any attempt by human beings to work out by themselves any particular concept of God: what He is like or how He acts. There is simply nothing similar to God in any way whatsoever. Hence, it is not up to human intellect to try to picture the Supreme Being. A human concept can only be worked out within the framework that the human intellect can define, on the basis of what it makes out of the world around it. Since there is simply nothing similar to God, then the human intellect cannot draw any definite picture of what God is like.
此外，人根本无法想象祂的行为是如何发生的。人所能做的唯一选择，就是思考真主的行为在周围宇宙中所产生的影响。
Moreover, it simply cannot visualize how His actions take place. The only alternative available to man is to reflect on the effects of God’s actions in the universe around him.
因此,"真主是如何创造天地的?""真主以何种形式端坐于宝座之上?""他所端坐的这座宝座是什么样的?"这类问题,信士的心中不会产生。事实上,所有这些及类似的问题都完全无关紧要且毫无意义。试图回答此类问题更是无关紧要,而且任何真正理解我们所阐明的基本原则的人都不会去尝试。遗憾的是,一些伊斯兰团体曾竭力讨论这类问题,在此上耗费了大量时间,他们的尝试受到了希腊哲学的影响。§《古兰经》使用了"yawm"一词,意为"日",用以描述真主创造天地所用的时间段。天地的创造历时六个这样的"yawm",即六日。同样,这也属于人类感知范围之外的领域。这一创造的任何过程都未曾有任何人类,甚至任何受造物亲眼见证:"我没有叫他们见证天地的创造,也没有叫他们见证他们自己的创造。"(18:51)
Hence, questions like: `How did God create the heavens and the earth?, `In what form is He established on the throne?’, and `What sort of throne is this on which He has established Himself?’ do not arise in a believer’s mind. In fact, all these and similar questions are totally irrelevant and meaningless. To try to give answers to such questions is even more irrelevant and cannot be attempted by a person who properly understands the basic rule we have explained. Unfortunately, some Islamic groups who have tried hard to discuss such questions and wasted much time over them were influenced in their attempts by Greek philosophy.§ The Qur’ān uses the expression yawm, which means ‘day’, as it speaks of the span of time in which God created the heavens and the earth. Their creation was over six such yawm, or six days. Again, this belongs to the realm that lies beyond the reach of human perception. Nothing of this creation has been witnessed by any human being or indeed by any creature: “I did not call them to witness at the creation of the heavens and the earth, nor at their own creation.” (18: 51)
关于这六天所说的任何话，都不是建立在确定的知识之上的。它们可能是创造的六个阶段，或六个时期，也可能是真主（Allah）的六天，而真主的日子无法用我们的时间来衡量，我们的时间是某些行星和星辰运动的结果。在这些被创造之前，我们所知的时间并不存在。尽管如此，《古兰经》经文所指的六天，也可能是完全不同的东西。因此，没有人可以声称自己确切知道这一数字的真正含义。1
Whatever is said about these six days is not based on any certain knowledge. They may be six stages of creation or six epochs, or six of God’s days which cannot be measured by our time which is the result of the movement of certain planets and stars. Before these were created, time, as we know it, did not exist. Still, the six days to which the Qur’ānic verse refers may be something totally different. Hence, no one may claim that he has certain knowledge of what this figure truly means.1
任何试图以人类理论来诠释这一说法及类似说法，并以此自称为"科学"的做法，都是武断的。这种做法暴露出在"科学"压力下的失败主义，而"科学"在这一领域所能做到的，不过是提出无法被证明的理论。
Any attempt to interpret this statement, and similar ones, on the basis of human theories, and to justify that as being `scientific’ is simply arbitrary. It betrays defeatism under the pressure of ‘science’ which can do no more in this area than the formulation of theories that cannot be proven.
我们自己则不愿深入此类讨论，因为它对我们理解这段《古兰经》经文毫无助益。
We, for our part, prefer not to go into such discussion because it contributes nothing to our understanding of the Qur’ānic statement.
我们随着这一章经文，在其激励人心的历程中继续前行，它描绘我们所见的宇宙及其隐秘的奥秘。
We move along with the sūrah in its inspiring journey through depicting what we see of the universe and its hidden secrets.
你的主是真主，祂在六个纪元中创造了天地，然后升上宝座。祂以黑夜遮盖白昼，黑夜急速地追逐白昼。太阳、月亮和星辰都奉祂的命令而运行。诚然，创造与主权都属于祂。至高无上的真主，是众世界的主。（第54节）
Your Lord is God who has created the heavens and the earth in six aeons, and is established on the throne. He covers the day with the night in swift pursuit. The sun, the moon and the stars are made subservient to His command. Surely all creation and all authority belong to Him. Blessed is God, the Lord of the worlds. (Verse 54)
真主创造了这广阔而壮丽的宇宙，并确立了自己崇高的地位，主持宇宙的运行，管理宇宙的事务。祂用迅速追赶的方式将夜的帷幕覆盖在白昼之上，于是夜紧接着白昼而来，前后相继。祂使日、月、星辰都顺服于祂的旨意，祂是万物的创造者和主宰者。因此，唯有祂配得上做“你们的主”，供给你们的衣食。祂赐予你们确保团结的制度，以及解决纷争的律法。一切受造之物和一切权柄都属于祂。既然祂是唯一的创造者，祂也就是唯一拥有权柄的主。本段经文，乃至整章经文的主题，正是关于神性、主宰性和主权的问题，以及万物唯独属于真主这一事实。与之相应的，是人类对真主的顺服，以及在生活中践行祂的律法。本章正是在衣食问题上阐述了这一点，正如前一章《牲畜》（第五卷）在牲畜、庄稼、宗教仪式和誓约方面所论述的那样。
God, who has created this vast and awesome universe and established His own high position, conducting the operation of the universe and administering its affairs, is the One who throws the veil of the night over the day in swift pursuit. Thus, the night follows the day in quick succession. It is He who has made the sun, the moon and the stars subservient to His will and He is the Creator and the controller of all. It is He, then, who is worthy of being “your Lord”, giving you sustenance. He gives you the system which ensures your unity and the legislation which settles your disputes. To Him belongs all creation and all authority. Since He is the only Creator, He is also the only one who has any authority. It is this question of Godhead, Lordship and sovereignty, as well as the fact that all belong to God alone which constitute the theme of this passage, and indeed the whole sūrah. Its correlative is the question of submission by human beings to God and their implementation of His law in their lives. This is outlined in this sūrah in relation to questions of dress and food, as was discussed in the previous sūrah, Cattle, [Volume V], in relation to questions of animals, crops, rituals and pledges.
《古兰经》所要解决的重大问题，不应使我们忽视其所描绘场景的非凡之处，以及那些场景的生动感和强大的感染力。
The great issue that the Qur’ān wants to settle should not make us overlook the remarkable nature of the scenes portrayed, their liveliness and powerful inspiration.
诚然，这一场景的伟大程度与其所追求的目标的伟大程度是相称的。
Indeed, the greatness of the scene is on the same level as the greatness of the objective.
我们的思绪随着昼夜的更替而运转，二者接踵而至、迅速相继。我们的意识无法脱离这一轮回而闲置，它充满敬畏，几乎喘不过气来，怀着极大的兴趣等待着接下来会发生的事。
Our minds move along with the cycle of the day and night as they succeed each other in quick pursuit. Our consciousness cannot just be idle without following this cycle, overwhelmed with awe, almost out of breath, waiting with great interest for what will come next.
这些经文体现出一种精妙的韵致，它们展现了动态的生动与美感，将白昼与黑夜描绘成有明确目标、并有意实现其目标的人。如此精妙的文风与表达，远非人类的艺术才能所能企及。
There is such finesse as these verses reflect the liveliness and beauty of the movement, portraying the day and the night in the form of persons with a clear aim and with a will to achieve the same. Such finesse of style and expression is far beyond the reach of human artistic talent.
长久的熟悉会消磨我们心中宇宙壮丽景象的美感，使我们以一种麻木、漠不关心的方式去看待它们。然而，在这里，这种熟悉感很容易被抛开，使我们仿佛第一次看到这一景象一样去观看。
Long familiarity kills the beauty of the majestic scenes of the universe in our minds and makes us look at them in a dull and uninterested way. But this familiarity is easily cast away here to make us look at the scene as if we see it for the first time.
昼与夜并不是我们所见到的单纯、自然、周而复始的现象。它们充满情感、有明确的方向和确定的目的。它们与人类心意相通,因为它们与人类共享同样的生命运动,以及生命中固有的奋斗与竞争的特性。
The night and day are not simple, natural phenomena that we see in endless repetition. They come alive with feeling, clear direction and a definite purpose. They have sympathy with human beings as they share with them the same movement of life and its essential aspect of struggle and competition.
同样的道理也适用于太阳、月亮和星辰。我们视它们为有生命、有灵魂的存在。它们从真主那里接受命令，并全心顺服地执行。它们之所以被驱使，是因为它们遵从所被吩咐的一切，正如有生命的信士顺从真主一样。
The same is the case with the sun, the moon and the stars. We see them as living entities that have lives and souls. They receive their orders from God and carry them out in full submission. They are made subservient in the sense that they do what they are bid just as living believers obey God.
这一切对人的良知产生了深远的影响，促使它加入其他响应真主号召的生灵之列。这正是《古兰经》对人的心灵产生巨大影响的原因，而这种影响是其他任何文学风格都无法达到的。它以启示《古兰经》者所拥有的伟大权威来触动人的天性，而这位启示者完全知晓什么能够触动人心并使其产生回应。
All this has its profound effect on the human conscience, motivating it to join the rest of living things that respond to God’s call. This gives the Qur’ān its great effect on the human mind which no other literary style can achieve. It addresses human nature with the great authority that belongs to the One who has revealed the Qur’ān and who is fully aware of what touches human hearts and makes them responsive.