Allah praises and glorifies His Most Honorable Self for creating the heavens and earth, as a dwelling for His servants, and for making the darkness and the light to benefit them in the night and the day. In this Ayah, Allah describes darkness in the plural, Zulumat ﴿where Zulmah is singular for darkness﴾, while describing the light in the singular, An-Nur, because An-Nur is more honored. In other Ayat, Allah said,

﴿ظِلَـلُهُ عَنِ الْيَمِينِ﴾

(To the right and to the lefts.) ﴿16:48﴾ Near the end of this Surah (chapter 6), Allah also said;

﴿وَأَنَّ هَـذَا صِرَطِي مُسْتَقِيمًا فَاتَّبِعُوهُ وَلاَ تَتَّبِعُواْ السُّبُلَ فَتَفَرَّقَ بِكُمْ عَن سَبِيلِهِ﴾

(And verily, this is my straight path, so follow it, and follow no (other) ways, for they will separate you away from His way.) ﴿6:153﴾ Allah said next,

﴿ثْمَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ بِرَبِّهِمْ يَعْدِلُونَ﴾

(Yet those who disbelieve hold others as equal with their Lord.) meaning, in spite of all this, some of Allah's servants disbelieve in Him and hold others as partners and rivals with Him. Some of Allah's servants claimed a wife and a son for Allah, hallowed be He far above what they attribute to Him. Allah's statement,

﴿هُوَ الَّذِى خَلَقَكُمْ مِّن طِينٍ﴾

(He it is Who has created you from clay,) refers to the father of mankind, Adam, from whom mankind originated, multiplied in numbers and spread about, east and west. Allah said,

﴿ثُمَّ قَضَى أَجَلاً وَأَجَلٌ مُّسمًّى عِندَهُ﴾

(Then has decreed a stated term. And there is with Him another determined term...) His saying;

﴿ثُمَّ قَضَى أَجَلاً﴾

(Then has decreed a stated term,) refers to death, while,

﴿وَأَجَلٌ مُّسمًّى عِندَهُ﴾

(And there is with Him another determined term...) refers to the Hereafter, according to Sa`id bin Jubayr who reported this from Ibn `Abbas. Similar statements were narrated from Mujahid, `Ikrimah, Sa`id bin Jubayr, Al-Hasan, Qatadah, Ad-Dahhak, Zayd bin Aslam, `Atiyyah, As-Suddi, Muqatil bin Hayyan and others. Ibn `Abbas and Mujahid said that,

﴿ثُمَّ قَضَى أَجَلاً﴾

(And then has decreed a stated term,) is the term of this earthly life, while,

﴿وَأَجَلٌ مُّسمًّى عِندَهُ﴾

(And there is with Him another determined term) refers to man's extent of life until he dies as mentioned in Allah's statement;

﴿وَهُوَ الَّذِى يَتَوَفَّـكُم بِالَّيْلِ وَيَعْلَمُ مَا جَرَحْتُم بِالنَّهَارِ﴾

(It is He, Who takes your souls by night (when you are asleep), and has knowledge of all that you have done by day, then He raises (wakes) you up again that a term appointed (life) be fulfilled.) ﴿6:60﴾ The meaning of Allah's statement,

﴿عِندَهُ﴾

(With Him) is that none but Him knows when it will occur. Allah said in other Ayat,

﴿إِنَّمَا عِلْمُهَا عِنْدَ رَبِّي لاَ يُجَلِّيهَا لِوَقْتِهَآ إِلاَّ هُوَ﴾

(The knowledge thereof is with my Lord. None can reveal its time but He.) ﴿7:187﴾, and,

﴿يَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ السَّاعَةِ أَيَّانَ مُرْسَـهَا - فِيمَ أَنتَ مِن ذِكْرَاهَا - إِلَى رَبِّكَ مُنتَهَـهَآ ﴾

(They ask you about the Hour -- when will be its appointed time You have no knowledge to say anything about it. To your Lord belongs (the knowledge of) the term thereof.) ﴿79:42-44﴾ Allah said,

﴿ثُمَّ أَنتُمْ تَمْتَرُونَ﴾

(Yet you doubt.) the coming of the (last) Hour, according to As-Suddi. Allah said next,

﴿وَهُوَ اللَّهُ فِى السَّمَـوَتِ وَفِى الاٌّرْضِ يَعْلَمُ سِرَّكُمْ وَجَهْرَكُمْ وَيَعْلَمُ مَا تَكْسِبُونَ ﴾

(And He is Allah in the heavens and the earth, He knows what you conceal and what you reveal, and He knows what you earn.) Meaning, it is He Who is called Allah, throughout the heavens and the earth, that is, it is He who is worshipped, singled out, whose divinity is believed in by the inhabitants of the heavens and the earth. They call Him Allah, and they supplicate to Him in fear and hope, except those who disbelieve among the Jinns and mankind. In another Ayah, Allah said;

﴿وَهُوَ الَّذِى فِى السَّمآءِ إِلَـهٌ وَفِى الاٌّرْضِ إِلَـهٌ﴾

(It is He Who is God in the heavens and the earth.)﴿43:84﴾ meaning, He is the God of those in heaven and those on earth, and He knows all affairs, public and secret.

﴿وَيَعْلَمُ مَا تَكْسِبُونَ﴾

(And He knows what you earn) all the good and bad deeds that you perform.

﴿وَمَا تَأْتِيهِم مِّنْ ءَايَةٍ مِّنْ ءَايَـتِ رَبِّهِمْ إِلاَّ كَانُواْ عَنْهَا مُعْرِضِينَ - فَقَدْ كَذَّبُواْ بِالْحَقِّ لَمَّا جَآءَهُمْ فَسَوْفَ يَأْتِيهِمْ أَنْبَاءُ مَا كَانُواْ بِهِ يَسْتَهْزِءُونَ - أَلَمْ يَرَوْاْ كَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا مِن قَبْلِهِم مِّن قَرْنٍ مَّكَّنَّـهُمْ فِى الاٌّرْضِ مَا لَمْ نُمَكِّن لَّكُمْ وَأَرْسَلْنَا السَّمَآءَ عَلَيْهِم مَّدْرَاراً وَجَعَلْنَا الاٌّنْهَـرَ تَجْرِى مِن تَحْتِهِمْ فَأَهْلَكْنَـهُمْ بِذُنُوبِهِمْ وَأَنْشَأْنَا مِن بَعْدِهِمْ قَرْناً ءَاخَرِينَ ﴾

(4. And never an Ayah comes to them from the Ayat of their Lord, but that they have been turning away from it.) (5. Indeed, they rejected the truth when it came to them, but there will come to them the news of that which they used to mock at.) (6. Have they not seen how many a generation before them We have destroyed whom We had established on the earth such as We have not established you And We poured out on them rain from the sky in abundance, and made the rivers flow under them. Yet We destroyed them for their sins, and created after them other generations.)