(1) The term /sawwaha/ is based on the term /taswiyah/ which...

(1) The term /sawwaha/ is based on the term /taswiyah/ which means 'to make level or equal, to proportion something'.It refers, here, to the accurate regularity that dominates all the celestial bodies; and, if /samk/ means 'ceiling' it refers to the thick atmosphere which, like a hard and safe shield, has surrounded the earth and protects it from the rush of meteorites and fatal cosmic rays.

Some have considered the above sense to mean the globular from of the atmosphere that covers all around of the earth. They believe that using the term, with the sense of 'equal', refers to the equal distance (1) Tafsir Kabir, vol.31, p.46. between the parts of the ceiling and its center, that is the Earth; and this cannot exist, but only by being globular.

It is also probable that the verse points to both the height of the sky and the extreme long distance of the celestial bodies from us, and the safe vault around the Earth. In any case, this verse is similar to what Sura Mo'min, No. 40. Verse 57 says: Assuredly the creation of the heavens and the earth is a greater (matter) than the creation of men; yet most men understand not. And He made dark its night and brought forth its daylight.

Each of these two has an extraordinary important role in the life of any living creature whether animal or plant. Man cannot live without sunlight, because all of his sustenance, his senses and movement depend on it, as well as his life is not possible without the darkness, which is the cause of his tranquility. The term /aqtasa/ is based on /qats/ with the sense of 'dark' hut, Raqib cites in his book, Mufradat, that its origin is 'aqtas' which means 'a person who has weak or dim eyes'.

The terms /wa duha/ means 'when the full brightness of the sun spreads in the heaven and over the earth.' And the earth, after that He spread it out. The term duha is derived from dahw which means 'to spread, to expand'. Some have also rendered it to mean 'to move something from its original place'.And since these two meanings are interdependent, they return to one root.

The objective meaning of /dahw-ul-ard/ is that, at first, the surface of the Earth was totally covered with water from the prime rainfalls, the water of which was gradually sucked down through the holes and ditches in the ground, and, then, parts of the land appeared. It expanded. little by little, until it formed its present state.