Watch: Night, Day, and Life in the Quran
Tip: If the video will not play here, click Watch on YouTube.
Note: this episode was filmed vertically as a YouTube Short; the scientific ideas are the same, just in a more compact, mobile-friendly format.
Quran on Night, Day, and Life: Rotation, Water, and Vision
This page highlights a short Doctor G Science episode on how the Quran links the alternation of night and day, water as the origin of life, and the gift of vision — and how all three line up with what modern science says about Earth’s rotation, habitability, and evolution.
Scientific Background (Brief)
From a physics and biology perspective, the alternation of night and day is not just a poetic image — it is a direct consequence of Earth’s rotation and a key ingredient for a stable, life-supporting environment.
- Rotation and tidal locking: Many planets and moons in our universe are tidally locked, always showing one face to their star or partner. A fully locked Earth would likely have an uninhabitable hot side, a frozen dark side, and a narrow, unstable twilight band in between.
- Liquid water: Life as we know it depends on liquid water for chemistry, transport, and temperature regulation. Earth’s day–night cycle, atmosphere, and distance from the Sun keep a large portion of surface water in a liquid state.
- Circadian rhythms and vision: Almost all complex life on Earth is shaped by daily light–dark cycles. Biological clocks, sleep cycles, and the evolution of eyes themselves are tightly connected to the presence of alternating light and darkness.
Selected Quranic Verses Discussed
يُقَلِّبُ ٱللَّهُ ٱلَّيْلَ وَٱلنَّهَارَ ۚ إِنَّ فِى ذَٰلِكَ لَعِبْرَةً لِأُولِى ٱلْأَبْصَـٰرِ
God alternates the night and the day. Surely in that is a lesson for those of vision.
(Quran 24:44)
وَٱللَّهُ خَلَقَ كُلَّ دَآبَّةٍۢ مِّن مَّآءٍۢ ۖ فَمِنْهُم مَّن يَمْشِى عَلَىٰ بَطْنِهِۦ وَمِنْهُم مَّن يَمْشِى عَلَىٰ رِجْلَيْنِ وَمِنْهُم مَّن يَمْشِى عَلَىٰٓ أَرْبَعٍۢ ۚ يَخْلُقُ ٱللَّهُ مَا يَشَآءُ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ قَدِيرٌۭ
And God has created from water every living creature. Some of them crawl on their bellies, some walk on two legs, and some walk on four. God creates whatever He wills. Surely God is Most Capable of everything.
(Quran 24:45)
لِّأُو۟لِى ٱلْأَبْصَـٰرِ
…for people of vision (insight).
FAQ
Does the Quran link night and day to scientific ideas?
The Quran refers to the alternation of night and day as a sign, and modern science explains this alternation through Earth’s rotation. When you connect that with what we know about tidally locked worlds, climate, and habitability, the verse leads naturally into a scientific reflection on how finely balanced our conditions for life are.
Why are night, day, and water mentioned so closely together?
In Surah An-Nur (24:44–45), the alternation of night and day is followed immediately by a reminder that all living creatures are created from water. From a scientific viewpoint, this combination is striking: the same planetary rotation that produces night and day also helps stabilize temperatures so that liquid water can exist over long periods — a key requirement for life’s origin and persistence.
Transcript
In this short episode, we pause over two back-to-back verses in Surah An-Nur, verses 24:44 and 24:45. The first tells us that God alternates night and day, and then says this is a lesson for people of vision. The very next verse reminds us that every living creature is made from water, and then sketches a quick picture of animals that crawl, walk on two legs, and walk on four. When we line these verses up with what science tells us, the sequence becomes very rich.
If Earth did not rotate, we would not have a true alternation of night and day. One hemisphere would face the Sun almost constantly, growing dangerously hot, while the other would be locked in freezing darkness. Most of the planet’s surface water would either boil away or freeze solid, and complex life as we know it would struggle to exist. Instead, our planet spins at just the right pace to create a cycling pattern of light and dark, allowing temperatures to stay within a range where liquid water can cover most of the surface.
Water, in turn, is central to the scientific story of life’s origin. It dissolves and transports chemicals, supports cell structures, and helps regulate temperature. Life emerges in water, spreads, and diversifies into creatures that move in many ways: crawling, walking on two legs, walking on four. Over time, the alternation of light and darkness drives the evolution of circadian rhythms and eventually of eyes themselves. Vision develops because there is something worth seeing — a pattern of light and shadow written onto the surface of a rotating world.
So when the Quran links night and day, water, and living creatures, and then speaks of this as a lesson for those with vision, it invites us to think at two levels at once. At the physical level, these verses align beautifully with what we know from cosmology, climate science, and biology. At the spiritual level, they urge us not just to see, but to notice: to recognize that the rhythms of our days, the water we drink, and even the eyes we use to read these verses are part of a finely balanced system that points beyond itself.