the universe. —Sayid Qutb, Fi Zilal al-Qur'an According to an account from the book A Comprehensive Commentary on the Quran, translated by George Sale, Jalal ad-Din as-Suyūti – co-author of the classical Sunni tafsīr known as Tafsir al-Jalalayn - had speculated that this whole description belongs peculiarly to Abu Bakr; for when he had purchased Bilal ibn Rabah, the Ethiopian (afterwards Muhammad’s muadhdhin, or crier to prayers), who had been put to the rack on account of his faith, the infidels said he did it only out of a view of interest; upon which this passage was revealed. However, the style and language of this chapter are against this explanation. It is best, therefore, to regard the whole as addressed to Muhammad’s hearers generally. In his book The Corân, William Muir classifies Al-Lail in a Quranic sub-category known as the Soliloquies - a literary form of discourse in which Muhammad talks to himself or reveals his thoughts without addressing a listener. However, Sale argues that this sūrah seems to be ruled out of that category by the statements of āyāt 14 where Muhammad appears as a warner, and therefore is entered upon his public ministry. Regarding subject matter, Sayyid Maududi suggests this surah can generally be divided into two parts, the first consisting of āyāt 1 through 11, and the second of āyāt 12 through 21. Q92:1–11 By night and Day Allah begins this chapter by swearing a series of oaths: by the night when it envelops the world, by the day when it illuminates and, finally by Himself who has created the male and female (92:1-3). Evidence of these three things are invoked (night, day and gender) to illustrate how the aims and activities engaged in by both individuals and nations, are, in respect to their moral nature, widely divergent. Verse 92:3 literally means, "Consider that which has created [or "creates"] the male and the female", i.e., the elements which are responsible for the differentiation between male and female. This, together with the symbolism of night and day, darkness and light, is an allusion - similar to the first ten verses of the preceding surah (Ash-Shams) - to the polarity evident in all nature and, hence, to the dichotomy (spoken of in the next verse) which characterizes man’s aims and motives. Following a style common to the brief chapters, three opposing moral characteristics are presented as illustrations, providing a