The Children of Israel
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE DISPENSER OF GRACE[17:12]
And We have established the night and the day as two symbols; and thereupon We have effaced the symbol of night and set up [in its place] the light-giving symbol of day, so that you might seek to obtain your Sustainer’s bounty and be aware of the passing years and of the reckoning [that is bound to come]. For clearly, most clearly, have We spelt out everything!

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* v.12 : Regarding the primary meaning of the term āyah, see note 2 above. In the present context, the expression āyatayn (“two symbols”) refers – as the subsequent clause shows – to the symbols of spiritual darkness and light.
* I.e., the message of the Qur’ān, which is meant to lead man out of spiritual ignorance and error into the light of faith and reason.
* Lit., “the count (‘adad) of years.” Since, as the Qāmūs points out, this phrase denotes also “the years of [a person’s] life, which he counts,” it obviously implies here a call to spiritual self-criticism in view of the ephemeral nature of one’s worldly life.
* I.e., everything that man may be in need of in the domain of ethics and religion.