Surah 86:1–4:
By the sky and the night-comer. And what can make you know what is the night-comer? It is the piercing star. There is no soul but that it has over it a protector.
The Surah opens with an evocative, rhythmic oath swearing by a celestial phenomenon: "By the sky and the night-comer (wal-ṭāriqi)... It is the piercing star (al-najmu al-thāqibu)."
The Philological and Historical Baseline: The noun ṭāriq is derived from the Arabic root ṭ-r-q, which means to strike, knock, or pound. In pre-Islamic Bedouin culture, a ṭāriq was a traveler who arrived at a tent late at night, knocking to ask for hospitality. The text immediately defines this nocturnal arrival as al-najmu al-thāqibu—the "piercing," "bright," or "intensely shining" star that cuts through the blanket of nighttime darkness. Historically, this referred to prominent nocturnal features visible to the naked eye, such as the morning star (Venus), Jupiter, or Pleiades.
The Concordance Anachronism: Modern Islamic apologists frequently attempt a textual re-interpretation, claiming this verse is a miraculous prediction of pulsars (highly magnetized, rotating neutron stars that emit rhythmic beams of electromagnetic radiation resembling a "knocking" sound).