Surah 89:1–5
"By the dawn, and [by] ten nights, and [by] the even and the odd, and [by] the night when it passes... Is there [not] in all that an oath for a possessor of reason?"
The Surah launches immediately with a series of rapid-fire, highly ambiguous rhythmic oaths swearing by time segments and mathematical concepts: "By the dawn, and ten nights, and the even and the odd..."
The Pagan Saj' Framework: To a secular philologist or historian, this introduction is structurally identical to the Saj' (rhyming prose) used by the pre-Islamic Kahin class (pagan oracle-priests and shamans). These local sorcerers intentionally uttered highly rhythmic, fragmented, and cryptic natural associations to induce a sense of cosmic weight and dread before delivering a prophecy.
The Interminable Interpretive Confusion: Because the text relies entirely on vague, detached nouns without defining them, classical Islamic commentators were deeply fractured over what God was actually swearing by. As compiled by Al-Tabari:
The Ten Nights: Some claimed it meant the first ten days of Dhul-Hijjah, others argued it was the last ten days of Ramadan, and some insisted it referred to the ten days of Muharram.
The Even and the Odd: Commentators offered dozens of conflicting metaphysical guesses—ranging from the even and odd mathematical properties of created numbers, to specific prayer schedules, to the idea that "the odd" is Allah Himself and "the even" is His creation.
The Critique: To a text critic, this intense confusion demonstrates that the passage is a direct product of its regional environment. Rather than delivering a clear, universally accessible cosmic message, the text mimics the stylistic formatting of local 7th-century Arabian occultism, using mystification and rhythmic tension to force psychological submission from an audience primed to fear shamanic curses.