In the boundless universe of Allah (SwT) while the sun and the moon mark the time and the appearance of the day and the night, the stars act as the guide, as ordained:
”He is that cleaveth the daybreak (from the dark): He makes the night for the rest and tranquillity, and the sun and the moon for the reckoning (of time) such is the judgement and ordering of (Him) the exalted in power, the Omniscient” (Al’Anam:96)
The sun and the moon appear so distant, yet they are so near, as these astronomical landmarks in the great universe of Allah (SwT) mark the period when we may rest and get a feel of tranquillity. As Allah (SwT) marks the daybreak, as the sun rises, we get up and get along with the business of life.
It is Allah (SwT)’s judgement of our needs that sets the time when we may rest and when we may get on with the business of life, as He is Omniscient—All-knowing, All-seeing, Wise, Well-informed and Sagacious, what we may call in Quranic idiom—Qadir, ultimate in Qadara—which means to weigh, judge, or estimate the value or capacity of anything existing in the universe. And, He is the ultimate guide:
”It is He Who maketh the stars (as beacons) for you, that ye may guide yourselves, with their help, through the dark spaces of land and sea. We detail Our Signs for people who know” (Al’Anam:97)
Just as the sun and the moon mark our time, stars guide us at sea; in deserts and in forests, in these wide spaces stars guide us to our destination.
Allah (SwT) is thus the Ultimate Marker of our time, the Ultimate Guide as well