25:45 Dost thou not see thy Lord, how He stretched out the shadow? Had He willed, He would have made it still. Then We made the sun an indicator of it.
In terms of the outwardness, this verse explains a miracle of Muṣ?afā, but in the meaning understood by the folk of the realities, it alludes to the special favors and redoublings of generosity he received. The explanation of the miracle is that during one of his journeys, God's Messenger dismounted under a tree at the time of the afternoon nap. All the companions were with him, but the tree's shadow was small. To make manifest a miracle for Muḥammad, the Exalted Lord pulled out that shadow by His power such that the whole army of Islam had a place in the tree's shadow. In that state the Exalted Lord sent down this verse, and this miracle became manifest.
As for the explanation of his being singled out for proximity and nearness, it is that Dost thou not see thy Lord is addressed to those who have presence and declares the eminence of the proximate. In the station of whispered prayer Moses wanted to see the Real: "Show me, that I may gaze upon Thee!"[7:143]. The exalted majesty of the Unity pulled the bodkin of severity across the eyes of his holiness: "Thou shalt not see Me" [7:143]. To Muṣ?afā He said, "Dost thou not see thy Lord?": "Do you not see Me and gaze upon Me? What do you want with another?"
O chevalier! Do not suppose that when someone reaches the contemplation of the exaltedness of the Possessor of Majesty, his passion and yearning will become less by one iota. In the liver of a fish there is a heat that will not settle down by one iota even if you gather together all the oceans of the world. A heart that is a heart is at work today and it will also be at work tomorrow. Today it is in yearning itself and tomorrow it will be in tasting itself.
One of the secrets of Dost thou not see thy Lord? is that mortal man, though he is singled out for the special favors of proximity, would never reach the point where he requests the vision of the exaltedness of the Possessor of Majesty if mutual seeing had not come at the request of Beauty. The explanation of this intimation is found in the report of Muṣ?afā where he says, "When the folk of the Garden enter the Garden, they will be called, 'O folk of the Garden, God has promised you something that He desires to fulfill for you,'" and so on to the end. This indeed is the degree of the common people among the faithful. First they will reach their own degrees and domiciles and become familiar with their own followers, stewards, and servitors as well as the folk of their empire, and then they will reach the contemplation of Unity at the request of the Exaltedness.
There is another group who are the lords of the eye. They had become disengaged from their own attributes and reached the eye of their own innate disposition. Before they join with the ascending steps of paradise's good fortune, the beauty of the lordhood will block their road and unveil the Cloak of Magnificence. He will let them witness His beauty and disclose Himself to them in His majesty before they arrive at the domiciles and degrees. That is His words, "Surely thy Lord lies in wait" [89:14].
It has also been said that Dost thou not see thy Lord, how He stretched out the shadow? means that "He stretched out the shadow of protection from sin before He sent thee as a messenger to the people. Had He willed, He would have made it still," that is, "He would have neglected it and not done so. On the contrary, He made the sun, which rose up from thy breast, an indicator of it."