And when He concluded the commanding verses regarding facing the House in prayer with the command of gratitude and avoidance of disbelief, and since that is the essence of worship, and its doer is in great need of assistance, He turned to His saying, glorified and exalted is He, in the Mother of the Book: ﴿You alone we worship, and You alone we ask for help﴾ [Al-Fatiha: 5]. So He commanded them with what that entails of patience and prayer: ﴿Indeed, prayer prohibits immorality and wrongdoing﴾ [Al-Ankabut: 45], knowing that they would comply, whereas the Children of Israel disobeyed when they were commanded similarly in the beginning of their stories with His saying: ﴿And establish prayer and give zakah and bow with those who bow﴾ [Al-Baqarah: 43]. Until He said: ﴿And seek help through patience and prayer, and indeed, it is a great burden except for the humbly submissive﴾ [Al-Baqarah: 45]. Thus, there was an indication that they [are] the humble submissive, and the position of this verse is good as it comes after the harm from the People of the Book by their attributing to them the invalidation of the religion by changing the rulings and similar matters, as in the other verse: ﴿And you will surely hear from those who were given the Scripture before you and from those who associate others with Allah much abuse. But if you are patient and fear Allah, indeed, that is of the matters [requiring] determination﴾ [Al-Imran: 186]. And its being after the command of remembrance and gratitude indicates that the essence of both is patience and prayer. So it is as if it was said: Do not be distracted by the slander of the slanderers regarding the matter of the qiblah, lest that occupy you from My remembrance and My gratitude. Rather, be patient and pray to Me, turning towards the qiblah that I have commanded you with, knowing that patience and prayer are indeed a good aid for all that befalls in religion and worldly matters. It is more elegant to say: And when it became known from these verses the difficulty of what lies between them and the foolish, and He commanded them with the effective remedy of turning away from them and turning towards His remembrance and gratitude, He followed that with an indication that the matter reaches [to] more severe than they imagined. So He said: ﴿O you who have believed﴾ addressing them in a manner that includes the complete one, blessings and peace be upon him. And perhaps He diverted the address from him due to what is in the context that protects him, blessings and peace be upon him, from his high station. ﴿Seek help through patience﴾ meaning: in what you encounter from them and in turning towards Me so that I may suffice you in every important matter. ﴿And prayer﴾ for it is the greatest aid, as it encompasses all acts of worship. So whoever approaches it with his Lord, He protects him and suffices him from turning away from everything else, for that is the affair of every great one who fully turns to Him.

And when prayer cannot be established except by patience, he limited the reasoning to it and said: ﴿Indeed, Allah﴾ meaning: the One who has all perfection ﴿is with the patient﴾ meaning: and it is known that whoever Allah, glorified and exalted is He, is with him has succeeded. Al-Harali said: And the easiest patience is the patience of the soul from its laziness by taking it to be active in what it has been commanded. ﴿Allah does not burden a soul except with that which it can bear﴾ [At-Talaq: 7] and ﴿Allah does not burden a soul except to its capacity﴾ [Al-Baqarah: 286]. So whenever Allah, glorified and exalted is He, facilitates for it diligence and determination, He makes for it in what it is patient upon in the beginning of seeking sweetness in it, and the duty of patience is lightened from it. And whenever it does not exercise patience over its laziness and upon its diligence, it becomes stained and it receives punishments, and the patience upon them will be more severe than the first patience, just as whoever is patient from the sweetness of food does not need to be patient upon the bitterness of medicine. If it endures the patience of the punishments of losing the first patience, it may be saved from the intensification of the punishment upon it. And if it does not exercise patience upon those punishments, it falls into the depths of severe torment, and it is said to its people: ﴿Be patient or do not be patient, it is all the same for you﴾ [At-Tur: 16]. Then he said: So the beginning of religion is patience and its end is ease. For whoever Allah, glorified and exalted is He, is with him, He removes from him the bitterness of patience by placing the sweetness of companionship, which is felt by the word [with].