And when the supplication of the fasting person is free, and this month in particular is a time of response for fasting and for the place of Laylat al-Qadr, and the mention of His grandeur, glorified and exalted is He, prepares His servants to feel the distance. It may lead one to the illusion that He is like the arrogant ones, distant from the places of the servants, and that if He is where He can hear, it is not for anyone among them to ask Him except by lifting this illusion with His saying: "And when" indicating by the conjunction to something not mentioned that the meaning is: So if My servants ask you about Me, indeed I am near, watching over those who obey Me and those who disobey Me, "And when".

And al-Harali said: When the Truth, glorified and exalted is He, established the Book of Fasting for His servants for what He wanted for them from elevating them to the hidden reward, and He informed them of what He willed in their fasting from His dominion by the presence of Laylat al-Qadr, He directed them to glorify Him for the great things He guided them to. He appointed them in His grace and thanked them for His blessing by what He granted them from His great favor, and He manifested to them from the flow of His blessings what calls the observers to ask about what they have received from their Lord. They will implore those below them with what is appropriate for them, rank by rank. It is narrated from Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said: "The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, would speak to Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, as if they were speaking in a foreign tongue; I understood nothing of what they were saying," until the matter reaches the lowest of the questioners who are still in the rank of presence, and they give glad tidings of the closeness. He said: And "when" is a conjunction to matters that are transcendent, as if He is saying: When you leave your place of seclusion and pray, and the adornment of Allah appears, which He boasts of to His angels, it is not the adornment of this world which the people of His presence among His angels despise. So if someone asks you about such and such a condition, inform him of such and such. And if someone asks you about such and such a condition, inform him of such and such. And when "My servants ask you about Me," meaning: Am I like the arrogant ones among the kings of this world, distant from those below them? Inform them that I am not like that.

And when it is not asked about a thing except if it is being glorified and the one asking is eager for the hastening of the news about it, it is more appropriate for the station and closer to the eyes of the servants, and more suitable for the people of stubbornness to bring the answer closer and to inform Him, glorified and exalted is He, by His noble self without an intermediary, indicating His extreme closeness and presence with every asker. So He said: ﴿So indeed I﴾ rather than saying: Indeed I, for if He had affirmed 'say', it would imply distance, and the station is not like that. And His saying 'Indeed I' would imply something misleading, thus it would need to be said: 'Indeed Allah' or something similar. And despite that, it does not escape from being problematic; and if this is the gentleness with the askers, what do you think of the seekers who are walking! And the teacher Abu al-Qasim al-Qushayri said what means: Those who ask about mountains, or about orphans, or about menstruation, or about the new moons, and similar matters, they are answered through intermediaries. As for those who ask about Me, I raise the intermediaries between Me and them. And the Imam Qadi al-Qudat Nasir al-Din ibn Maylaq said what means: Indeed, He, glorified and exalted is He, when He had made Himself known to His servants through His actions and signs, and what He has instilled in the minds of the knowledge of Him, the omission of the intermediary in informing about Him is more appropriate, unlike the new moons and similar matters, for the minds do not independently recognize them. Thus, the news about them is more appropriate through the Messenger, who is not known except through Him.

﴿Near﴾ is a participle from closeness, and it is the observation of a thing either sensibly or meaningfully. That is, whoever seeks Me with his intellect will find Me and know Me. And I only sent the messengers as an increase in recognition and a lifting of hardship through the secret of gentleness. And the omission of 'say' is quicker in recognition, for it is more deserving of glorifying the intermediary, because the hastening in the response is a closer indication of the truthfulness of His message.

Al-Harali said: "Give glad tidings to the people of the distance with the closeness, for the people of closeness have ascended to the attainment of closeness. So the one giving glad tidings is indeed reaching, and the one who is falling short of closeness is giving glad tidings of it. It is known that the closeness of Allah and the distance of the created beings from Him is not a distance of space nor a closeness of space. What can be understood from the meaning of closeness is that whoever hears in what he is addressed by the address of his Lord is close to the one from whom that address comes. And whoever only hears the address from the one who faces him with the address in his senses and perception, hearing it from someone other than his Lord, is distant according to that intermediary from a distance that is less than distance to the farthest distance. Therefore, it is declared to the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, 'Indeed, your duty is only to convey the message.' And what he recites to his nation is indeed the words of his Lord, reciting to them the words of their Lord so that they may hear it from their Lord. Thus, he should not be an intermediary between the servant and his Lord, but rather he should connect the servant to his Lord. To indicate this meaning, the word 'Say' is recited in the Qur'an to clarify the hearing of the words of Allah, glorified and exalted is He, from whoever hears it, whoever they may be. And in its indication, there is a stirring of hearts and ears to the call of the pilgrimage following the fasting, for He, glorified and exalted is He, made the first day of the months of pilgrimage following a day of fasting. It is as if the caller of Allah is calling on the day of Eid al-Fitr for the pilgrimage. Thus, in His subtle indication, there is an elevation of the call of Ibrahim, peace be upon him, which preceded the foundation of the matter of Islam upon its monotheism and its religion. And there should be in this comprehensive verse a prelude to the mention of the pilgrimage, for it has been established that this surah organizes its comprehensiveness throughout its details in a remarkable order that hints at the meaning for the people of understanding and elaborates it for the people of knowledge, then it rules upon the people of judgment. He said: 'I respond' from the response, which is the meeting with the saying, beginning the commencement of the completion of the meeting with the facing. 'The call of the caller' contains an indication of the response of the caller, meaning for the pilgrimage at the conclusion of the fasting, indicating the completeness of the connection between the two acts of worship. For the state of fasting following the verse of death is in its being an erasure of the state of the Barzakh, and the state of the pilgrimage is in its being a journey to a specific place in a state of purity, like the state of gathering. He said: And the Eid came, meaning after the completion of fasting, with what aids in responding to the call of the invitation to Allah, glorified and exalted is He, following the solitude in the House of Allah, so that their transition from the house of their solitude by seclusion to the position of His manifestation in the pilgrimage is realized. And in it, there is a realization for the caller from his state; the caller is not from his desires and passions. For indeed, Allah, glorified and exalted is He, responds to the call of the servant if there is guidance in it, otherwise He reserves it for him or compensates for it on his behalf, as he clarified, blessings and peace be upon him.

(p-75) And when every creation calls for its need, even if it does not articulate it, He, exalted is He, indicated the purpose of showing supplication in words and pleading by saying: ﴿When My servant calls upon Me﴾ so that his state is truthful by matching his condition with his words. In the reading that suffices with a kasrah on 'the caller' and ﴿calls upon Me﴾ without its two yā's, and the reading that allows both, it is an expansion of the reading according to what is made easy for the tribes of the Arabs based on what is in the tongues of some of them from allowing and what is in the tongues of some of them from omission. 'And We have certainly made the Qur'an easy to remember, so is there any who will remember?' And in His response, there is an argument against them that if the master commits to responding to his servant, then the servant's response to his master is more obligatory due to the self-sufficiency of the master and the need of the servant. So when the rich is responding, it is more appropriate that the needy be the one responding. This is why He caused His saying to indicate the condition of response: ﴿So let them respond to Me﴾ informing them of what He has called them to regarding His closeness and the intention of His House by what He has instilled in them from their need for Him. (p-76) And He came with the form of 'istif'al' which implies extracting the response from what is usually refusal due to what is in the souls of aversion towards reaching a house they would not reach except with great difficulty - this is the end and it involves a shift. And when He made His response, glorified is He, obligatory in all that He has called them to, and the response was with faith, it was the first of the ranks and the foremost of them. The ranks of faith in its strength and weakness are hardly finite. He said addressing those who believe and others: ﴿And let them believe in Me﴾ meaning absolute belief or the truth of belief. Then He justified that by saying: ﴿Perhaps they will be guided﴾ meaning that they may have hope of continuing on the attainment of their goals and guidance to the path of truth. Al-Harali said: And guidance is good conduct in matters, whether in a physical or spiritual sense in religion or worldly affairs. And from the implications of this verse, all conditions of those who seek Allah, glorified and exalted is He, are favored, from the repentance of the repentant from the limit of their distance to walking the path of His closeness to what Allah grants the servant of reaching his Lord - this is the end.