(p-77) And when they envisioned for this noble verse His closeness and love despite His greatness and exaltedness, they remembered the sweetness of His address to them previously, so they longed for it. He had made the matter of fasting easy for all of them, both in quantity and quality, especially for those in need among them. It was as if they had asked Him for ease for those in comfort regarding what was prohibited for them, just as it was prohibited for the People of the Book, and for sexual relations during the month of fasting, and eating after sleeping. So He said, confirming the response and the closeness: ﴿It has been made lawful for you﴾. This indicated that it was previously forbidden. ﴿At night﴾, meaning during all of the night of ﴿fasting﴾, the sexual relations, which is what is engaged with women regarding marriage. If it changes, then there is no sexual relations according to the scholars of the language. And this is indicated by its connection with the termination particle, clarifying the inclusion of the act of intercourse, meaning engaging ﴿with your wives﴾ in words and actions, and the addition excludes the women of others. (p-78) And when sexual relations and intercourse are usually associated, He emphasized the intention of the true sexual relations and clarified the reason for its permissibility: ﴿They﴾, meaning your wives, ﴿are a garment for you﴾, which you wear. The meaning is: This is permitted in the state of intimacy or its suitability, and it implies that it is not permitted during the day - and Allah, glorified and exalted is He, knows best; and it may be that this is a justification because clothing is indispensable and patience weakens regarding them in the state of intimacy and mingling. And when fasting is general for both categories, He said: ﴿And you are a garment for them﴾, they wear you. Then He justified that by saying, manifesting the greatness of this nation in His intention (p-79) to be gentle with them: ﴿Allah knows﴾, meaning His knowledge and mercy encompass all, as He has previously mentioned His closeness, which necessitates His being watchful. ﴿That you were betraying yourselves﴾, meaning you were acting in betrayal in that by hastening to it, the act of one who carries himself to it. And betrayal is the neglect of trust, and trust is what is placed to be preserved. Al-Bukhari narrated in the tafsir from Al-Bara, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: 'When the fasting of Ramadan was revealed, they did not approach women throughout all of Ramadan, and there were men who betrayed themselves, so Allah, the Exalted, revealed: ﴿Allah knows that you were betraying yourselves﴾.' Al-Bukhari, Al-Tirmidhi, and Al-Nasa'i narrated from Al-Bara, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: 'When a man fasted and slept, he would not eat until the same time the next day. And certainly, Sirmah ibn Qais Al-Ansari, may Allah be pleased with him - and he mentioned his hadith about his sleeping before eating, and that he (p-80) fainted before midday, so the verse was revealed.' And when the harm of that does not extend beyond them, He said: ﴿Yourselves﴾. Then He caused it to follow with His saying: ﴿So He turned to you in mercy﴾.

Al-Harali said: In it, there is ease in that they were not held accountable for a sin of a ruling that contradicted their innate disposition. He excused them by His knowledge of them and did not hold them accountable by His Book against them. In repentance, there is a return to a state similar to that before the sin. "The one who repents from sin is like one who has no sin." This incident was for a man from the Emigrants and a man from the Helpers, so that Yemen would unite in the two groups. For indeed, the most righteous of people towards others are those who fall into contradiction, and Allah facilitates the ruling regarding them through their contradiction, as in this verse in which Allah, glorified and exalted is He, manifested gentleness towards this nation by legislating for them what aligns with their nature and diverting from them what He knew they would betray in it due to what they were created upon of its opposition. Likewise, the situation of the one who commands is that if he wishes for his subordinate to obey him, he commands him with matters that if left to their urges, he would do them, and he prohibits him from things that if left to their urges, he would avoid them. Thus, the preservation of the commanded from contradiction is ensured. If Allah, exalted is He, wishes to impose hardship upon a nation, He commands them with what He created them to abandon and forbids them from what He created them to do, so contradiction would spread among them because of that. This is one of the most severe burdens that were upon the nations, and He alleviated this nation by implementing His legislation in accordance with their creation. So, glorified and exalted is He, hastened for them to a share of their desires, as Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, said to the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "Indeed, your Lord hastens to your desires," so that they would have a share of what is entirely for their Prophet. And as he, blessings and peace be upon him, said to Ali, may Allah be pleased with him: "O Allah! Turn the truth with him wherever he turns." He, blessings and peace be upon him, would command the brave to engage in war and would restrain the coward from it, so that no contradiction would appear among those with him except from a bad nature that is not restrained by the restraint of gentleness. This is the aim of the righteous scholars who apply the tested and trained to what is most suitable for their condition and the nature of their soul, and most in harmony with their creation and character. In it is the greatest kindness for this nation from their Lord, from their Prophet, and from the leaders of their time. Among them is his saying, blessings and peace be upon him: "I had intended to prohibit infanticide until I heard that the Persians and the Romans do that, and it does not harm their children at all," so that the rulings would proceed according to what aligns with the innate dispositions and the natures of the nations, as he is a messenger to all people despite their differing natures. And what is in the Sunnah and jurisprudence regarding that is from the insights of this noble principle, which Allah, glorified and exalted is He, established the ruling in it for the nation of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, in accordance with what secures their trust and repels their betrayal.

And in His saying ﴿And He has forgiven you﴾, it means by erasing the effect of sin, an indication of what was deserved from purification from it, such as expiation and the like. When the address of fasting is elevated to the fasting of the month, according to the ruling of its unity that comes upon its night and day, it is elevated above the rank of the earlier scriptures which are numbered days, separated by nights, so that the day runs according to the ruling of worship and the night according to the ruling of nature and need. Thus, in this elevation, feeding the weak with what Allah provides and gives to drink is not because it is taken from Him by nature, but because it is a ruling upon him by a ruling of Sharia when He made the Sharia according to their natures, as He said regarding the one who forgets: "Indeed, Allah has fed him and given him to drink." And in it is the sufficiency of the strong from food and drink, as he, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "I am not like you." So he would continue, and he permitted continuing until dawn. Just as they were fed and given to drink by a ruling with the continuation of the ruling of fasting, so too were they married by a ruling with the continuation of its ruling. Thus, their marriage became an obedience to the ruling of Allah, not a response to nature or a personal desire. He said: ﴿So now﴾, meaning when He has made clear to you the manifestation of the Sharia upon the knowledge in you and what your natures were created upon, so the doors of opposition that were opened to others were closed to you. ﴿Approach them﴾ is a ruling, until a group of scholars preferred marriage for the fasting person at night since it became an act of obedience, and it is from the approach, which is the meeting of the two bodies intentionally. ﴿And seek﴾ means strive earnestly and with desire ﴿what Allah has decreed for you﴾, meaning that which He has complete power over, so nothing escapes His command. ﴿For you﴾, meaning from offspring or lawful enjoyment. And in it is an indication that whatever is decreed from offspring in the nights of Ramadan is endowed with the blessing of its increase in a marriage that has been commanded, until some scholars of the Companions would break their fast upon marriage.

﴿And eat and drink﴾ "The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, would break his fast on fresh dates, and if he did not find them, then on dried dates, and if he did not find them, he would take sips of water and said: Indeed, water is purifying." And in the precedence of eating is an implementation of the ruling of this Sharia according to nature - ended.

And because it is the cause of thirst, and it indicates the obligation of making the intention at night and the permissibility of delaying the washing until the day, by His saying ﴿Until﴾. For in making the clarification of dawn a limit for the permissibility of what breaks the fast, it is obligatory to observe it to refrain from it, and that is the essence of intention. And whoever continues to approach until dawn cannot wash at night, and He said: ﴿It becomes clear﴾.

Al-Harali said: In the form of "becoming clear" where the observer must make an effort to see it, as if the one who looks must make an effort to rise. And it was not said: "It is clear," because that would be after clarity - ended.

And in His saying: ﴿For you﴾ is an indication that the rulings are according to the apparent and that the obligation is according to what is within reach. ﴿The white thread﴾, Al-Asbahani said: It is the first thing that appears from the dawn that is obstructed on the horizon like a stretched thread.

And al-Harali said: So extend to the end of the night and the limit of the day is clarified by the finest it can be, like the thread (from the black thread). Al-Asbahani said: It is what extends with it from the twilight of the night, meaning the remainder of the night. And it was said: the darkness of the end of the night, resembling two threads, one white and one black. Al-Harali said: In this is an encouragement for the beauty of insight at the junction of night and day, until the servant is granted the light of beauty by clarifying that in its delicacy and subtlety. And this example was revealed without clarifying what is being exemplified until an Arab looked at two tangible threads and revealed (from the dawn), meaning he clarified the white one. He brought it out by mentioning the metaphor from the metaphor to the comparison, for one of its conditions is that the situation or the words indicate it. And this metaphor, although it was familiar to them, was spoken by their poets and discussed by their eloquent ones and their elders, it was not limited to that. And it was added in the clarification because it was hidden from some of the people among them, such as Adi ibn Hatim, may Allah be pleased with him. So the verse was not vague, nor was the clarification delayed from the time of need. If that were the case, the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, would not have reproached Adi, may Allah be pleased with him, for not understanding it.

And al-Harali said in a book of his on the principles of jurisprudence based on the fact that it is vague: The address in vagueness (p-87) is possible to occur and it is not necessary to act upon it. For obligation is a burden that cannot be borne, and obligating action necessitates clarification; otherwise, that would return to being impossible. And delaying the clarification of the vague until the time of obligation is possible, for in that is a correspondence to the wisdom of the revealed revelation by the wisdom of the created universe. For vagueness in the Quran is like the utterance of the worlds, and the clarification in it is like the outlining of images, and that is evident to one who engages with it. At that point, it cannot be said: The address of vagueness is devoid of benefit, for it provides the gradual wisdom of the revelation and the attainment of the blessing of recitation. And in limiting it to its clarification is a type of eloquence in the Arabic address, where there is no mention of the exemplified, sufficing with one of them over the other. In it is a rooting for the essence of clarification from understanding, for he did not say: from the night, as he said: from the dawn, sufficing with what is in the understanding from the mention. And in the occurrence of the clarified following something other than its like is another type of eloquence in the Arabic address, for the Arabs refer the third to the first, not to the second, so that it relates to the first in meaning and is organized with the second in wording, thus the holder of the understood place returns to the first in meaning - ended.

And the clearest evidence for the obligation of the night is his command for completion, for when the commencement occurred in it, the estimation is: So when the dawn is clarified, which you were commanded to observe (p-88) for it is the limit of what is permissible for you, then fast, meaning, refrain from the one who breaks the fast. Then complete that fasting until the night, and the expression with 'then' indicates the distance between the two ends of the time in which breaking the fast is permissible.

And Al-Harali said: The fasting of the day was a completion of the beginning of the fasting of the night. It is as if there is fasting at night that is not complete due to its being interrupted by the senses, even if in meaning it is fasting. Some scholars viewed the initiation of i'tikaf before sunset as a result of the entrance of night into the complete fasting by which one remains and the addition of night to day in the ruling of fasting, while it is in the day complete in meaning and sense. However, it is obligatory to complete the fasting during the day and to consider it at night, and eating and marriage occur therein by command because the day is a time of livelihood. Eating in it is eating at a time of the spread of creation and the interaction of some with others, which the one who is waiting would shy away from. And because the night is a time of sleep and a time of cessation and darkness, Allah began in it matters that were hidden during the day, as if the one who eats at night is eating from his Lord, who is at the time of His manifestation: "Our Lord descends every night to the lowest heaven." So it is as if the one who eats at night is indeed fed and given drink by Allah. This does not detract from the meaning of his fasting, even if the appearance of its occurrence in his senses is like that of the one who forgets, rather the one who is permitted is of a higher rank than the one who forgets - this is the end.

And when fasting is closely associated with the mosques and i'tikaf, and the mosques are a place of i'tikaf, and Allah, glorified and exalted is He, has permitted in the beginning of the verse the allowance of intimacy in all places and situations except during fasting, He specified from all situations i'tikaf and from places the mosques. He followed that by saying: "And do not approach them" in any place it may be, "while you are in i'tikaf," meaning you are staying, residing, or in i'tikaf. The root of the word 'i'tikaf' revolves around confinement, meaning while you are confining yourselves for Allah "in the mosques" from its desires with the intention of worship. "In the mosques" is an adverb for those who are in i'tikaf. Therefore, intimacy is prohibited during i'tikaf, even if it is outside the mosque. The restriction of i'tikaf to it is not understood to be valid outside of a mosque, for it was mentioned to clarify the reality and to understand the prohibition of intimacy in the mosques. For when it is prohibited, it is a great matter for what is a cause of its prohibition and a confirmation of it, its prohibition for itself is more deserving. Or it may be said, and this is better: Since the meaning of i'tikaf is absolute confinement, He restricted it to the mosque to understand the specificity of i'tikaf, which is confinement for worship. It is as if He said: And you are in i'tikaf. This is the meaning of the subject and the predicate and what is related to it. And as if He has stripped the action to encompass what if the staying in the mosque is without intention. The result is that Allah, glorified and exalted is He, equated between the state of fasting and the state of i'tikaf in the prohibition of intimacy. If they coincide, it is more emphasized, for i'tikaf is part of the completeness of fasting, and that is in the manner of prohibition of intimacy in the mosque absolutely.

Al-Harali said: The one who is in i'tikaf in the mosque is completing his fast because the essence of fasting is to refrain from everything that concerns a person in his transactions, buying, selling, and all his interests. Therefore, the one who is in i'tikaf, refraining from all actions except what is absolutely necessary, and the one who is completing his fast, and the one who is careful with his tongue, who does not speak unjustly against someone who has wronged him, is the one who completes the fast. Whoever falls short of that and speaks unjustly against someone who has wronged him is not completing the fast. Whoever lets his tongue and actions loose, Allah has no need for him to leave his food and drink. Thus, the essence of fasting is the fast itself, not its form, until its meaning is established for eating at night and during the day. The Prophet ﷺ said: "Whoever fasts Ramadan and follows it with six from Shawwal, it is as if he has fasted the entire year." And he ﷺ said: "Three days from every month is the fasting of the year." Some of the notable companions used to say: I am fasting, then he is seen eating at his time, and he is told about that, and he says: I have fasted three days of this month, so I am fasting in the grace of Allah and breaking my fast in the hospitality of Allah. All of this is a consideration from the people of intellect and understanding regarding the essence of fasting more than a consideration of its apparent form - this concludes its meaning.

And when He, glorified and exalted is He, mentioned these prohibitions, He included what He presented in the rulings. As for the prohibitions, it is explicit, and as for the commands, it is obligatory. He preceded in them because His carrying, glorified and exalted is He, of His prohibitions on earth alerted to their importance and emphasized their prohibition by starting His saying, indicating with a distant tool: "Those are the boundaries of Allah." This refers to the unique rulings of the high system. The mention of the greatest name emphasizes the glorification. The essence of the boundary is the barrier between two opposing things to prevent one from entering into the other. Thus, He here named the ruling by the name of its part by implication and returned the pronoun to its corresponding meaning. He said: "So do not approach them," expressing with the term 'approach' because it is more appropriate in the context of fasting and piety, as its subject is the restraint of the soul from desires. Therefore, it is a prohibition against doubts, based on the saying: "Whoever grazes around the sanctuary is close to falling into it." Thus, the piety is to leave them.

And when this statement reached a level that human beings cannot fully comprehend, it was as if he said, astonished: Will a statement like this be obtained for something other than this? It was said to be a statement for reality, enticing towards recitation, and urging reflection on the Book, which is guidance without doubt: ﴿Thus﴾ meaning like this lofty statement ﴿Allah clarifies﴾ for what (p-93) He has of greatness that cannot be confined by a limit nor reached by a count ﴿His signs﴾ which, due to their greatness, deserve to be attributed to Him. And He said: ﴿For mankind﴾ indicating universality, signifying the completeness of His power by which knowledge reaches a level where there is no disparity in the essence of understanding between a fool and a wise person. He justified this by saying: ﴿So that they may be conscious of Allah﴾ meaning that their state should be like that of one who is hoped to have fear of Allah, the Exalted, due to what they have learned from this statement of its greatness. This ambiguity suggested that among them are those who do not have consciousness.