Surah An-Nur

Its intended meaning is the significance of its name, which is embedded in its heart. It is meant that He, exalted is He, encompasses all knowledge, which necessitates the completeness of power. This necessitates the affirmation of matters with the utmost wisdom. It necessitates the confirmation of honor for the Prophet (blessings and peace be upon him). It necessitates the honor of those whom He chose for their companionship, according to their levels of closeness to Him and their special status with Him. It necessitates the utmost purity, honor, and cleanliness for the Mother of the Believers, Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her), who the Prophet (blessings and peace be upon him) passed away while he was pleased with her, and she passed away (may Allah be pleased with her) righteous and good. This is the intended meaning in itself, but its affirmation requires those preliminaries. 'In the name of Allah,' whose word has been fulfilled, and His power has dazzled. 'The Most Gracious,' by which all truths have appeared through the encompassing of His mercy. 'The Most Merciful,' who has honored those whom He has chosen for His service.

When it was mentioned previously the prohibition of adultery and the encouragement towards chastity, and that verse concluded with the mention of Paradise, which includes resurrection, it provided evidence for it and mentioned what follows from threats and actions until the surah concluded. It informed at the end of it about the rebuke of the obstinate on the Day of Regret by His saying: ﴿Did not My verses be recited to you, and you were denying them?﴾ [Al-Mu'minun: 105] and by His saying: ﴿Did you think that We created you in vain?﴾ [Al-Mu'minun: 115] All of this is a mercy from Him to His creation, so that among them may return those who are destined for happiness. Then it concluded with His saying: ﴿And You are the Best of the Merciful﴾ [Al-Mu'minun: 118]. So He began, glorified and exalted is He, this surah by stating that He has bestowed upon the addresses the clarification of what they were created for from the rulings, for they were not created in vain, but rather for obligations by which He worships them, raising disputes and cutting off the source of evil, thus necessitating mercy and compassion with a sound heart regarding what is in them of sexuality. He said, informing about the beginning of its estimation: This is a ﴿Surah﴾, meaning great; then He encouraged adherence to what is in it, clarifying that its tanween is for glorification by His saying: ﴿We have sent it down﴾, meaning with what we have of greatness and complete knowledge and power. ﴿And We have made it obligatory﴾, meaning We have established it and determined it and increased in it the obligations and confirmed them. ﴿And We have sent down in it﴾ with the comprehensiveness of Our knowledge ﴿verses﴾ of limits, rulings, admonitions, parables, and others, providing evidence for them ﴿clear signs﴾, with no ambiguity in them, as a mercy from Us to you. So before it, He entered into the call of our Prophet ﷺ, which We taught him at the end of that, and may the Best of the Merciful have mercy on him. And whoever rejected it went astray, thus entering into the rebuke by Our saying: ﴿Did not My verses be recited to you?﴾ [Al-Mu'minun: 105] and similar to it. And that is the meaning of His saying: ﴿Perhaps you will remember﴾, meaning so that you may be - if you reflect upon it along with what preceded it from the verses that soften the heart and the stories that warn - hopeful - with regard to one who does not know the consequences - that you may remember, even if it is a type of remembrance - as indicated by the idgham - by what you see in it of wisdom that the One who established it for you and detailed it to what you see does not leave you in vain. So you should turn to all of His commands and refrain from His prohibitions, so that He may forgive you for what you have fallen short in of obedience to Him, and have mercy on you by granting what you cannot reach except by His mercy. And you should also remember by what He clarifies for you of matters, and uncovers the veil from the rulings that the veils of souls have obscured, and the darkness of desires has concealed - what human beings are created upon. So you should know that what you love to be done with you by the love of others, you should do it with Him, and what you dislike from that, others dislike it as well. Thus, this will lead you to fairness, and it will yield purity, affection, and loyalty, so that you may be among the believers who are successful inheritors entering into the call of the bearer of good tidings and the warner with mercy.

Imam Abu Ja'far ibn al-Zubair said in his proof: When Allah, the Most High, said ﴿And those who guard their private parts﴾ [Al-Mu'minun: 5], then He said ﴿So whoever seeks beyond that, then those are the transgressors﴾ [Al-Mu'minun: 7], the words called for clarification of the ruling concerning the transgressor in that matter, and it was not clarified therein. So He clarified it in Surah An-Nur, where He said ﴿The adulteress and the adulterer﴾ [An-Nur: 2] - the verse. Then He followed that with the ruling on the one who curses and slanders, and along with that came the report of the story of the slander to warn the believers against the slips of tongues, casting accusations without knowledge ﴿And you think it is insignificant, while it is with Allah عظيمٌ﴾ [An-Nur: 15]. He then followed that with a warning to those who love the spread of immorality among the believers by saying ﴿Indeed, those who accuse chaste, unaware believing women﴾ [An-Nur: 23] - the verses. Then He warned against entering houses except after the prescribed permission, and then He commanded men and women to lower their gazes and prohibited women from displaying their adornment except to those whom Allah, glorified and exalted is He, mentioned in the verse. These objectives were repeated in this Surah regarding the ruling on the three private parts, and entering the houses of relatives and kin. All of this is what absolves the believer's responsibility by adhering to what Allah commanded in that and stopping at what He, the Most High, limited so that he does not become one of the transgressors condemned in His saying ﴿So whoever seeks beyond that, then those are the transgressors﴾ [Al-Mu'minun: 7]. And what is interspersed among the mentioned verses and is not part of the mentioned ruling is for the purpose of drawing the verses to it and calling for it, and the possibility of fulfilling that and clarifying its connection to the interpretation. And it is not a condition for us here - and Allah, glorified and exalted is He, grants us success in understanding His Book - it has ended.