(p-281) Al-Harali said: And when he described the piety of their hearts inwardly and the etiquette of their words outwardly, he described for them the states of their souls so that their outward affairs would correspond with their intermediate and inward states. He said: ﴿the patient﴾, thus he described them with patience, indicating what befalls them from the imprisonment of this world and its hardships. Patience is the most commendable of the qualities of the soul. With it, one restrains oneself from desires and from what has been adorned of the mentioned pleasures, by what has been realized from faith in the unseen, which necessitates abandoning this world for the Hereafter. So they were patient against the pleasures; as for women, by limiting themselves to what they possess, and as for sons, by considering that what has preceded is better than what has come after. The Prophet ﷺ - meaning in what was narrated by Ibn Majah from Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him - said: “A fallen date that I present before me is more beloved to me than a Persian that I leave behind.” And as for gold and silver, by looking at them as idols, their existence harms. It is more appropriate that one attains safety from them with an expenditure that hardly reaches the point of being an expiation for acquiring and gathering them. Thus, patience against them is easier than getting rid of them. As for horses, it is due to the pride that accompanies them, which supports the arrogance of the soul, which is the most severe thing upon the soul, to exit from its vanity and pride to endure oppression and tranquility through the love of humiliation. It is said: The last thing to exit from the hearts of the righteous is the love of leadership. And as for livestock, by limiting oneself to the extent of sufficiency, for every one who seeks to increase in worldly possessions beyond sufficiency, whether in housing, clothing, transportation, or wealth, is a hindrance to others among the servants of Allah who are more deserving of that bounty than he is. The Prophet ﷺ said: “We have a flock of one hundred that we do not wish to increase.” The saying: ﴿And there is not a thing but its treasures are with Us, and We do not send it down except in a known measure﴾ [Al-Hijr: 21]. And as for cultivation, by limiting it to the extent of sufficiency for what is regular for obligation and prepared for emergencies and for producing seeds. If Allah grants him a surplus, he should spend it in one of the ways of spending, even by selling. He should not hold it, seeking to accumulate it for his heart towards other possessions, thus becoming a hoarder. The Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, as Ahmad and Abu Ya'la narrated from Ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with them, said: “Whoever hoards for forty days has disassociated himself from Allah, and Allah has disassociated Himself from him.” Thus, patience is realized by restraining the soul from what has been adorned for people of excessive worldly possessions beyond sufficiency, which is the share of one who has no share in the Hereafter. Therefore, it is appropriate that these words be expressed in the accusative as praise, for the qualities followed for praise are adorned in the accusative in the Arabic tongue. And what follows in inflection is what is for clarifying ambiguity or specification. End.

And when the age of piety is above the age of faith, He connected all their praises with the conjunction 'and' as an indication of their completeness in every description of it and their establishment in it, unlike what is in the verse of repentance, as will come, if Allah, the Most High, wills. He said: ﴿and the truthful﴾. Al-Harali said: In the conjunction of the attributes, there is an indication of the completeness of the description, for the Arabs connect them when they are complete and follow some of them with others when they are compounded and assembled, meaning like: 'the pomegranate is sweet and sour' - if it is neither truly sweet nor truly sour. So, in the conjunction, there is an implication of the completeness of their patience in avoiding the immediate, regarding what the ruling of the arrangement has determined in the previous verse. And it is characteristic of the patient to be truthful, for most of the flattery and showiness is only compelled by the pursuit of worldly gain. So, if he turns away from it, nothing will compel him to abandon truthfulness, and he will be confirmed in it, thus he will be truthful in all his matters. And truthfulness is the alignment of his words and actions with the inner state of his heart and the awareness of his heart - it has ended. ﴿and the devout﴾, meaning the sincere to Allah in all their affairs, constantly devoted to Him.

And when He, glorified and exalted is He, mentioned the action that is motivated by the fear of the truth and its hope, He followed it with what motivates that along with compassion for the creation. For whoever honors the one who is connected to you has certainly excelled in honoring you. He said: ﴿and the spenders﴾, meaning what Allah, glorified and exalted is He, has provided them in all that pleases Him. For there is no foundation for any of the acts of obedience except by spending. Al-Harali said: Therein is an implication that whoever is patient will be rewarded, and whoever is truthful will be elevated, and whoever is devout will be exalted and his status will be magnified. So, Allah will grant him what he will spend. And the spender is in a higher state than the one who purifies, for the one who purifies gives what is obligatory upon him, while the spender generously gives what is in his hand as a surplus. It has ended.

And when he mentioned these pure, comprehensive, high deeds, he followed it with the indication that acknowledging one's inability to fulfill the obligation is the foundation of salvation: (p-285) ﴿And those who seek forgiveness﴾ means from their shortcomings along with these actions and states, which are the ultimate of what creation can attain of perfection. ﴿In the last third of the night﴾, which is the most difficult time for them to be awake, and the most beloved time for them to be at rest, and the first time characterized by the qualities of hearts, and the closest to the answered supplication, which is expressed in the hadiths by the descent, as will be clarified in the verse of night prayer in Surah Al-Isra. Al-Harali said: It is the plural of sahar, and its original meaning is to be close to something by which it is approached and to have some relation to it. Thus, the time of night when one is close to the dawn is sahar, and from it is suhoor, which is the preparation for breakfast. Then he said: And in understanding it, their night prayer is as Allah, glorified and exalted is He, said: ﴿They used to sleep but little at night﴾ [Al-Dhariyat: 17] ﴿And in the last third of the night, they seek forgiveness﴾ [Al-Dhariyat: 18]. So they seek forgiveness for their good deeds just as the people of sins seek forgiveness for their sins, distancing themselves from the claim of actions and the perception of deeds by the sincerity of their words at the beginning: ﴿Our Lord, indeed we have believed﴾ [Al-Imran: 16] and the completeness of faith in destiny, both its good and its evil. So, with the gathering of these seven qualities of piety, faith, patience (p-286), truthfulness, humility, spending, and seeking forgiveness, the Hereafter was better for them than this world and all that is in it. This has clarified the definitive verses of creation from their ambiguous ones after the knowledge of the definitive verses of command and their ambiguous ones. Thus, the abode of the criterion was completed in the verses of the revealed revelation and the witnessed universe. It has ended. And perhaps Allah, glorified and exalted is He, indicated by these five interconnected qualities to the five pillars of Islam. He indicated by patience to faith, by truthfulness to the zakat that confirms his claim, by humility, which is based on sincerity, to the prayer, which is the place of vigilance, by spending to the pilgrimage, which its greatest component is wealth, and by seeking forgiveness to fasting, which is based on detaching from the states of humanity and adorning oneself with the adornment of angels, especially in standing and especially in the last third of the night. And the secret of their arrangement is that when he mentioned what is between the servant and the Creator in the oneness, which is the justice, he followed it with what is between him and the creation in goodness. And when he mentioned the worship of the heart and wealth, he mentioned the worship of the body that indicates sincerity in faith. And when he mentioned the worship of the body alone after the worship of wealth alone, he mentioned a visible worship that is a combination of both, whose banner is the exposure of the apparent. Then he followed it (p-287) with a hidden bodily worship, the essence of which is the exposure of the inner self. Thus, he concluded with something similar to what he began with, which is what no one can truly observe except Allah, glorified and exalted is He.