And when the night is a name for what is between the setting of the sun and the rising of dawn, and its standing is extremely difficult, He, glorified is He, alleviated from the burden of that. So He said, clarifying His intention by what He has stated after the exception, and substituting from the total of the exception and the exception itself: ﴿half of it﴾ meaning the night. He knew that what is meant by the little that is excluded is the half, and He called it little in relation to all of the night, and in relation to the half which is the subject of its revival, because what is accompanied by action is more than what has no action in it. And it is permissible that “half of it” is a substitute for the night, so it is as if it were said: Stand for half the night except for a little, which is the sixth, or reduce it to a quarter. And the expression has come this way to indicate that whoever stands for a third of the night or a quarter of it or more is reviving the entire night.

And when the aspirations differ in relation to individuals and in relation to times, He said: ﴿or reduce from it﴾ meaning this half that you were commanded to stand for, or from the half that is excluded from it, the little in the second sense, which is the third. ﴿a little﴾ So do not stand for it even if you revive a third of the night [in the first sense] or a quarter of it in the second sense, you would be reviving it [entirely] in the grace of Allah by the multiplication.