Commentary
And when the contract and its rulings were established, the contracted parties were described in a manner of praise to encourage their attributes. He said: the repentant﴿, beginning their attributes with repentance, which is the foundation of good deeds. Then the founder began with the absolute worship that encompasses all types of religion, including knowledge and others, saying: the worshippers﴿, meaning those who have turned to worship and have dedicated it to Allah. And since the commitment to religion is only known by the acknowledgment of the tongue, he followed that with the praise, the essence of which revolves around reaching the ultimate goal, which includes verbal praise that is beautiful and comprehensive of the Oneness and others. He said: the praisers﴿, meaning those who praise Him, glorified and exalted is He, with a great praise, their tongues and hearts agreeing, and His effects followed them. And since the acknowledgment by the tongue is not accepted except with the agreement of the heart, he followed it with the journeying that revolves in every arrangement around the expansion, which is the rectification of the heart to be spacious for detachment from the narrowness of the familiar to the vastness of the Divine Presence. He said: the wayfarers﴿. And since prayer is the result of that, being a gathering of the actions of the heart, tongue, and other limbs, and it is the greatest means to the carpet of intimacy in the Sacred Presence, and the highest form of detachment from standing with the familiar. The first level of humility is standing, its middle is bowing, and its ultimate is prostration. All forms of prayer corresponded to the norm except for bowing and prostration. He indicated this by saying, specifying it with the mention, to alert that the intended purpose of prayer is the ultimate submission: the bowing ones﴿. He clarified that the completion of this good news for this nation is that the prayer of others does not have bowing in it. He completed it by saying: the prostrating ones﴿. And since the one who advises himself by refining his tongue, heart, and all his limbs is not accepted unless he exerts effort in advising others, as exemplified by the example of traveling in the ship to achieve the objective of religion, which is gathering everyone upon Allah, necessitating mutual support and assistance that leads to the continuity of worship and aid. By this, the detachment from every familiar, whether similar or dissimilar, is realized. He followed that with his saying: the enjoiners of good﴿, meaning the Sunnah.
And when the religion is strong, no one will challenge it except that he will be overcome. The intended meaning of the commandments is their designation without their completion and end. "If I command you with a command, then do of it what you are able." And the intended meaning of the prohibitions is to leave all of them. And regarding the limits, it is to stop at them without exceeding. "And if I prohibit you from something, then avoid it." This was narrated by al-Bukhari in al-I'tisam from his authentic collection, and also by Muslim from Abu Huraira, may Allah be pleased with him. The Arabs, as previously mentioned in Al-Baqarah at the saying of Allah, the Exalted: "And the middle prayer" [Al-Baqarah: 238], and in Al-Imran at the saying: "The patient and the truthful" [Al-Imran: 17], from the teacher Abu al-Hasan al-Harali, if you follow some attributes with others without conjunction, it is known that they are incomplete. So if you join them, you intend to be established in them and to have thoroughness and completeness. So Allah, glorified and exalted is He, informed that the intended meaning in the previous descriptions is to bring forth what is possible of them. Thus, He brought them forth in succession without conjunction for that reason. And He indicated that the command to do good, the prohibition of wrongdoing, and the stopping at the limits cannot be satisfied except by completeness. For the one who falls short in something of that is either content with the destruction of the religion or is himself a destroyer. Therefore, complete detachment is required in it because the prohibition is the most difficult of the acts of worship; because it is related to others and it provokes anger, necessitating zeal and the appearance of enmity. Perhaps there could be a strike or killing because of it. Therefore, He joined it and did not follow it, saying: "And those who prohibit" meaning with utmost seriousness "from wrongdoing" meaning from innovation. And when the doer of good is not benefited by his action except by its continuity until death, He followed His saying: "And those who preserve" meaning with utmost determination and strength "for the limits of Allah" meaning the Greatest King which He has set in this valuable legislation, and they did not exceed anything of it. Thus, He concluded with what He began, with the condition of continuity in care and strength. The essence is that the first description is for detachment from the bond of a specific familiar thing, which is the association of disobedience with its association or others. The second is for detachment from the constraints of habits to fulfill acts of worship. The third is for reaching the ultimate goal in refining the apparent.
The fourth is for the expansion to the detachment from the constraints of the inner self. The fifth and sixth are for the combination between the perfection of the inner self and the outer self. The seventh is for the journey to the pouring of that upon others. The eighth is for the continuity upon those limits by leaving all constraints. The purpose of the verse is the ascent from the lowly physical state to the elevated spiritual state. Then, his ﷺ command to give glad tidings to the one who embodies these attributes is in addition to his command regarding it, with an implied meaning - and Allah knows best: 'So warn the one who has detached from it of all that will distress him after being imprisoned in the abode of misery, for he is a disbeliever, and give them glad tidings,' meaning those who are described. Thus, the original was to imply, but it was revealed at the end with what it began and connected to the description and generalized, saying: 'And give glad tidings to the believers,' meaning those who embody it, of all that will please them after specifying them with the abode of happiness. In the conclusion of the two verses with glad tidings, sometimes from the Creator and sometimes from the most complete of creation, is a great virtue for the believers. In making the first from Allah, there is the greatest encouragement in jihad and the highest urging to engage in the trials of combat. In beginning the two verses with the description that implies firmness in faith, which is the description that completes the ten, and concluding them with a similar description indicates that this is a table from which no one unworthy will be fed, and that those other than the firmly rooted in faith are in a state of neglect; there is no discourse with them nor turning towards them.
Explore Other Scholars on This Verse
Compare different scholarly perspectives on Surah At-Tawbah verse 112