And when he swore by this [oath] appropriate to his state, blessings and peace be upon him, Allah, the Exalted, responded with His saying: ﴿Your Lord has not forsaken you﴾ meaning He has not left you in a way that results in separation like that of one who bids farewell, even if it is in the best manner which is intended by the one bidding farewell. ﴿Your Lord﴾ means the One who has done good to you by creating you first, and made you the most complete of creation second, and raised you with the best upbringing third. Just as it is not possible to bid farewell to the night for the day, nor to the morning for the day which is its brightest, nor is it possible to bid farewell to the morning for the day, nor the night at the time of its calmness.

And when it was that perhaps a stubborn person might say: He has not left him, but he does not love him, how many are those who are connected but are not truly connected? He said negating any leaving: ﴿And He has not hated you﴾ meaning He has not hated you with any hatred at all. The pronoun has been omitted for brevity to encompass all, as it is from the reduction of words to increase the meaning. This is because the cessation of revelation from him lasted for a while, as they asked him about the soul and the story of the People of the Cave and Dhul-Qarnayn, and he said: 'I will inform you of that tomorrow,' and he did not make an exception. They said: [Surely] his Lord has forsaken him and hated him, so this was revealed because of that. And when it was revealed, he, blessings and peace be upon him, grew in stature, and the takbir in it and in what followed it was established for a year, as will be clarified and its wisdom at the end. This phrase has made it clear that the degrees of closeness are four: closeness by obedience and love, which is for the believers; distancing by disobedience and hatred, which is for the disbelievers; closeness by obedience mixed with distancing from disobedience, which is for the sinful believers; and avoidance mixed with closeness by forms of obedience that are not accepted, which is for the worshippers of the disbelievers.

And the scholar Abu Ja'far ibn al-Zubair said: When Allah, the Most High, said: ﴿And He inspired it with its wickedness and its righteousness﴾ [Ash-Shams: 8], then He followed it with His saying in the night: ﴿We will ease him﴾ [Al-Lail: 7] and with His saying: ﴿Indeed, upon Us is guidance﴾ [Al-Lail: 12] ﴿And indeed, for Us is the Hereafter and the first﴾ [Al-Lail: 13], fear became obligatory and panic intensified. It became necessary for the monotheist to submit to surrender and to humbly seek refuge with the All-Hearing, All-Knowing. Truly, He, the Most High, loves His most beloved servants and those who have the greatest status with Him. He mentioned to him what He granted him from His closeness and selection, and He combined for him the goodness of both abodes. So He, the Most High, said: ﴿By the morning brightness﴾ [Ad-Duha: 1] ﴿And by the night when it covers﴾ [Ad-Duha: 2] ﴿Your Lord has neither forsaken you nor hated you﴾ ﴿And the Hereafter is better for you than the first﴾ [Ad-Duha: 4]. Then He enumerated His blessings upon him after His generous promise to him with His saying: ﴿And your Lord will surely give you, and you will be satisfied﴾ [Ad-Duha: 5]. He followed that with His saying: ﴿So as for the orphan, do not oppress him﴾ [Ad-Duha: 9] ﴿And as for the beggar, do not repel him﴾ [Ad-Duha: 10]. I have sheltered you before you were exposed, and I have given you before you asked. So do not respond to Him by oppressing those who are exposed and repelling those who ask. He is far removed, glorified is He, from what He forbade him, but it is a reminder of the blessings and to clarify the path for those who are guided from the nation of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him. As for him, blessings and peace be upon him, it is enough for you to know of His mercy and kindness: ﴿And he was merciful to the believers﴾ [Al-Ahzab: 43] ﴿It is difficult for him what you suffer; he is eager for you; for the believers, he is kind and merciful﴾ [At-Tawbah: 128]. Then contemplate the opening of this surah and its relevance to that intended purpose. Therefore, this surah precedes it by raising the oath in the first with His saying: ﴿And by the night when it covers﴾ [Al-Lail: 1], as a reminder of the ambiguity of the matter in the conduct of the accountable ones and the absence of the ruling of the consequences. And this is suitable for the state of the one who reflects upon the verses and what follows him of fear from what he has been commanded, which is absent from him regarding its facilitation and its outcome. By seeking refuge in Him, certainty is attained, and the degrees of the righteous are belittled. Then when this was not entirely absent from the individuals of the accountable ones, I mean what bears fruit for knowledge and elevates those who are deserving of advancement in the degrees of the righteous, indeed, He, glorified is He, may reveal to His special servants—by their adherence to piety and reflection—clear guidance and show them, through witnessing and observation, what they have previously followed of His path with the difficulty of looking into the evidence. He, blessings and peace be upon him, said to Harithah:

'You found, so adhere.' And he said something similar to Al-Siddiq. And He, the Most High, said: 'For them is good news in the worldly life and in the Hereafter.' [Yunus: 64] 'Indeed, those who said, 'Our Lord is Allah,' then remained steadfast, the angels descend upon them, [saying], 'Do not fear and do not grieve and receive good tidings of Paradise, which you were promised.' [Fussilat: 30] 'We are your allies in the worldly life and in the Hereafter.' [Fussilat: 31] So there remains no ambiguity regarding these people, nor do their thoughts become clouded by the density of that darkness, by what He, glorified and exalted is He, granted them of the blessing of kindness by what He promised them in His saying: 'He will make for you a criterion.' [Al-Anfal: 29] And 'He will make for you a light by which you walk.' [Al-Hadid: 28] 'Or is one who was dead and We gave him life and made for him a light by which to walk among the people, like one who is in darkness from which he cannot emerge?' [Al-An'am: 122] So these people acted with insight, and they strove with the success of their Lord in great and serious deeds. They cut off hopes from the worldly life and prepared for their Hereafter with the clearest of deeds: 'Their sides forsake their beds.' [As-Sajda: 16] 'No soul knows what has been hidden for them of comfort for the eyes.' [As-Sajda: 17] So for the beginning of the matter and the intensity of the ambiguity and darkness, His saying, glorified and exalted is He, indicated: 'By the night when it covers.' [Al-Lail: 1] And when the situation is not interpreted regarding one who has written faith in his heart and supported it with a spirit from Him, His saying, glorified and exalted is He, indicated: 'And by the day when it appears.' [Al-Lail: 2] And for the narrowing of the paths, even if they branch out in my way: 'So among you is a disbeliever and among you is a believer.' [At-Taghabun: 2] 'A party in Paradise and a party in the Blaze.' [Ash-Shura: 7] His saying, glorified and exalted is He, indicated: 'And He created the male and the female.' [Al-Lail: 3] 'And of everything We created two mates.' [Adh-Dhariyat: 49] 'So flee to Allah.' [Adh-Dhariyat: 50] The One, absolutely. It has become clear to you, if Allah wills, some of what pleases regarding the specification of this oath - and Allah knows best. As for Surah Al-Duha, there is no difficulty in its appropriateness in commencing the oath with Al-Duha for what He, glorified and exalted is He, conceals therein, especially when considering what has been mentioned regarding the reason for the revelation of the Surah, and that he, blessings and peace be upon him, had experienced a pause in revelation until some of the disbelievers said: 'Muhammad's Lord has forsaken him.' Then the Surah was revealed, indicating this blessing and good tidings - ended.