His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿Say to My servants who have believed, establish prayer and spend from what We have provided them, secretly and publicly, before a Day comes in which there will be no trade nor friendship.﴾

﴿Allah, who created the heavens and the earth and sent down from the heaven water, and brought forth thereby fruits as provision for you, and made the ships subservient to you to sail in the sea by His command, and made the rivers subservient to you.﴾

﴿And made the sun and the moon constant in their courses for you, and made the night and the day subservient to you.﴾

﴿And He gave you from all that you asked of Him. And if you count the favor of Allah, you will not be able to enumerate it. Indeed, mankind is most unjust and ungrateful.﴾

The term 'servants' is the plural of 'servant', and its known usage in honor is different from that of 'slaves'. And His saying: ﴿establish prayer﴾, a group of grammarians said: its being in the jussive form is due to the implicit command, in accordance with the poet's words:

؎ Muhammad, every soul will benefit you.

This was narrated by Sibawayh, except that he said: this is only permissible in poetry. Another group - Abu Ali and others - said: it is a present tense verb that has been made jussive because it is in the meaning of a command, as the intended meaning is: establish. This is similar to how the established noun is constructed in the address in your saying: 'O Zayd', when it is likened to 'before' and 'after'. Sibawayh also said: it is a response to a conditional statement that is implied in the beginning of the verse, its estimation being: if you say to them: establish, they will establish.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: It is possible that the response to the command that gives us its meaning is His saying: 'Say', and that is because 'Say' in this verse is made to mean convey and fulfill the Shari'ah: establish prayer. All of this is on the assumption that what is said is the command to establish and spend. It appears that what is said is the verse that follows, I mean His saying: ﴿Allah, who created the heavens﴾. The 'secret' refers to voluntary charity, and 'public' refers to obligatory charity. This is what is implied by the hadiths, and Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, interpreted this verse as referring to the zakat of wealth in general, and likewise interpreted prayer as being the five daily prayers. This is, in my view, a simplification for the addressee.

And 'friendship' is a noun derived from 'to befriend' or 'to be cordial', and from it is 'khullah' and 'khalil'. And the poet Imru' al-Qais said:

؎ I turned away from desire for fear of destruction,

And I am not one who is forsaken by friendship or by a friend.

And Al-Akhfash said: 'friendship' is the plural of 'khullah'. Nafi', Asim, Hamzah, Al-Kisai, and Ibn Amir read: 'no trade nor friendship' in the nominative case by negating 'no'. Abu Amr, Al-Hasan, and Ibn Kathir read: 'no trade nor friendship' in the accusative case for clarification. This has been previously mentioned, and the intended meaning of this day is the Day of Resurrection.

'And Allah, the One who created the heavens and the earth, and sent down from the sky water, and brought forth thereby fruits as provision for you, and subjected for you the ships to sail in the sea by His command, and subjected for you the rivers.' This verse is a reminder of the blessings of Allah, and a notification of His power, which contains kindness to humanity; so that the proof may be established from two aspects. 'Allah' is the subject, and 'the One who' is its predicate. Whoever is informed by this sentence and it settles in his soul, believes, prays, and spends. 'The heavens' are the seven expanses, and His saying: 'and sent down from the sky' refers to the clouds. And His saying: 'from the fruits' may be that 'from' is for partitive, meaning some of the harvest of the trees, and what is poisonous or harmful is excluded. It may also be that 'from' is for indicating the type, as if He said: 'and brought forth thereby provision for you from the fruits.' Some people said: 'from' is extra, and this is not permissible according to Sibawayh because it is in the answer, but it is permissible according to Al-Akhfash. 'The ships' is the plural of 'ship,' and the discussion about it has preceded multiple times. And His saying: 'by His command' is a source from 'commanding,' and this refers back to the speech that exists by itself, like Allah's saying to the seas, the earth, and all other things: 'Be' at the time of creation; its meaning is: 'Be in such a state,' and 'in such a manner.' In this, the continuous movement of the ships includes the subjugation of the sea and the subjugation of the winds. As for the subjugation of the rivers, it is their flowing in every land and their yielding for irrigation and other benefits. 'Dabayn' means 'continuing,' and from it is the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, to the owner of the camel who cried: 'This camel complained to me that you are starving it and making it work hard,' meaning you keep it in service and labor. The apparent meaning of the verse is that they are 'continuing' in rising and setting and what is between them of benefits for people that cannot be counted. Al-Tabari reported from Muqatil ibn Hayyan - attributing it to Ibn Abbas - that he said: Its meaning is 'continuing in obedience to Allah.' This saying, if it is intended that obedience is their yielding in subjugation, then that is present in His saying: 'He subjected.' And if it is intended that it is a deliberate obedience like the obedience of the servants from among mankind, then this is far-fetched. And Allah knows best. And His saying: 'And He gave you from all that you asked of Him' is for the genus of mankind, meaning that man as a whole has been given from all that is appropriate to be asked for and benefited from. This does not apply to any one individual, but rather these blessings are distributed among mankind, so it is said concerning all: 'You have been given such and such' in the context of enumerating the blessings. And it is said that the meaning is: 'And He gave you from all that you asked of Him if you had asked Him.' The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And this is close to the first. And 'ma' in His saying, glorified and exalted is He: ﴿What you have asked of Him﴾ can be valid as a source, and the pronoun in His saying: 'you have asked of Him' refers back to Allah, blessed and exalted is He. It can also be valid that 'ma' means 'that which', and the pronoun refers back to 'that which'. Al-Dahhak ibn Muzahim and Ibn Abbas read: 'from all that you have asked of Him' with the tanween on 'kull', and this is the reading of Al-Hasan, Qatadah, and Salam, and it has been narrated from Nafi'. The meaning is: and He has given you from all these mentioned creations that which is appropriate to be asked for in terms of benefiting from it. So 'ma' in His saying: ﴿What you have asked of Him﴾ is the second object of 'He has given you'. Some people said: 'ma' is negating in this reading, meaning: He has given you something from everything, what you have asked of Him, and the second object is our saying: 'something'. Thus, He enumerated in this - (p-253) the blessing in His favor with what humans did not ask for of blessings, and what they asked for did not occur to Him.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And this is the interpretation of Al-Dahhak. As for the first reading by adding 'kull' to 'ma', it is necessary to estimate the second object: a part or something or similar to this.

And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿And if you count the blessings of Allah, you will not be able to enumerate them﴾ [An-Nahl: 18] means: due to their abundance and greatness in senses, powers, and bringing into existence from non-existence to guidance to faith and other than that. And Talq ibn Habib said: Indeed, the right of Allah is heavier than the servants can bear, and His blessings are more than the servants can enumerate. But let them become repentant in the morning and repentant in the evening. And Abu Darda said: Whoever does not see the blessing of Allah upon him except in his food and drink, then his knowledge is little and his punishment is near.

And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿Indeed, man﴾ intends by it the species and the kind, meaning: these traits exist in him, which are injustice and disbelief. If these traits are from a denier, then they are in a specific description, and if they are from a sinner, then they are in another description.