His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿It has been made lawful for you on the night of fasting to approach your wives. They are a garment for you, and you are a garment for them. Allah knows that you used to deceive yourselves, so He has accepted your repentance and forgiven you. So now, approach them and seek what Allah has decreed for you. And eat and drink until the white thread of dawn becomes distinct to you from the black thread. Then complete the fast until the night. And do not approach them while you are in retreat in the mosques. These are the limits of Allah, so do not approach them. Thus Allah makes clear His verses to the people that perhaps they may become righteous.﴾

The word "made lawful" implies that it was forbidden before that. And "the night" is in the accusative case as an adverbial phrase, and it is a generic noun, so it is treated as singular. An example of this is the saying of Amir al-Rami al-Hadrami al-Muharibi:

They are the masters, and they have wronged us, and we are surely their enemies.

And "approach" is a euphemism for sexual intercourse, as Allah, the Exalted, is generous and uses euphemisms. This was said by Ibn Abbas and al-Suddi. Ibn Mas'ud read it as "the approaches." And "approach" in another context refers to foul speech, and among it is the saying of the poet:

.................... ∗∗∗ about idle talk and the approach of speech.

Abu Ishaq said: "Approach" refers to everything a man does with a woman, including kissing, touching, and intercourse.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: Or it is words regarding these meanings, including the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "Whoever performs Hajj to this House and does not approach or commit sins will come out of his sins like the day his mother bore him."

The reason for this verse, according to Ibn Abbas and others, is that a group of Muslims deceived themselves and approached women after sleeping or after the night prayer, depending on the disagreement. Among them was Umar ibn al-Khattab, who came to his wife and desired her. She said to him: "I have slept," so he thought she was ill and had relations with her. Then he confirmed that she had indeed slept, and intercourse after one of them had slept was forbidden. Al-Suddi said: This happened to him with a servant of his. They said: Then Umar went and apologized to the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, and a similar incident occurred with Ka'b ibn Malik al-Ansari, and the beginning of the verse was revealed concerning them, and it abrogated the established ruling regarding the prohibition of intercourse after sleeping.

Al-Nahhas and Makki narrated that Umar slept, then had relations with his wife, and this seems distant to me regarding Umar, may Allah be pleased with him. It has been narrated that Sirmah ibn Qais, and it is said: Sirmah ibn Malik, and it is said: Abu Anas Qais ibn Sirmah, slept before eating and remained so without eating until he fainted during the day that followed, and the saying of Allah, the Exalted, was revealed concerning him: ﴿And eat and drink﴾.

And "garment" originally refers to clothing, then the mixing of a man with a woman and their closeness to each other was likened to that, as the poet al-Nabighah said:

When the bedfellow bends her neck, She becomes a garment for him.

And al-Nabighah also said:

I clothed people and destroyed them, And I destroyed after people, people.

So he likened his mixing with them to clothing. Al-Rabi' and others inclined towards this interpretation of "garment." And Mujahid and al-Suddi said: "Garment" means dwelling, meaning that some of them dwell with each other.

These actions are called so due to the consequence of sin and its punishment. The one who engages in them betrays himself and harms himself.

And He has accepted your repentance, meaning from the sin that you have committed. "And He has pardoned you" may mean He has pardoned the sin itself, which would be an affirmation and reassurance in addition to repentance. It may also mean He has pardoned what was obligatory upon you from avoiding women in what is prohibited, meaning He has left it for you. As you say: something is pardoned, meaning it is left.

Ibn Abbas and others said: "Approach them" is a metaphor for sexual intercourse, derived from the word for skin. We have mentioned the term "now" in the previous story of the cow. "And seek what Allah has ordained for you," Ibn Abbas, Mujahid, Al-Hakam ibn Utaybah, Ikrimah, Al-Hasan, Al-Suddi, Al-Rabi', and Al-Dahhak said its meaning is: seek offspring. It has also been narrated from Ibn Abbas and others that the meaning is: seek the Night of Decree. It was said: the meaning is: seek the concession and the expansion. This was said by Qatadah, and it is a good statement. Al-Hasan, in what has been narrated from him, and Muawiyah ibn Qurrah read: "And follow" from following, and Ibn Abbas permitted it, preferring "seek" from seeking.

"And eat and drink until it becomes distinct" was revealed due to the case of Sirmah ibn Qais. "Until" is a limit for distinction, and it is not correct for anyone to achieve distinction and be prohibited from eating unless a certain time has passed for the dawn to rise. "The thread" is a metaphor and a comparison for the thinness of the whiteness at first and the thinness of the blackness surrounding it. From this is the saying of Abu Dawood:

When they saw it at dawn, and a thread of dawn illuminated.

It is also narrated as "and illuminated." Some of the interpreters said: "the thread" refers to color, and this does not consistently apply linguistically. The intended meaning, according to all scholars, is the whiteness of the day and the blackness of the night, which is the explicit saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, to Adi ibn Hatim in his famous hadith. The first "from" is for the beginning of the limit, and the second is for part of it. "Dawn" is derived from the bursting of water because it bursts forth gradually.

It has been narrated from Sahl ibn Sa'd and others from the Companions that the verse was revealed except for His saying: "from the dawn." Some people made two threads, one white and one black, and then the saying of Allah, the Exalted, was revealed: "from the dawn." It has been narrated that there was a period of one year from Ramadan to Ramadan, and the clarification was delayed until the time of need. Adi ibn Hatim placed two threads on his pillow and informed the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, who said to him: "Your pillow is wide," and it has been narrated that he said to him: "You have a wide back." For these words, there are two interpretations.

There was a disagreement regarding the limit at which one must stop eating upon achieving distinction. The majority said - and this is what people have taken, and it has been followed by cities and eras, and authentic hadiths have come with it - that it is the dawn that appears on the horizon to the right and to the left. With the rising of its first light on the horizon, one must stop eating, which is the implication of the hadith of Ibn Mas'ud and Sumrah ibn Jundub.

(p-454) It has been narrated from Uthman ibn Affan, Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman, Ibn Abbas, Talq ibn Ali, Ata ibn Abi Rabah, al-Amash, and others: that holding back (from eating) is obligatory upon the clarification of dawn in the paths, and on the tops of the mountains. It was mentioned that 'Hudhayfah said: I had suhoor with the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, while it was daytime, except that the sun had not yet risen.' It has been narrated from Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, that he prayed the dawn prayer with the people and then said:

Abu Amr and Abu Hatim said: Qatadah read "‘akifoon" without an alif, and i'tikaf is a Sunnah. Al-A'mash read "fi al-masjid" in the singular, and he said: it is the Sacred Mosque.

Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, and a group with him said: There is no i'tikaf except in the Friday mosques. It was also narrated from Malik that this applies to every mosque, and he may go out to the Friday prayer as he goes out to his necessary work. Some people said: There is no i'tikaf except in one of the three mosques to which the riding is directed. A group said: There is no i'tikaf except in the mosque of the Prophet. Malik said: One should not perform i'tikaf for less than a day and a night, and if one vows one of them, the other becomes obligatory. Sahnun said: Whoever vows i'tikaf for a night does not have anything obligatory upon him. A group said: Whichever of them vows i'tikaf is not obligated to do more.

Malik said: There is no i'tikaf except with fasting, while others said: One may perform i'tikaf without fasting. It was narrated from Aisha that he may perform i'tikaf in a mosque other than the Sacred Mosque, and "that" refers to these commands and prohibitions. The limits are the barriers between permissibility and prohibition, and hence it is said to the doorkeeper, "haddad" because he prevents, and "hadd" because it prevents adornment.

The verses are the signs guiding to the truth, and "perhaps they" is a hope regarding them. The apparent meaning of that is general, while its meaning is specific to those whom Allah has facilitated for guidance by the indication of the verses which include that Allah leads astray whom He wills.