And His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿Those who say, 'Our Lord, indeed we have believed, so forgive us our sins and protect us from the punishment of the Fire.'﴾ ﴿The patient, the truthful, the devout, the spenders, and those who seek forgiveness in the early hours of the morning.﴾

"Those" is a substitute for "those who are God-fearing." In this verse, He explains the conditions of the God-fearing who are promised gardens. It is possible that the grammatical structure of His saying, "Those" in this verse is in the nominative case as an independent subject, and it requires a separation and an implied verb in His saying, "the patient." The genitive case in all of this is on the basis of substitution, and it is also permissible for "those" and what follows it to be in the accusative case as praise.

Patience in this verse means: patience in obedience and abstaining from sins and desires. Truthfulness means: in words and actions. Devotion means: obedience and supplication as well. By all of this, the God-fearing are characterized. Spending means: in the way of Allah and in places of reward, such as maintaining family ties and others. This spending is not limited to the obligatory zakat. Seeking forgiveness means: requesting forgiveness from Allah, the Exalted. He specifically mentioned the early hours of the morning because the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, explained in his saying: "Our Lord, exalted and majestic is He, descends every night to the lowest heaven when one-third of the night remains, and He says: 'Who is calling upon Me that I may respond to him? Who is asking Me that I may give to him?' And He continues like this until dawn breaks."

It has been narrated in the interpretation of the saying of Jacob, peace be upon him: "I will surely ask forgiveness for you from my Lord" that he delayed the matter until the early hours of the morning. Ibrahim ibn Haatib narrated from his father that he heard a man during the early hours of the morning near the mosque saying: "My Lord commanded me, and I obeyed You, and this is the early morning, so forgive me." I looked, and it was Ibn Mas'ud. Anas ibn Malik said: "We were commanded to seek forgiveness in the early hours of the morning seventy times." Nafi' said: "Ibn Umar would spend the night in prayer, then he would say: 'O Nafi', is it the early morning?' I would say: 'No,' so he would resume praying, then he would ask again. When I said: 'Yes,' he would sit and seek forgiveness." Thus, the wording of the verse indicates the request for forgiveness, and this is how it was interpreted by those we mentioned from the Companions. Qatadah said: "What is meant by the verse is those who pray during the early hours of the morning." Zayd ibn Aslam said: "What is meant by it are those who perform the Fajr prayer in congregation." All of this is associated with seeking forgiveness.

The early hours of the morning - with a فتح (fatha) on the حاء (ha) and a سكون (sukun) on it - is the end of the night. Al-Zajjaj and others said: "It is before the dawn breaks," and this is correct because what comes after dawn is part of the day, not part of the night. Some linguists said: "The early hours of the morning is from one-third of the last night until dawn." The hadith about the descent and this verse about seeking forgiveness support this. There may come in the poetry of the Arabs what suggests that the ruling of the early hours of the morning continues after dawn, such as the saying of Imru' al-Qais:

'With it, the coldness of her fangs is taught, When the bird sings in the early hours.'

It is said: "He entered into the early hours of the morning" and likewise their saying: "The breeze of the early hours" applies to what is after dawn, and likewise the saying of the poet:

'He finds the women mourning him, They rose before the breaking of dawn.'

It has been decreed that the dawn breaks with the rising of the Fajr. However, the reality of the pre-dawn period in these legal rulings is from the praiseworthy seeking of forgiveness, and from the pre-dawn meal of the fasting person, and from an oath that, if it were to occur, is indeed from the last third of the night until dawn.