His saying, exalted and glorified is He:

﴿And when the Qur'an is recited, listen to it and be silent, that you may receive mercy﴾ ﴿And remember your Lord within yourself, humbly and with fear, and without loudness in speech, in the mornings and the evenings, and do not be among the heedless﴾ ﴿Indeed, those who are near your Lord are not too proud to worship Him, and they glorify Him, and to Him they prostrate﴾

Al-Tabari and others mentioned that the reason for this verse is that the companions of the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, were in Mecca talking about their needs during the recitation, and they would shout at the verses of mercy and punishment. One of them would say when they came to him: 'Have you prayed? How much is left?' So they would inform him, and similar to this. Then the verse was revealed as a command for them to listen and be silent during prayer. As for the saying of those who said: 'It is about the sermon,' this is weak, because the verse is Meccan and the sermon was not established until after the migration of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, from Mecca. Likewise, what Al-Zahrawi mentioned (p-124) that it was revealed because of a young man from the Ansar who was reciting during the prayer while the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, was reciting. As for listening and being silent from speaking during prayer, there is consensus. As for refraining from recitation, one group said: The follower should refrain from recitation altogether whether the imam recites aloud or in secret. Another group said: The follower should recite when the imam recites silently and should refrain when he recites aloud. A third group said: The follower should refrain from reciting the surah when the imam recites aloud and should recite the Opening of the Book.

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

With this saying, there are authentic hadiths from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, so this verse is a binding ruling in prayer that one should be silent from talking and anything other than recitation. The ruling is also binding in the sermon from the Sunnah, not from this verse. It is obligatory from the verse to be silent when the preacher recites the Qur'an during the sermon. The ruling of this verse outside of prayer is recommended, meaning in oneself to listen and pay attention when one hears the recitation of the Book of Allah, exalted and glorified is He. As for what the words entail and give in terms of honoring and magnifying the Qur'an, it is obligatory in every situation, and listening means silence, and 'that you may receive mercy' is based on the hope of humanity.

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

And we have not fully grasped the disagreement of the scholars regarding recitation behind the imam, as the words of the verse do not address that. However, since it has come up in mentioning the reason, we have mentioned a brief note on it.

Al-Tabari mentioned from Sa'id ibn Jubair that he said regarding His saying, exalted and glorified is He: ﴿And when the Qur'an is recited, listen to it and be silent﴾, he said: Listening applies on the Day of Sacrifice, the Day of Breaking the Fast, and on Friday, and in what the imam recites aloud from the prayer.

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

And this is a saying that encompasses what this verse and others from the Sunnah have made obligatory regarding listening. Al-Zajjaj said: It is permissible that ﴿So listen to it and be silent﴾ means: Act upon what is in it and do not exceed it.

'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿And remember your Lord within yourself﴾ is an address to the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, that encompasses all of his nation. It is a command from Allah, exalted and glorified is He, to remember Him by glorifying Him, mentioning Him, sanctifying Him, and praising Him with His commendations. The majority hold that remembrance does not occur within oneself and is not considered except with the movement of the tongue. This is indicated by His saying in this verse: ﴿And without raising your voice in speech﴾. This is the rank of secrecy and whispering with words. (p-125) And 'with humility' means: with submission and subservience, and 'with fear' originally is: fearfulness, the 'waw' was replaced by a 'ya' due to the preceding kasrah. And His saying: ﴿In the morning and the evening﴾ means: regularly, every day, and at the ends of the day. A group said: This verse was about the prayer of the Muslims before the obligation of the five prayers. And Qatadah said: 'The morning is the prayer of Fajr, and the evenings are the prayer of Asr.' And 'the evenings' is the plural of 'asl', and 'asl' is the plural of 'asil', which is the evening. It was said: 'the evenings' is the plural of 'asil' without mediation like 'iman' is the plural of 'yamin'. And 'as'al' is also the plural of 'asail', thus it is the plural of the plural. And Abu Mijlaz read: 'and the connection' which is a source like 'the morning' and 'the evening', and it means: when you enter into the evening. And in Al-Tabari, Abu Wail said to his boy: Have we entered the evening yet? ﴿And do not be among the heedless﴾ is a warning. When Allah, exalted and glorified is He, said: ﴿And do not be among the heedless﴾, He then made an example of the striving of the angels to incite diligence in the obedience of Allah, exalted and glorified is He. And His saying: 'those' refers to the angels. And His saying: 'near' means in rank, honor, and closeness in status, not in place. They are thus near to Him. Then He described, exalted is He, their state of humility and their persistence in worship, glorification, and prostration. In the hadith: 'The heavens creaked and it is right for them to creak; there is no place of a span in it except that there is an angel standing, bowing, or prostrating.' And this is a place of prostration. Al-Nakha'i said in the book of Al-Naqqash: If you wish, you may bow, and if you wish, you may prostrate. The Surah of Al-A'raf was completed with the success from Allah, and all praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds.