His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "Indeed, this is a reminder. So whoever wills, let him take to his Lord a way." "Indeed, your Lord knows that you stand [in prayer] nearly two-thirds of the night and half of it and a third of it, and a party of those with you. And Allah determines the night and the day. He knows that you will not be able to do it, so He has turned to you. So read what is easy from the Qur'an. He knows that there will be among you the sick and others traveling in the land seeking of the bounty of Allah, and others fighting in the cause of Allah. So read what is easy of it and establish prayer and give zakah and loan Allah a goodly loan. And whatever good you put forward for yourselves, you will find it with Allah. It is better and greater in reward. And seek forgiveness of Allah. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful."

The reference to "this" may be to what was mentioned of the chains and the blazing fire and the severe punishment, and it may refer to the entire surah, and it may refer to the Qur'an in the sense that the statements established in it are a reminder. And the reminder is a source like the mention. And His saying, exalted is He: "So whoever wills," the verse does not mean the permissibility of the matter and its opposite, but it includes the meaning of warning and promise. And "the way" here is the way of goodness and obedience.

And His saying, exalted is He: "Indeed, your Lord knows," the verse was revealed as a relief for what had been continuously required of standing at night, either as obligatory or as recommended, according to the difference we have mentioned. And the meaning of the verse is that Allah knows that you and others from your nation stand with varying degrees, sometimes more and sometimes less, sometimes nearly two-thirds and sometimes nearly a third. This is due to the inability of humans to grasp the measures of time along with the excuse of sleep. And the measurement of time is truly only for Allah, exalted is He, while humans cannot grasp that. So Allah has turned to them, meaning He has returned them from heaviness to lightness, and He commanded them to read what is easy of it. And this gives the expression of Al-Farra and Al-Mundhir, for they said: "You will not be able to do it," meaning you will not preserve it. And this interpretation is based on the reading of those who recited: "and half of it and a third of it" with the genitive case, in conjunction with "two-thirds." This is the reading of Abu Amr, Nafi, and Ibn Amer. As for those who recited "and half of it and a third of it" with the accusative case, in conjunction with "nearly," this is the reading of the remaining seven. The meaning for them is different, which is that Allah, exalted is He, has determined that they estimate the time according to what He commanded in His saying, glorified is He: "half of it or decrease from it a little" [Al-Muzzammil: 3] or "increase upon it" [Al-Muzzammil: 4]. So it remains that His saying, exalted is He: "You will not be able to do it, so He has turned" means: you will not be able to stand it due to its abundance and severity. So Allah has lightened it for them out of grace from Him, not due to their ignorance of the estimation and counting of times. And this gives the expression of Al-Hasan and Ibn Jubair, for they said: "You will not be able to do it," meaning you will not obey it. And the majority of the reciters and the people read "and a third of it" with the lam being pronounced, while Ibn Kathir in the narration of Shibl from him read "and a third of it" with the lam being silent.

And His saying, exalted is He: "So read what is easy of the Qur'an" is an allowance. This is the saying of the majority. Ibn Jubair and a group said: It is an obligation that must be fulfilled, even if it is fifty verses. Al-Hasan and Ibn Sirin said: Night prayer is obligatory, even if it is the amount of milk from a sheep. However, Al-Hasan said: Whoever recites one hundred verses, the Qur'an will not argue with him. This was favored by a group of scholars. Some of them said: The two rak'ahs after 'Isha with the Witr prayer fall under the ruling of this matter and its observance. Whoever increases, Allah, exalted is He, will increase him in reward.

And "Indeed" in His saying, exalted is He: "He knew that" is a lightened form of the heavy. The meaning is that it would be, so the letter 's' came in place of the omitted. Likewise, it came in the saying of Abu Mihjan:

Do not bury me in the wilderness, for I fear that when I die, I will not taste it.

And "traveling in the land" refers to traveling for trade. Traveling in the land is walking for relieving oneself and excretion. So Allah, exalted is He, mentioned the excuses of the children of Adam that are a barrier between them and night prayer, which are illness and travel for trade or for jihad. He alleviated the obligation of night prayer for this. In this verse is the virtue of traveling in the land for trade and the market alongside the travel of jihad. Abdullah ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, said: The death I love most after being killed in the way of Allah is to die between the two sides of my saddle, traveling in the land seeking the bounty of Allah.

Then Allah, exalted is He, repeated the command to read what is easy of it for emphasis. The prayer and zakat here are the obligatory ones. Whoever said that night prayer is not obligatory said: The meaning of the verse is: Take from this supererogatory prayer what is easy and maintain your obligations. Whoever said that something of the night prayer is obligatory said: Allah has coupled it with the obligations because it is an obligation.

And Allah's lending is the borrowing of good deeds with Him. The majority of people read "He is (p-449) better" as if "He is" is a separation. Muhammad ibn Al-Samaifah and Abu Al-Samal read: "He is better" as if "He is" is a beginning, and "better" is its predicate, and the sentence suffices as the second object of "You will find it."

Then Allah, exalted is He, commanded seeking forgiveness and made for Himself the attribute of forgiveness, there is no deity other than Him. Some scholars said: Seeking forgiveness after prayer is derived from this verse and from His saying, exalted is He: "They used to sleep but little of the night" [Adh-Dhariyat: 17] and "And in the early hours, they seek forgiveness" [Adh-Dhariyat: 18].

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: I witnessed my father, may Allah have mercy on him, seeking forgiveness three times after every obligatory prayer and he would narrate a hadith regarding that. It was as if this seeking forgiveness was for the deficiency and the fluctuation of thought during the prayer. The righteous predecessors used to pray until dawn, then they would sit for seeking forgiveness until the morning prayer.

The interpretation of Surah [Al-Muzzammil] is complete, and all praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds.