I mean by 'human' the people, and therefore He excluded from it except for the praying ones. And 'hal' (haste) is the quickness of distress when faced with something disliked and the quickness of withholding when faced with something good, from their saying: a swift camel. And Ahmad ibn Yahya said to me, Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Tahir: What is hal? I said: Allah has explained it, and there is no explanation clearer than His explanation. It is the one who, when evil befalls him, shows great distress, and when good befalls him, he withholds it and prevents people from it.

And the good is wealth and affluence, and the evil is poverty. Or health and sickness: if wealth is healthy, he withholds good and is stingy with his money, and if he becomes ill, he panics and begins to give advice. The meaning is that man, due to his preference for distress and withholding, and their dominance over him and their deep-rootedness in him, is as if he is created with them and imprinted with them. [Mahamud said: 'The meaning is that man does not prefer distress and withholding, and their deep-rootedness in him is as if... etc.'] Ahmad said: He associates inwardly and is outwardly free from blemish, thus negating the existence of hal, which is present in humans, as a creation of Allah, glorified and exalted is He, and affirms a creator alongside Allah, and overlooks the implication of the verse for that. For when you say: I sharpened the pencil thinly, you have attributed to yourself the state, which is its thinning, just as you attributed to yourself the sharpening, and likewise the verse. As for His saying: 'And Allah does not blame His creation,' Allah, the Exalted, deserves praise in every situation, and only the servant is blameworthy on the grounds that He has placed in him a choice that distinguishes by necessity between the optional and the compulsory. Indeed, to Allah belongs the conclusive argument, and Allah knows best. It is as if it is a created and necessary matter, not a voluntary one, as His saying: 'Man was created of haste' is evidence for this, for when he was in the womb and the cradle, he did not have hal. And because He condemned, and Allah does not condemn His actions, the evidence for this is the exception of the believers who struggled against themselves and restrained them from dislikes and kept them away from desires. [The saying: 'and kept them away from desires' in the authentic narrations: to restrain oneself from something, meaning: to prevent it from doing or approaching it.]

Until they were neither distressed nor withholding. And from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: 'The worst thing given to the son of Adam is a stingy hal and cowardice.' [Narrated by Abu Dawood, Ibn Hibban, Ahmad, Ishaq, and Al-Bazzar, all from the route of Abdul Aziz ibn Marwan: I heard Abu Huraira say this, but he said: 'The worst in a man.'] If you say: How did He say: 'They are constant in their prayers' then 'they maintain their prayers'? I say: The meaning of their constancy upon it is that they persist in performing it and do not neglect it nor become preoccupied with anything else, as it was narrated from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: 'The best of deeds is that which is constant, even if it is little.' [Agreed upon from the narration of Aisha.] And Aisha's saying: 'His actions were continuous.' [Agreed upon from her, may Allah be pleased with her.] And their maintaining it is:

That they observe the completeness of ablution for it and its timings, and they establish its pillars and complete it with its Sunnah and etiquettes, and they protect it from nullification [Mahamud said: 'i.e., they do not leave it at any time nor nullify it... etc.'] Ahmad said: Protecting it from nullification is a text among the people of the Sunnah regarding protecting it from disbelief specifically, so nothing nullifies it, whether contrary to the Qadarites, and similar examples have preceded, and Allah knows best. The constancy refers to the prayers themselves, and maintaining refers to their states. The obligatory charity is a known obligation, as it is a specified amount, or a charity that a man imposes upon himself to give at specified times. The asker is the one who asks, and the deprived is the one who refrains from asking, thinking himself rich, thus he is deprived. They believe in the Day of Judgment, affirming it through their deeds and their preparedness for it, and they fear the punishment of their Lord.

And it is objected by His saying: 'Indeed, the punishment of their Lord is not to be felt secure from,' meaning that no one, even if they excel in obedience and diligence, should feel secure from it. And one should be fluctuating between fear and hope. It was read: 'by their testimony' and 'by their testimonies.' And testimony is among the trusts. And it was singled out among them to indicate its virtue, for in establishing it, rights are revived and corrected. And in neglecting it: they are wasted and invalidated.