92:1. By the night as it conceals,

92:2. and by the day as it discloses,

92:3. and by Him Who created male and female,

92:4. verily your endeavours have divergent ends.

92:5. As for him who gives in charity and fears Allah,

92:6. and believes in the ultimate good,^{1{[the ultimate good]) (al-husna) may refer to paradise or to the word of tawheed: la ildha ilia Allah.}

92:7. We will make easy for him the path of salvation.

92:8. But as for him who is miserly and thinks he has no need of Allah,

92:9. and denies the ultimate good,

92:10. We will make easy for him the path of perdition.

92:11. His wealth will avail him nothing when he falls [into hell].

92:12. Surely it is for Us to show the path of guidance,

92:13. and verily to Us belong the hereafter and the present world.

92:14. Sol warn you of a raging fire,

92:15. which none will enter except the most wretched,

92:16. who denied and turned away.

92:17. But the most righteous will be kept away from it,

92:18. who gives his wealth seeking to purify himself

92:19. and owing no one any favour for which he should repay him;

92:20. rather he seeks only the pleasure of his Lord, the Most High.

92:21. And indeed he will in time be well pleased.

This is an oath which Allah swears by the time during which people do their deeds that vary according to their circumstances.

﴾By the night as it conceals﴿ that is, it covers all creatures with its darkness, so each creature goes back to its dwelling and rests from its toil and labours.

t-[and by the day as it discloses﴿ that is, manifests itself to people, so they benefit from its light and go about their business.

﴾and by Him Who created male and female﴿. Here Allah swears by Himself as the Creator of males and females.

As dictated by His wisdom. He created every type of animal that He wanted to survive as male and female, so that the species may survive and not disappear, and he led each of them to the other by means of desire, making each of them suited to the other. Blessed be Allah, the Best of creators.

﴾verily your endeavours have divergent ends﴿. This is what is attested to: your endeavours, O accountable people, vary greatly, according to variations in deeds, their quality and the energy put into them, and according to the goal and purpose of those deeds: are they done for the sake of Allah, the Most High, the Eternal? For endeavours that are done for His sake will last and benefit the doer. Or are they done for transient aims, in which case endeavours are rendered invalid and diminish as that purpose diminishes?

This applies to every deed that is not done for the sake of Allah.

Hence Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) refers to the type of people who strive and describes their deeds:

﴾As for him who gives in charity﴿ that is, he does what he is enjoined to do of financial acts of worship, such as giving zakah, offering expiation, spending on maintenance of family members, giving charity and spending on good causes; and he also does physical acts of worship such as prayer, fasting and so on; and acts of worship that combine both physical and financial elements, such as Hajj and ‘umrah, and so on

({and fears Allah'p with regard to what He has forbidden of prohibited matters and sins of various kinds.

﴾and believes in the ultimate good﴿ that is, he believes in la ilaha ilia Allah (there is no god but Allah) and all that it points to of religious beliefs and all that it leads to of reward in the hereafter.

﴾We will make easy for him the path of salvation﴿ that is, we will make his affairs easy for him and will make all that is good easy for him, and We will make it easy for him to refrain from all evil.because he has taken measures that lead to that, so Allah will make it easy for him.

﴾But as for him who is miserly﴿ with regard to what he is instructed to spend, so he does not spend in the ways that are obligatory or recommended, and he does not have any desire to do that which Allah has enjoined, fjand thinks he has no need of Allah﴿ so he does not submit to Him and does not think that his soul is in desperate need of its Lord, for there is no salvation, success or prosperity unless Allah is his ultimate object of love and worship. Whom he seeks and to Whom he turns.

﴾and denies the ultimate good﴿ that is, he denies the goodly beliefs that Allah has enjoined people to believe in.

﴾We will make easy for him the path of perdition f) so he will adopt bad and blameworthy characteristics, because it is made easy for him to commit evil and get carried away with acts of disobedience. We ask Allah to keep us safe and sound.

﴾His wealth will avail him nothing when he falls [into hell]﴿ that caused him to transgress and made him feel that he had no need of his Lord, and made him miserly. When he dies, nothing will accompany him except righteous deeds. As for his wealth, on which he did not pay his dues, it will become a source of regret for him, because he did not send any of it forth for the hereafter.

﴾Surely it is for Us to show the path of guidance﴿ that is, guidance to the straight path that leads to Allah and brings one close to His pleasure.

As for misguidance, it bars one from Allah and does not lead one to anything but severe punishment.

﴾and verily to Us belong the hereafter and the present world﴿ - He owns them and controls them, and He has no partner in that. So let those who have aspirations turn to Him and give up any hope in created beings.

﴾So I warn you of a raging fire﴿, blazing and kindled, ﴾which none will enter except the most wretched, who denied﴿ the truth ﴾fand turned away﴿ from the divine command.

﴾But the most righteous will be kept away from it, who gives his wealth seeking to purify himself]? from sins and faults, and seeking thereby the pleasure of Allah te).

This indicates that if spending on recommended purposes will lead to giving up obligatory spending - such as paying off debts, spending on maintenance of family members, and the like - then that recommended spending is not prescribed; rather it is to be rejected according to most of the scholars, because the soul cannot be purified by means of a recommended deed that causes one to miss out on doing an obligatory deed.

tjand owing no one any favour for which he should repay him]J that is, this righteous person does not owe anyone any favour but he repays him, and perhaps he does acts of kindness to other people for which they owe him favours. Thus he becomes a true slave of Allah, because he is indebted to Him alone for His kindness.

As for the one who owes people some favours but has not repaid them, he will inevitably do things for people that will undermine his sincerity towards Allah.

This verse refers to Abu Bakr as-Siddeeq and it was said that it was revealed because of him, because he did not owe anyone any favours, not even the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) - apart from the favour of the Messenger that he could not repay, namely the favour of calling him to the religion of Islam and teaching him guidance and the true faith. For Allah and His Messenger (ﷺ) did a favour to everyone that can never be repaid. However the verse is also applicable to everyone who possesses this good quality and does not owe any favour to anyone, and thus his deeds remain sincerely for the sake of Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) alone.

Hence Allah says: ﴾rather he seeks only the pleasure of his Lord, the Most High. And indeed he will in time be well pleased﴿. This righteous man will be well pleased with what Allah will bestow upon him of all kinds of honours and rewards.

This is the end of the commentary on Soorat al-Layl.

All praise and thanks are for Allah, and may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ). his family, and his Companions abundantly until the Day of Judgement.