His words, Exalted is He:

[This is] a sūra which We have revealed and prescribed…

That is, We compiled it and expounded within it what is lawful and unlawful.

His words, Exalted is He:

…Let them forgive and excuse…

That is, ‘Let them pardon the wrong done to them by people.’ It is related from Sufyān al-Thawrī that he said, ‘God sent the revelation to ʿUzayr:^{1ʿUzayr is mentioned only once in the Qurʾān [9:30], The Jews say: ʿUzayr is the son of God; and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of God. Muslim commentators have usually identified ʿUzayr with Ezra, or occasionally with the man who slept for a hundred years, referred to in 2:259. However, modern scholars have variously identified him with Enoch, Azazel and even Osiris. See H. Lazarus Yafeh, ‘Uzayr’, EI2, vol. x, p. 960. According to Muslim tradition, God caused the Jews of ʿUzayr’s time to forget the Torah, due to their sinning. ʿUzayr grieved over this loss, and was consequently enlightened by a divine flame and taught the entire Torah by God. Once it was confirmed that what he had received was indeed the Torah, people started to revere him as the son of God. We can see in Tustarī’s comment above that ʿUzayr is regarded as a recipient of divine revelation.} “If you are not good natured such that you are like a morsel in the mouths of the children of Adam, I will not record you among the humble (mutawāḍiʿūn).” ʿUzayr replied, “O my Lord, what is the hallmark of the one whom You have chosen for Your love (mawadda)?” He replied, “I make him content with a meagre provision, and I activate him to [prepare for] the momentous and tremendous [event].^{2i.e. the Resurrection.} [His hallmark is also that he] eats little and weeps much; he seeks My forgiveness before dawn, and detests the licentious (fujjār) for My sake.”’

His words:

Vile women are for vile men…

Women who have corrupted hearts are for men with corrupted hearts, and men who have corrupted hearts are for women with corrupted hearts.

His words:

Say to the believing men to lower their gaze…

That is, avert your gaze from that which God, Exalted is He, has forbidden you. This means to avoid any look that lacks a sense of honour. It is related from ʿUbāda b. Ṣāmit that the Prophet ﷺ said, ‘If you can safeguard six things, I will guarantee for you entry into Paradise: be truthful when you speak; fulfil whatever you promise; carry out what has been entrusted to you [to do]; keep your chastity; lower your gaze; and refrain from doing harm to anyone.’^{1Bayhaqī, Shuʿab al-īmān, vol. 4, pp. 206 and 230.}

It is reported that Ibn ʿUmar رضي الله عنهم was asked, ‘Did the Messenger of God ever look around during the prayer?’ He answered, ‘Not even outside the prayer [did he look around].’

His words:

…And rally to God in repentance, O believers…

[Sahl] was asked: ‘What is repentance (tawba)?’ He replied:

It is that you exchange your ignorance for knowledge, your forgetfulness for remembrance and your disobedience for obedience.

His words, Exalted is He:

God is the light of the heavens and the earth…

That is, the One who has adorned the heavens and earth with lights.^{1On Sufi interpretations of the Light Verse (24:35), see Gerhard Böwering, ‘The Light Verse: Qurʾānic Text and Sufi Interpretation’, Oriens 36 (2001), pp. 113–44.} The likeness of his light means the likeness of the light of Muḥammad ﷺ. Ḥasan al-Baṣrī said, ‘He intended by this the heart of the believer and the luminescence (ḍiyāʾ) of professing the divine oneness (tawḥīd), for the hearts of the prophets عليهم السلام are far too brilliant in their light to be described in terms of the likeness of these lights. He said,^{2All three MSS (Z515 f. 79a; F638, f. 36b and F3488, f. 252a) have qāla al-Thawrī, while the published edition has qāla al-nūr. The latter, which is what we have translated, seems more likely.} ‘The similitude of the light of the Qurʾān is a lamp (miṣbāḥ), a lamp whose candle (sirāj) is gnosis (maʿrifa), whose wick (fatīl) is the religious obligations (farāʾiḍ), whose oil (duhn) is sincerity (ikhlāṣ) and whose light (nūr) is the light of [spiritual] attainment (ittiṣāl).^{3This is on the basis of Böwering’s translation.} Whenever the sincerity increases in purity, the lamp increases in brightness (ḍiyāʾ); and whenever the religious obligations increase in [inner] realisation (ḥaqīqa), the lamp increases in light (nūr).

His words:

…They fear a day when hearts and eyes will be tossed about,

That is, the Day of Resurrection, when hearts and eyes will turn over, in one state after another, and will not remain constantly in one state.^{1Commenting on the words, They fear a day when hearts and eyes will be tossed about, Ṭabarī writes that hearts will be tossed or turned about in terror (hawl) at it (the Day or what they are to experience), while eyes are turned about to see from which direction they will be seized, or in which hand their book will be given to them, the right or the left.} The believer is the one who fears that Day. According to a saying related from Ḥasan [al-Baṣrī], someone mentioned in his presence, ‘There is a man who will leave the Hellfire after a thousand years’, to which Ḥasan responded, ‘If only I were him.’^{2Ḥasan al-Baṣrī was known for his austerity and fear of God.} It was related from ʿAwn b. ʿAbd Allāh that he said, ‘Luqmān counselled his son, saying: “Have hope in God without feeling secure from His ruse (makr) and fear God without despairing of His mercy.”^{3On the divine ruse see above Tustarī’s commentary on 2:41 and p. 20, n. 47. See also p. 42, n. 10.} He responded [by asking], “How can I do that when I only have one heart?” He replied: “O my son, the believer has two hearts, one with which he carries hope in God and the other with which he fears Him.”’^{4Though elsewhere, Tustarī accords with 33:4 (God has not placed two hearts inside any man), when he contends that man has only one heart. On this, see IT, p. xlvi above.} And God knows best.