Tafseer of The Heights · Al-A'raaf · 7:205
And remember your Lord within yourself in humility and in fear without being apparent in speech - in the mornings and the evenings. And do not be among the heedless.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of His word: وَاذْكُرْ رَبَّكَ فِي نَفْسِكَ تَضَرُّعًا وَخِيفَةً وَدُونَ الْجَهْرِ مِنَ الْقَوْلِ بِالْغُدُوِّ وَالآصَالِ وَلا تَكُنْ مِنَ الْغَافِلِينَ (205) ("And remember your Lord within yourself, in humility and fear and without raising the voice, in the mornings and the evenings, and do not be among the heedless." (205))
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: (And remember), O you who listen and attentively give ear to the Qurʾān when it is recited in a prayer (ṣalāh) or a sermon, (your Lord within yourself), that is: let yourself be admonished by what is in the signs of the Qurʾān, take a lesson from it, and remember your return to Him when you hear it. (in humility), that is: do that with submission to Allah and lowliness before Him (taḍarruʿ). (and fear), that is: and with fear of Allah, that He might punish you for any shortcoming on your part in letting yourself be admonished by it and taking a lesson from it, and for heedlessness toward the limits (ḥudūd) which Allah has set forth therein. (and without raising the voice), that is: and with an invocation by the tongue to Allah in silence, not aloud. He says: let the remembrance of Allah, when you listen to the Qurʾān, be in an invocation — if you invoke — not aloud, but in silence of speech, such as:
15619 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word (And remember your Lord within yourself, in humility and fear and without raising the voice): he may not do that aloud.
15620 - Al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us, saying: Abū Saʿd related to us, saying: I heard Mujāhid say concerning His word (And remember your Lord within yourself, in humility and fear and without raising the voice), the āyah, he said: They were commanded to remember Him in the hearts, in humility and fear.
15621 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Ibn al-Taymī informed us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ḥayyān ibn ʿUmayr, on the authority of ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr, concerning His word (And remember your Lord within yourself), he said: "Allah says: When My servant remembers Me within himself, I remember him within Myself; and when My servant remembers Me alone, I remember him alone; and when he remembers Me in an assembly, I remember him in an assembly better and nobler than they."
15622 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, concerning His word (And remember your Lord within yourself, in humility and fear), he said: There is a command to humility in the invocation and to lowliness, and the raising of the voice, the calling out, and the shouting in the invocation is disapproved.
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As for His word (in the mornings and the evenings), by it He means the early mornings and the late afternoons.
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And as for "al-āṣāl" (the evenings), it is a plural, and the grammarians differ over it.
Some of them said: it is the plural of "aṣīl" (evening), just as "al-aymān" is the plural of "yamīn" (right hand), and "al-asrār" the plural of "sarīr".
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Others of them said: it is the plural of "uṣul", and "al-uṣul" is the plural of "aṣīl".
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Yet others of them said: it is the plural of "uṣul" and "aṣīl". He said: and if you wish, you may make "al-uṣul" a plural of "aṣīl", and if you wish, you may treat it as a singular. He said: and the Arabs say: "the evening (al-uṣul) has drawn near", treating it as a singular.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: And this view is the most correct herein, namely that it is permissible for it to be the plural of "aṣīl" and of "uṣul", because both of these are sometimes formed in the pattern "afʿāl" as a plural. And as for "al-āṣāl", it is, according to what is said in the language of the Arabs: the time between the ʿaṣr prayer and the maghrib.
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And as for His word (and do not be among the heedless), He says: and do not be among those who indifferently turn away, when the Qurʾān is recited, from its admonitions and lessons and from the wonders that are in it; rather ponder that and understand it, and saturate your heart with the remembrance of Allah and with submission to Him and with fear of the power of Allah over you, if you neglect that.
15623 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word (in the mornings and the evenings), he said: in the early mornings and the late afternoons. (and do not be among the heedless).
15624 - Al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us, saying: Muʿarrif ibn Wāṣil al-Saʿdī related to us, saying: I heard Abū Wāʾil say to his servant at the setting of the sun: Have we come into the evening (āṣalnā)?
15625 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, saying: Ibn Jurayj said: Mujāhid said concerning His word (in the mornings and the evenings), he said: "al-ghuduww" (the mornings) is the end of the dawn, the morning prayer; and (al-āṣāl, the evenings) is the end of the late afternoon, the ʿaṣr prayer. He said: and for all of this there is a time, the beginning of the dawn and the end of it. And that is equivalent to His word in "Sūrat Āl ʿImrān": وَاذْكُرْ رَبَّكَ كَثِيرًا وَسَبِّحْ بِالْعَشِيِّ وَالإِبْكَارِ [Sūrat Āl ʿImrān: 41] ("And remember your Lord much and glorify Him in the evening and in the early morning"). And it has been said: "al-ʿashiyy" (the evening) is the inclining of the sun until it sets, and "al-ibkār" (the early morning) is the beginning of the dawn.
15626 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: My father related to us, on the authority of Mohammed ibn Sharīk, on the authority of Ibn Abī Mulayka, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: he was asked about [the morning prayer, and he said: it is truly in the Book of Allah, and no one performs it properly] ..... Then he recited: فِي بُيُوتٍ أَذِنَ اللَّهُ أَنْ تُرْفَعَ وَيُذْكَرَ فِيهَا اسْمُهُ يُسَبِّحُ لَهُ فِيهَا بِالْغُدُوِّ وَالآصَالِ the āyah [Sūrat al-Nūr: 36] ("In houses which Allah has allowed to be raised and in which His name is remembered, glorifying Him therein in the mornings and the evenings").
15627 - Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word (And remember your Lord within yourself, in humility and fear), up to His word (in the mornings and the evenings): Allah has commanded His remembrance and forbidden heedlessness. As for "in the mornings": that is the morning prayer; and "the evenings": in the late afternoon.
