• It further proves that a person may be overtaken by dawn while still in a state of major ritual impurity from intercourse, before performing the full bath; for once intercourse is permitted until the very moment daybreak arrives, it necessarily follows that some will enter dawn while junub, and whatever necessarily follows from a true ruling is itself true.

• “Then,” once dawn has broken, “complete the fast,” that is, abstain from anything that breaks it, “until night,” meaning until the sun sets.

• Because the permission to have marital relations during the nights of Ramadan was not meant for everyone without exception, Allah excluded those in retreat, saying: “Do not approach them while you are secluded in the mosques,” that is, while you are in the state of iʿtikāf.

• The verse therefore establishes the legitimacy of iʿtikāf, which is to remain in a mosque in devotion to Allah,

• and it shows that iʿtikāf is valid only in a mosque.

• The definite article in “the mosques” indicates the well-known mosques of the Muslims, namely those in which the five daily prayers are held.

• It is also understood that intercourse invalidates iʿtikāf.

• “These” refers to what has just been mentioned: the prohibition of eating, drinking, intercourse and the like among the nullifiers of the fast, the prohibition of intercourse for the one in retreat, and similar forbidden matters that He has set for His servants and forbidden them. “So do not go near them” means: do not commit them, nor hover around them or engage in their precursors. The servant is commanded to avoid the prohibited things and every means that leads to them.

• As for the positive commands, Allah says, “These are the limits set by Allah, so do not transgress them” (Qur’an 2:229), thus forbidding anyone to exceed them.