His words, “and remembers the name of his Lord and prays,” mean that he remembers Allah. He—glory be to Him—specifically mentioned “the name” to indicate verbal remembrance, for a person utters Allah’s name, saying, for example, “Glory be to Allah, praise be to Allah, and Allah is the Greatest.” He thus mentions Allah’s name. It also refers to invoking the name of Allah Most High as an act of worship. Ablution is included in the remembrance of Allah’s name, for ablution is itself a form of remembering Allah. First, a person performs ablution only in compliance with Allah’s command. Second, when beginning his ablution, he says, “In the name of Allah,” and when he finishes, he says, “I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship but Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. O Allah, make me among those who constantly repent and among those who purify themselves.”
The Friday sermon is also a form of remembering Allah, Mighty and Majestic, for Allah Most High says:
“O you who believe, when the call to prayer is proclaimed on Friday, hasten to the remembrance of Allah and leave off trade” [al-Jumuah: 9].
Based on this, some scholars said that “and remembers the name of his Lord” refers to the preacher on Friday, while “and prays” means the Friday prayer. This verse would therefore encompass every prayer preceded by remembrance. Indeed, there is no prayer that is not preceded by remembrance, since a person performs ablution shortly before prayer, remembers Allah’s name, and then prays.
The correct view, however, is that the verse is broader than this and refers to every act of remembering Allah’s name, Mighty and Majestic. That is, whenever a person remembers Allah’s name, he takes heed, turns to Allah, and prays. Prayer is well known: it is an act of worship consisting of words and actions, opening with the proclamation “Allah is the Greatest” and concluding with the salutation of peace.
Allah Most High then says:
“Yet you prefer the life of this world. The Hereafter, however, is better and more enduring.”
The particle bal (“yet”) here marks a transition. Bal may either invalidate what precedes it or mark a transition to a new point. Thus He—glory be to Him—moves on to explain the human condition: man prefers the life of this world because it is immediate. The human being was created of haste and loves what comes quickly, so you find him preferring worldly life. In truth, it is aptly called dunyā (the nearer, lower life): it is nearer in time and lower in quality. As for its being nearer in time, that is because it