for whoever wishes to remember or wishes to give thanks (62).” [al-Furqān: 62]
Ibn ‘Abbās, al-Hasan, and Qatādah (1) explained: “They serve as substitutes for one another, each taking the other’s place. Whoever misses a deed in one makes it up in the other.” Qatādah said: “Offer (2) Allah good deeds during this night and day, for they are two mounts that drive (3) people towards their appointed ends, bring near all that is distant, wear out all that is new, and bring to pass all that has been promised, until the Day of Resurrection.”
Shaqīq said: “A man came to ‘Umar ibn al-Khattāb and said, ‘I missed the prayer last night.’ He replied, ‘Make up during the day what you missed during the night, for Allah, Mighty and Majestic, made night and day succeed one another for whoever wishes to remember (4).’”
They said: The Companions’ practice also supports this. Ibn ‘Abbās would offer the midmorning prayer one day and leave it for ten days. Ibn ‘Umar did not offer it, but whenever he visited the mosque of Qubā’, he would offer it there; he visited it every Saturday. Sufyān reported from Mansūr: “They disliked observing it regularly like an obligatory prayer; they would sometimes offer it and sometimes leave it (5).”
(1) The author took the following explanations of the verse from al-Tha‘labī’s Tafsīr (7/144). They are also recorded by ‘Abd al-Razzāq in his Tafsīr (2/457, 3/50) and by al-Tabarī (17/485), except for this statement of Qatādah, which I could not locate. His second statement, however, was recorded by ‘Abd ibn Humayd, as cited in al-Durr al-Manthūr (11/202).
(2) This is the reading in all manuscripts; most mark the dāl as doubled. If this reading is correct, the divine name following it is accusative because the preposition has been omitted. The Indian edition has the same reading. The Maymaniyyah edition and subsequent editions instead print “... li-llāh” (“... to Allah”) to correct the wording. The source from which the passage was quoted and al-Durr al-Manthūr (11/202) read “fa-arū” (“so show”).
(3) The pronoun is masculine in the manuscripts and in some manuscripts of the source works, referring to night and day. Alternatively, the masculine form may follow the meaning, since matiyyah (mount) is equivalent to the masculine noun markab (mount).
(4) Kāf, ‘Ayn, Mīm-Bā’, and Nūn add “aw arāda shukūran” (“or wishes to give thanks”). This addition does not occur in the source from which the passage was quoted.
(5) The sources for these reports have already been given.