the wrongdoer against himself is the one who delays the prayer beyond its time, the moderate is the one who performs it within the time, and the forerunner in good deeds is the one who observes it at the very start of the time—or, more precisely, who observes it at its proper time. The latter wording is used so that the definition will cover both the person who brings the prayer forward to the earliest moment when doing so is recommended and the person who postpones it to the far end of its span when that delay is preferable. For this reason Ibn Masʿūd’s ḥadīth states, “Prayer [is best performed] at its appointed time.”¹ Some prayers, such as ʿIshāʾ, are in fact recommended to be delayed.

In the same way, when scholars say that the moderate is the one who pays the obligatory zakāt, the forerunner in good deeds is the one who pays zakāt together with voluntary charity, and the wrongdoer against himself is the one who pays no zakāt at all, there is no contradiction. Each scholar is citing one instance that falls under the verse, while the verse itself is broader, embracing everything to which wrongdoing, precedence, and moderation apply.

Sound reason readily grasps a particular example, just as it does when someone points to a loaf and says, “This is bread.”

For this reason the exegetes often declare, “This verse was revealed about such-and-such,” especially when a specific individual is mentioned. These are the occasions of revelation recorded in tafsīr works: for instance, the statement that the verse on ẓihār was revealed concerning the wife of Aws ibn al-Ṣāmit; that the verse on mutual imprecation was revealed about ʿUwaymir al-ʿAjlānī or Hilāl ibn Umayyah; that the verse on inheritance through kalālah was revealed about Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh; that His saying, “And judge between them according to what Allah has sent down” (Q 5:49) was revealed about the clans of Qurayẓah and Naḍīr; that His saying, “And whoever turns his back to them on that day” (Q 8:16) was revealed at Badr; and that His saying—