Al-Dahhāk said: “Reform your deeds.” Al-Suddī said: “When a man is righteous, he is said to have pure garments; when he is wicked, he is said to have foul garments.”

Sa‘īd ibn Jubayr said: “Purify your heart and your home.”

Al-Hasan and al-Qurtubī said: “Improve your character.” Ibn Sīrīn and Ibn Zayd said: “He was commanded to cleanse his garments of impurities that render prayer invalid, for the polytheists neither purified themselves nor cleansed their garments.”

Tāwūs said: “Shorten your garments, for shortening them keeps them clean.”

The first interpretation is the soundest. There is no doubt that cleansing garments of impurities and shortening them are included in the purification commanded, since they complete the reform of deeds and character. Outward impurity gives rise to inward impurity. Thus, whoever stands before Allah, the Almighty and Majestic, is commanded to remove it and keep away from it.

[Surah al-Muddaththir (74): verses 49–51]
“What, then, is the matter with them, turning away from the Reminder, (49) as though they were startled wild donkeys (50) fleeing from a lion? (51)”

In their aversion to the Quran and their flight from it, He likens them to wild donkeys that see a lion or archers and flee.

This is a remarkable analogy and comparison. In their ignorance of what Allah sent His Messenger with, these people resemble donkeys, which understand nothing. When they hear the sound of a lion or an archer, they flee in utter terror. This is the strongest condemnation of these people: they flee from the guidance that brings them happiness and life, just as donkeys flee from what would kill or maim them.

Mustanfira (“fleeing in alarm”) conveys a more emphatic meaning than nāfira (“fleeing”). Such is their alarm that they have urged one another to flee and spurred each other on. For the istif‘āl verb form conveys an element of urging