“Indeed, the God-fearing will be amid gardens and springs, (15) receiving what their Lord has given them. Indeed, before that they were doers of good. (16) They slept but little of the night, (17) and at dawn they sought forgiveness.” (18)

“Indeed, the God-fearing will be amid gardens and springs, receiving what their Lord has given them”—that is, bestowed upon them—of goodness and honor. “Indeed, before that”—before their entering Paradise—“they were doers of good” in the life of this world.

“They slept but little of the night”: hujūʿ means sleeping at night, as distinct from sleeping during the day. The word “mā” is supplementary; thus, the meaning is: They slept only a little of the night—that is, they prayed for most of the night.

It was also said that it means: Every night in which they slept was, in its entirety, but little. This is the meaning of the statement of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās: That is, scarcely did a night pass for them without their praying during some part of it, whether at its beginning or in its middle. Anas ibn Mālik said: They would pray between Maghrib and ʿIshāʾ. (1) Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī said: They would not sleep until they had performed the night prayer. (2) Muṭarrif ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Shikhkhīr said: Rarely did a night come upon them which they slept through entirely. (3) Mujāhid said: They did not sleep throughout the entire night. (4)

Some paused at His saying, “but little,” meaning: They were but few among the people; then they began anew: “Of the night they did not sleep,” taking it as a negation—that is, they did not sleep at night at all; rather, they stood in prayer and worship. This was the view of al-Ḍaḥḥāk and Muqātil.

“And at dawn they sought forgiveness.” Al-Ḥasan said: They slept only a very small part of the night; at times they would be energetic and continue until dawn, then at daybreak they would devote themselves to seeking forgiveness. (5) Al-Kalbī, Mujāhid, and Muqātil said: At dawn they would pray, because their prayer at that time was for the purpose of seeking forgiveness.

ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Aḥmad al-Malīḥī informed us; Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥasan ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Mukhlidī informed us; Abū al-ʿAbbās Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq al-Sarrāj informed us; Qutaybah narrated to us; Yaʿqūb ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān narrated to us, from Suhayl ibn Abī Ṣāliḥ, from his father, from Abū Hurayrah, that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Allah descends to the lowest heaven every…”