(132) “Command your family to pray, and patiently persevere in it. We ask no provision from you; We provide for you. The ultimate outcome belongs to piety.”

That is: urge your family to pray and press them to perform both the obligatory and voluntary prayers. A command to do something is also a command to do everything without which it cannot be completed. Thus, this is also a command to teach them what makes prayer valid, what invalidates it, and what perfects it.

“And patiently persevere in it”—that is, in establishing prayer with all its prescribed limits, pillars, proper manners, and humility. This is difficult for the soul, but it must be compelled and striven against, and one must patiently persevere in this at all times. If a servant establishes his prayer in the prescribed manner, he will be more careful to preserve and uphold the rest of his religion; but if he neglects it, he will be even more neglectful of everything else.

Allah, Exalted is He, then guaranteed provision to His Messenger, so that concern over it would not distract him from upholding his religion. He said: “We provide for you.” That is, your provision is Our responsibility, and We have guaranteed it just as We have guaranteed the provision of every creature. How much more so, then, for one who fulfills Our command and devotes himself to remembering Us!

Allah’s provision extends to the pious and others alike. One should therefore devote one’s concern to what brings everlasting happiness—namely, piety. Hence He said: “The ultimate outcome,” in this world and the Hereafter, “belongs to piety,” which consists in carrying out what has been commanded and refraining from what has been prohibited. Whoever upholds it will enjoy the ultimate outcome, as Allah, Exalted is He, says: “The ultimate outcome is for the pious.”