“Men whom neither trade nor sale distracts from the remembrance of Allah, the establishment of prayer, and the giving of prescribed alms. They fear a Day when hearts and eyes will turn about, so that Allah may reward them according to the best of what they did and grant them yet more from His bounty. Allah provides for whomever He wills without measure.”
“Men.” He singled out these two times because of their excellence and because journeying to Allah during them is easy and readily accomplished. This includes glorifying Allah both in prayer and outside it. For this reason, the morning and evening remembrances and devotions were prescribed at those times. That is, Allah is glorified in those houses by men—and what men they are! They are not people who prefer to their Lord a worldly life filled with pleasures, nor trade and earnings that distract them from Him.
“Neither trade distracts them.” This includes every means of earning from which compensation is sought. Thus, the words “nor sale” mention the particular after the general because people are more commonly occupied with selling than with other forms of earning. Although these men engage in trade, selling, and buying, there is nothing wrong with that. Yet such things do not distract them by causing them to place and prefer them above “the remembrance of Allah, the establishment of prayer, and the giving of prescribed alms.” Rather, they have made obedience and worship of Allah their supreme desire and ultimate aim, and they cast aside whatever comes between them and that aim.
Since giving up worldly interests is difficult for most souls, since they love earning through various forms of trade, and since they generally find it hard to relinquish this and struggle to give Allah His due precedence over it, He mentioned what would impel them to do so—both as encouragement and as warning. He said: “They fear a Day when hearts and eyes will turn about,” because of its tremendous horror and the distress it will cause hearts and bodies. Because they fear that Day, righteous action becomes easy for them, as does abandoning whatever distracts them from it.
“So that Allah may reward them according to the best of what they did.” What is meant by “the best of what they did” is their good and righteous deeds, for these are the best of their actions. They also perform permissible and other deeds, but reward is granted only for good deeds. This is like the statement of Allah: “So that Allah may absolve them of the worst of what they did and reward them according to the best of what they used to do.”
“And grant them yet more from His bounty”—an abundant increase beyond the recompense corresponding to their deeds. “Allah provides for whomever He wills without measure.” He grants that person a reward beyond anything his deeds could attain or even his hopes could reach. He grants him reward without count or measure—an expression indicating its immense abundance.