(9) “Or is one who is devoutly obedient throughout the hours of the night, prostrating and standing in prayer, fearing the Hereafter and hoping for his Lord’s mercy? Say, ‘Are those who know equal to those who do not know?’ Only people of understanding take heed.”

This is a contrast between one who acts in obedience to Allah and one who does not, and between the knowledgeable and the ignorant. The difference between them is firmly established by reason, and their disparity is known with certainty. One who turns away from obedience to his Lord and follows his own desires is not like one who is devoutly obedient—that is, obedient to Allah through the finest act of worship, namely prayer, at the finest time, namely the hours of the night. Allah thus describes him as performing abundant deeds of the finest kind, and then describes him as possessing both fear and hope. The object of his fear is the punishment of the Hereafter for his past sins, while the object of his hope is Allah’s mercy. Thus, Allah describes both his outward and inward deeds.

“Say, ‘Are those who know’” their Lord, His revealed religion and His order of recompense, together with the secrets and wisdom these contain, “‘equal to those who do not know’” any of that? The two are no more equal than night and day, light and darkness, or water and fire.

“Only … take heed” when they are reminded—“people of understanding”; that is, people of pure and discerning minds. They are the ones who prefer what is higher to what is lower: knowledge to ignorance and obedience to Allah over disobedience to Him. Their minds direct them to consider the ultimate consequences, unlike one who possesses neither understanding nor reason, for he takes his own desire as his god.