The second category is that each of them, when explaining a “term,” mentions some of its categories or individual instances as examples for the listener, rather than as an exhaustive account. It is as though a non-Arabic speaker asked the meaning of the word “bread,” and was shown a loaf and told, “This is it.” That loaf is an example of bread, pointing to the general category, not exclusively to that particular loaf.

An example is what has been reported from them concerning the words of Allah Most High:

“Among them are those who wrong themselves, among them are those who are moderate, and among them are those who are foremost in good deeds.”

The comprehensive explanation is that “one who wrongs himself” is someone who falls short by neglecting something commanded or doing something forbidden. The “moderate” person fulfils his obligations and refrains from what is forbidden. The one “foremost in good deeds” holds the rank of one brought near to Allah, drawing closer to Him through voluntary acts after fulfilling the obligatory ones, until the True One loves him. Each commentator then mentions a particular instance of this.

Thus, if one says that “the wrongdoer” is someone who delays prayer beyond its prescribed time, the “moderate” person is someone who prays within its prescribed time, and the one “foremost” is someone who prays at the beginning of its time whenever praying early is preferable;

and another says that “one who wrongs himself” is the miser who neither maintains ties of kinship nor pays the zakat due on his wealth, the “moderate” person fulfils his obligations regarding zakat, maintaining ties of kinship, hospitality to guests, and giving assistance when calamity strikes, and the one “foremost” performs recommended deeds after fulfilling his obligations, just as