while they had been commanded to restrain their hands. Yet when the second duty arrived they proved utterly incapable of it.

A similar case is Allah’s reproach to those at Uhud: “You certainly longed for death before you met it; now you have seen it with your own eyes” (Al ʿImran 3:143).

The point is laid completely bare in His words: “If We had prescribed for them, ‘Kill yourselves or leave your homes,’ they would not have done it, save a few of them. Yet had they done what they were admonished to do, it would have been better for them and firmer in making them stand fast” (An-Nisaʾ 4:66). In that command lay the completion of the first action, divine reinforcement, and training for the second.

Comparable, too, is His statement: “Among them are those who pledged to Allah, ‘If He grants us of His bounty, we will surely give charity and be among the righteous.’ But when He did give them of His bounty, they became stingy, turned away, and recoiled, so He caused hypocrisy to settle in their hearts …” (At-Tawba 9:75–77).

Thus Allah has guided His servants to be children of their moment: to attend to the present task and discharge its duty; then, when the next task arrives and becomes the duty of that moment, resolve and genuine determination converge upon it, and the performance of the first task becomes an aid to the second. This meaning recurs frequently in the Quran.

As for matters that lie further ahead, Allah directs those who act to keep them in view so that their resolve is strengthened for deeds that yield benefit and good. Such is the varied encouragement Allah gives for works of righteousness, and the warnings He issues against evil deeds by mentioning their punishments and their blameworthy consequences.

So grasp the difference between turning one’s gaze to a later deed whose time has not yet come and turning it to the reward of the present deed: whenever the doer’s zeal flags, he reflects on the good that will result from it, and his energy is renewed, his strength increases, and its hardship becomes easy for him, as Allah says: “If you are suffering, they are suffering just as you are suffering …”