The Fourteenth Principle: Omitting the object to which an action applies serves to generalise the meaning in the most fitting way.
This is an extremely useful rule: once a person bears it in mind while reading the Qur’an, it grants him profound benefits. Whenever a verb—or anything that carries the force of a verb—is linked to a particular object, its meaning is confined to that object. But when Allah, Exalted is He, releases the verb without mentioning its complement, the intent is to broaden the sense. In such cases, the omission is far more eloquent and beneficial than specifying the objects, for it gathers together every advantageous meaning.
There are many examples of this. Among them are His words in several verses: “so that you may reason,” “so that you may take heed,” and “so that you may become God-fearing” (al-Anʿam 6:151-153). This shows that the intended meaning is: so that you may reason about everything Allah has guided you to, everything He has taught you, and everything He has sent down to you of the Book and the Wisdom; so that you may remember and never forget nor grow heedless, remaining ever alert and keen of perception, sensing every one of Allah’s signs and ways that you encounter, and thus recalling all that benefits you in your religious and worldly affairs; and so that you may guard yourselves against everything that must be avoided—heedlessness, ignorance, blind imitation, and all the sins and acts of disobedience into which your enemy seeks to cast you. The specific issue mentioned in the immediate context is merely one instance within this comprehensive meaning.
Hence His statement, “O you who believe, fasting has been prescribed for you just as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may become God-fearing” (al-Baqarah 2:183), encompasses everything that has been said about the wisdom behind fasting: so that you may avoid forbidden matters in general; so that you may shun whatever Allah has prohibited for those who are fasting—such as things that break the fast and all other disallowed acts—and refrain from every blameworthy state and vile trait; so that you may be characterised by taqwa, obtain all that shields you from what you dislike, and adorn yourselves with its qualities. The same holds true wherever this expression occurs, as in His words “a guidance for the God-fearing” (al-Baqarah 2:2), meaning: a guidance for those who avoid everything that must be avoided of disbelief, wickedness, and disobedience, and who faithfully perform the obligatory duties.