of the day. Among the practical manifestations of this—God willing—is gathering for the dawn prayer and for the afternoon prayer, because the first takes place in the morning and the second in the evening, at those two times expressly described as “morning and evening.”
“They call upon their Lord,” that is, they seek His Countenance. This shows their sincerity toward Allah: they do not assemble and make supplication so that people will praise them and say, “How magnificent and abundant is their worship, how steadfast they are in it!” They want none of that; they seek only the Face of Allah.
“And do not let your eyes pass beyond them, desiring the adornment of worldly life”—meaning: do not overlook them, abandon them, or turn your gaze away from them on account of the world. If there is another interest greater than what they are engaged in, then leaving for that is permissible; but for mere worldly gain—no. These, indeed, are the people; they are the true possessors of both this world and the next.
“And do not obey the one whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance, who follows his own desires, and whose affair is ever in excess”—that is, do not obey the heedless person whose heart has turned away from remembering Allah, whose conduct is squandered, who pursues his whims, thereby losing both his worldly life and his hereafter.
Thus, this noble verse establishes the merit of gathering for remembrance and supplication, highlights the virtue of sincerity—upon which everything revolves—and teaches that a person should not forsake matters of the Hereafter and acts of worship for the sake of worldly concerns.
As for the hadiths, the author cites the report of Abu Hurayrah—may Allah be pleased with him—in both Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim: Allah, exalted is He, has assigned angels who roam the earth in search of circles of remembrance. The angels belong to a noble, unseen realm; Allah created them from light and fashioned them as solid beings without internal cavities, so they neither eat nor drink, nor have any need for such things. They possess no stomachs or intestines; they are entirely solid, and for that reason they do not—