Tafsir of Surah Ar-Room - Verse 17

The Command to pray Five Times Daily

Here Allah glorifies Himself and commands His servants to glorify and praise Him at these times which come one after the other and are indicative of His might and power in the heavens. This is when the night comes with its darkness, then in the morning the day comes with its light. This glorification is followed by befitting praise, as Allah says:

وَلَهُ الْحَمْدُ فِى السَّمَـوَتِ وَالاٌّرْضِ

(And His is all the praise in the heavens and the earth;) meaning, He is the One who is to be praised for what He has created in the heavens and on earth. Then Allah says:

وَعَشِيّاً وَحِينَ تُظْهِرُونَ

(and in `Ashiyya and when Tuzhirun.) -- the `Ashiyy is the time when the darkness is most intense, and Izhar is the brightest point of the day. Glory be to the One Who created both of them, the Cleaver of the daybreak and the One Who makes night a time of rest. Allah says:

وَالنَّهَارِ إِذَا جَلَّـهَا - وَالَّيْلِ إِذَا يَغْشَـهَا

(By the day as it shows up its brightness. By the night as it conceals it.) (91:3-4)

وَالَّيْلِ إِذَا يَغْشَى - وَالنَّهَارِ إِذَا تَجَلَّى

(By the night as it envelops. By the day as it appears in brightness. ) (92:1-2)

وَالضُّحَى - وَالَّيْلِ إِذَا سَجَى

(By the forenoon (after sunrise). By the night when it darkens.) (93:1-2) And there are many similar Ayat.

يُخْرِجُ الْحَىَّ مِنَ الْمَيِّتِ وَيُخْرِجُ الْمَيِّتَ مِنَ الْحَىِّ

(He brings out the living from the dead, and brings out the dead from the living.) This is what we see of His power to create things and their opposites. These Ayat which come one after the other are all of the same; in each of them Allah mentions the creation of things and their opposites, to indicate to His creation the perfection of His power. Thus He creates the plant from the seed and the seed from the plant; He creates the egg from the chicken and the chicken from the egg; He creates man from sperm and sperm from man; He creates the believer from the disbelievers and the disbeliever from the believers.

وَيُحْىِ الاٌّرْضَ بَعْدَ مَوْتِهَا

(And He revives the earth after its death.) This is like the Ayat:

وَءَايَةٌ لَّهُمُ الاٌّرْضُ الْمَيْتَةُ أَحْيَيْنَـهَا وَأَخْرَجْنَا مِنْهَا حَبّاً فَمِنْهُ يَأْكُلُونَ

(And a sign for them is the dead land. We give it life, and We bring forth from it grains, so that they eat thereof.) until:

وَفَجَّرْنَا فِيهَا مِنَ الْعُيُونِ

(and We have caused springs of water to gush forth therein. ) (36:33-34)

وَتَرَى الاٌّرْضَ هَامِدَةً فَإِذَآ أَنزَلْنَا عَلَيْهَا الْمَآءَ اهْتَزَّتْ وَرَبَتْ وَأَنبَتَتْ مِن كُلِّ زَوْجٍ بَهِيجٍ

(And you see the earth barren, but when We send down water on it, it is stirred, and it swells and puts forth every lovely kind.) until:

وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ يَبْعَثُ مَن فِى الْقُبُورِ

(and certainly, Allah will resurrect those who are in the graves.) (22:5-7)

وَهُوَ الَّذِى يُرْسِلُ الرِّيَاحَ بُشْرىً بَيْنَ يَدَىْ رَحْمَتِهِ حَتَّى إِذَآ أَقَلَّتْ سَحَابًا ثِقَالاً

(And it is He Who sends the winds as heralds of glad tidings, going before His mercy. Till when they have carried a heavy-laden cloud) until:

لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُونَ

(so that you may remember or take heed.) (7:57) Allah says here:

وَكَذَلِكَ تُخْرَجُونَ

(And thus shall you be brought out.)

فَسُبْحَانَ اللَّـهِ حِينَ تُمْسُونَ وَحِينَ تُصْبِحُونَ وَلَهُ الْحَمْدُ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْ‌ضِ وَعَشِيًّا وَحِينَ تُظْهِرُ‌ونَ

So, proclaim Allah's purity when you see the evening and when you see the morning. And to Him be praise in the heavens and the earth, and in the afternoon and when you enter the time of Zuhr (soon after the decline of the sun towards West). (30:17-18)

The word 'subhan' (سُبْحَانَ ) is an infinitive which means 'to declare the purity of someone from defects'. The phrase 'subhanallah' (فَسُبْحَانَ اللَّـهِ ) is meant to proclaim Allah's purity from all defects. To recite this phrase with this intention is called 'tasbih'. But in general usage, the word 'tasbih' often includes all forms of worship and remembrance of Allah, like salah, dhikr, etc. In the present verse, a verb is understood before the infinitive 'subhan' which is meant to direct the addressees to make 'tasbih' which, in its general sense, includes all forms of remembrance of Allah, and salah in particular, as explained above. In the light of this explanation, the present verse, in its beginning, enjoins upon its followers that they should remember Allah in the morning and evening, and at the end of the verse, it is instructed that they should remember Him at the other two times, عَشِيًّا وَحِينَ تُظْهِرُ‌ونَ. One of these times is 'ashiyy' (عَشِیّ ) which is the name of the last part of the day, and here it refers to the time of ` Asr; and the other time is when the sun starts declining towards West, that is Zuhr.

In the sequence of the present verse, evening is mentioned before morning, and the end of the day (` Asr) is mentioned before Zuhr. One reason of precedence of evening over morning is that in Islamic calendar evening precedes the morning, and the date changes at the sunset (Maghrib). For precedence of ` Asr over zuhr one reason could be that at the time of ` Asr, which is also called the middle (wusta) prayer, people are generally busy in their work, and hence, it is rather difficult to offer prayer at that time. This is why there is greater emphasis in the Qur'an for offering ` Asr prayers حَافِظُوا عَلَى الصَّلَوَاتِ وَالصَّلَاةِ الْوُسْطَىٰ (Take due care of all the prayers, and the middle prayer, - 2:238)

In the wordings of this verse the prayer (salah) is not specified as such. Hence, all types of worships, whether by actions or by word of mouth, are included in the meaning of the verse. Since prayer is supreme in all worships, it is included here on priority. It is for this reason that the scholars have stated that this verse has clearly described and defined the timings of the five prayers. Someone asked Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ whether the Qur'an has specifically mentioned about the five prayers? He answered in the affirmative, and quoted this verse as a proof. Then explaining his point, he said that the words," when you see the evening" (حِین تُمسُونَ ) are for maghrib prayer, "when you see the morning" (حِینَ تُصبِحُونَ )for fajr prayer, "in the afternoon" (عَشِیَّا) for ` Asr prayer, "and when you enter the time of zuhr" (وَ حِینَ تُظھِرُون) for zuhr prayer. In this way, this verse has described the four prayers very clearly. As for the ` Isha' prayer, it is enjoined explicitly in the verse مِن بَعْدِ صَلَاةِ الْعِشَاءِ (After the prayer of ` Isha' - 24:58). Sayyidna Hasan Al-Basri (رح) has opined that the words, "when you see the evening" include both maghrib and ` Isha' prayers.

Special Note

This verse is the dhikr of Sayyidna Ibrahim ؓ which earned him the title of وَإِبْرَ‌اهِيمَ الَّذِي وَفَّىٰ (And Ibrahim who fulfilled his covenant - 53:37). Sayyidna Ibrahim used to recite these words in the morning and evening.

It is reported from Sayyidna Mu` adh Ibn 'Anas ؓ with authentic proofs that the reason behind awarding the title of 'fulfilling his covenant' to Sayyidna Ibrahim (علیہ السلام) was his recitation of this prayer.

Abu Dawud, Tabarani and Ibn- us- Sunni have reported on the authority of Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ that the Holy Prophet ﷺ said about these two verses:

فَسُبْحَانَ اللَّـهِ حِينَ تُمْسُونَ وَحِينَ تُصْبِحُونَ ﴿17﴾ وَلَهُ الْحَمْدُ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْ‌ضِ وَعَشِيًّا وَحِينَ تُظْهِرُ‌ونَ ﴿18﴾ يُخْرِ‌جُ الْحَيَّ مِنَ الْمَيِّتِ وَيُخْرِ‌جُ الْمَيِّتَ مِنَ الْحَيِّ وَيُحْيِي الْأَرْ‌ضَ بَعْدَ مَوْتِهَا ۚ وَكَذَٰلِكَ تُخْرَ‌جُونَ

So, proclaim Allah's purity when you see the evening and when you see the morning. And to Him be praise in the heavens and the earth, and in the afternoon and when you enter the time of Zuhur (soon after the decline of the sun towards West). He brings out the living from the dead and brings out the dead from the living, and gives life to the land after it is dead. And in similar way you will be brought out. (30:17-19)

That whoever will recite them in the morning, all shortcomings in his acts during the day will be repaired; and whoever will recite these verses in the evening all shortcomings in his actions during the night will be repaired. (Ruh).

The existence of a perfect and complete world is a definite proof of the First Creation. If the first creation was possible, why should the second creation not be possible? If one accepts the present world, but does not accept the Hereafter, it amounts to denying a natural corollary of a fact which one has oneself accepted as such. ‘The guilty’ refers to the influential people who led the campaign against the Truth, and who provided arguments in support of the denial of Truth. When the Doomsday explosion dislocates the system of the world, the guilty ones will suddenly realize that the supports of which they had been proud were without foundation. The words which, according to them, supplied uncontradictable arguments in favour of their stand, will all prove false. When they see conditions which are quite contrary to their expectations and which shatter their illusions, they will be dumbfounded. On the Day of Judgement, human beings will be divided into two groups—one consisting of those who glorify God and offer praises to Him, and the other consisting of those who do quite the reverse. The people of the first group are those who realize God to such a degree that He becomes the sole topic of their conversation. A definite manifestation of this glorification of God and offering praises is the prayers offered five times a day. In this verse, the offering of praises ‘in the morning’ means the fajr. The prayers of maghrib, and ‘isha are included in the words ‘in the evening’. Prayer at midday is called zuhr, while that of in the late afternoon is called ‘asr.