Tafsir of Al Imran 3:189-191

In the "Small Counsels": Fill your eyes with the adornment of these stars, and let them roam through the totality of these wonders, reflecting on the power of their Ordainer and pondering the wisdom of their Director, before destiny carries you away and a barrier is placed between you and the ability to see.

From Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both): I said to Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her), "Tell me of the most wondrous thing you saw from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ)." She wept and paused for a long time, then said, "All of his affairs were wondrous. He came to me one night, entered my blanket until his skin touched mine, and said, 'O Aisha, will you permit me to worship my Lord tonight?' I said, 'O Messenger of Allah, I love your nearness and I love what pleases you, I have permitted you.' He stood up to a water skin in the house, performed ablution without using much water, and stood to pray. He recited from the Quran and began to weep until his tears reached his lap. Then he sat, praised Allah, and wept. He raised his hands and continued to weep until I saw his tears wetting the ground. Bilal came to call him for the morning prayer and saw him weeping. He said, 'O Messenger of Allah, do you weep when Allah has forgiven your past and future sins?' He replied, 'O Bilal, should I not be a grateful servant? And why should I not weep when Allah has revealed to me this night: "Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth..." (3:190)?' Then he said, 'Woe to the one who reads it and does not reflect upon it.'"

It is also narrated: "Woe to the one who chews it between his jaws and does not contemplate it."

From Ali (may Allah be pleased with him): When the Prophet (ﷺ) would rise at night, he would use the siwak, look at the sky, and say: "Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth..."

It is told that a man from the Children of Israel worshipped Allah for thirty years, and a cloud would shade him. A youth among them worshipped, but the cloud did not shade him. His mother asked, "Perhaps you committed a transgression?" He said, "I do not recall." She asked, "Perhaps you looked at the sky once and did not contemplate?" He said, "Perhaps." She said, "That is the only reason you were denied."

*From Ibn Umar, Urwah ibn al-Zubayr, and a group: They went out on the day of Eid to the prayer ground and began remembering Allah. Some said, "Did Allah not say: 'Remembering Allah while standing, sitting, and on their sides'?" So they stood and remembered Allah while on their feet.*

From the Prophet (ﷺ): "Whoever loves to graze in the gardens of Paradise, let him increase his remembrance of Allah."

It is said the meaning is: they pray in these states according to their ability. The Prophet (ﷺ) said to Imran ibn Husayn: "Pray standing; if you cannot, then sitting; if you cannot, then on your side, gesturing." (This is an argument for Al-Shafi’i regarding the patient lying on his side as in the grave. According to Abu Hanifa, he should lie on his back until he finds relief, then sit.)

From Sufyan al-Thawri: He prayed two rak'ahs behind the Maqam (of Ibrahim), then raised his head to the sky. When he saw the stars, he fainted, and he would urinate blood from the length of his sorrow and reflection.

From the Prophet (ﷺ): "While a man was lying on his bed, he raised his head and looked at the stars and the sky, and said, 'I bear witness that you have a Lord and a Creator. O Allah, forgive me.' Allah looked at him and forgave him."

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: "There is no worship like reflection."

It is said: Reflection removes heedlessness and produces in the heart a "woodiness" (firmness/growth), just as water produces vegetation for the earth. Hearts are not polished by anything like sorrows, and they are not illuminated by anything like reflection.

It is narrated from the Prophet (ﷺ): "Do not prefer me over Yunus ibn Matta, for he would have raised for him every day the equivalent of the deeds of the people of the earth." (They said: This was reflection on the command of Allah, which is the work of the heart, for no one can perform with their limbs in one day the equivalent of the deeds of the people of the earth.)

If you ask: To what does "this" refer? I say: To the "creation," meaning the created thing. It is as if it were said: "They reflect on the created heavens and earth," meaning what was created of them. It is also permissible that it refers to the heavens and the earth because they carry the meaning of "the created thing," as if it were said: "You have not created this wondrous creation in vain."

In this is a form of glorification, like His saying: "Indeed, this Quran guides to that which is most upright" (17:9). It is also permissible that "in vain" is a state of "this."

"Exalted are You" is an interjection for declaring Him free from play and from creating anything without wisdom.