(Those who say: "Our Lord! We have indeed believed") in You, Your Book and Your Messenger.
so forgive us our sins
because of our faith in You and in what You legislated for us. Therefore, forgive us our errors and shortcomings, with Your bounty and mercy,
and save us from the punishment of the Fire.
The verse teaches that even after saying
indeed, we have believed
this shows that the believers do not rely on their faith alone. And afterwords they say:
So forgive us our sins
the Salaf often pointed to this as evidence that true believers combine:
faith,
humility,
fear of Allah,
and seeking forgiveness
They do not feel secure because of their deeds
The Qur'an repeatedly describes the Spiritual Character of true belivers. Here are some selected ones
Here Allah lists the qualities of of successful belivers:
Humble and focussed in prayer
Avoid vain speech
Give zakah
Guard their chastity
Fulfill trusts
Keep their promises
Preserve their prayers
Then the result is
They are the inheritors
Who will inherit al-Firdaws.
The Servants of the Most Merciful
their attributes are:
Walk humbly
Respond peacefully to ignorance
Spend part of the night in worship
Fear Hellfire
Are moderate in spending
Avoid shirl
Avoid murder
Avoid zina
Do not bear false witness
Do not engage in useless gatherings
Make du'a for righteous families
The believers are only those who, when Allah is mentioned, feel a fear in their hearts
in other words, When Allah is mentioned
Whose hearts tremble
faith increases when Verses are recited
place their trust in Allah
establish prayer
spend from what Allah provided
Allah concludes about thses people by saying
It is they who are the believers in truth
This surah is almost a handbook of Muslim character
Believers:
do not mock others
do not insult others
avoid offensive nicknames
avoid excessive suspicion
avoid spying
avoid backbiting
reconcile disputes
honor the brotherhood of believers
Qualities of the People of Paradise
They:
spend in ease and in hardship
retain anger
pardon others
when they sin, they remember Allah and seek forgiveness
do not persist in sin knowingly
Allah the Exalted informs about those who have Taqwa, that on the Day of their Return they will be amidst gardens and springs.
To the contrary the miserable ones will be amidst torment, punishment, fire and chains.
Taking joy in the things which their Lord has given them.
describes the state of of the people of Taqwa in the midst of gardens and springs. They will recieve what their Lord gives them, meaning. delight, happiness and favors.
Allah the Exalted and Most Honored said,
"Verily, they were before that", in the life of the world
And also Allah says in Surah Al-Haqqah
Eat and drink at ease for that which you have sent on before you in days past
They used to sleep but little at night
The Scholars of Tafsir have two opinions surrounding this explanation
The first is that, they used to spend a little part of every night awake. Ibn `Abbas said, "Every night, they would worship Allah, even during a little part of the night." Qatadah narrated that Mutarrif bin `Abdullah said, "Hardly a night would pass by them that they did not pray to Allah the Exalted and Most Honored, either in the beginning, or the middle of it." Mujahid said, "Only a few nights, if any, would they sleep through the night until the morning without praying Tahajjud." Qatadah said similarly. Anas bin Malik and Abu Al-`Aliyah said, "They used to pray between Al-Maghrib and Al-`Isha"
They used to spend a little part of the night in sleep. This was preferred by Ibn Jarir. Al-Hasan Al-Basri said: كَانُواْ قَلِيلاً مِّن الَّيْلِ مَا يَهْجَعُونَ
"They performed voluntary night prayer and would not sleep during the night except a little. They were active and would continue until they were seeking forgiveness right before dawn."
In other words
they sleep little at night
they seek forgiveness before dawn
they give charity to the needy
`Abdullah bin Salam said, "When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ arrived at Al-Madinah, people quickly gathered around him and I was among them. When I saw his face, I knew that it was not the face of a liar. The first statement I heard from him was,
«يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ أَطْعِمُوا الطَّعَامَ، وَصِلُوا الْأَرْحَامَ، وَأَفْشُوا السَّلَامَ، وَصَلُّوا بِاللَّيْلِ وَالنَّاسُ نِيَامٌ، تَدْخُلُوا الْجَنَّةَ بِسَلَام»1~«يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ أَطْعِمُوا الطَّعَامَ، وَصِلُوا الْأَرْحَامَ، وَأَفْشُوا السَّلَامَ، وَصَلُّوا بِاللَّيْلِ وَالنَّاسُ نِيَامٌ، تَدْخُلُوا الْجَنَّةَ بِسَلَام»1~يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ أَطْعِمُوا الطَّعَامَ، وَصِلُوا الْأَرْحَامَ، وَأَفْشُوا السَّلَامَ، وَصَلُّوا بِاللَّيْلِ وَالنَّاسُ نِيَامٌ، تَدْخُلُوا الْجَنَّةَ بِسَلَام
O people! Feed with food, keep relations to kith and kin, spread the Salam, pray at night while people are asleep, and you will enter Paradise in peace
Imam Ahmad recorded that `Abdullah bin `Umar said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,
Verily, there are lofty rooms in Paradise in which their outside can be seen from inside and their inside from the outside
Abu Musa Al-Ash`ari said, "Who are they for, O Allah's Messenger"
For those who use soft speech, feed food and spend the night in voluntary prayer while people are asleep.
For these people, Allah said
And in the hours before dawn, they were asking for forgiveness
Mujahid and several others said "They were performing Salah"
While others said that they would stand in prayer during the night and delayed asking Allah for forgiveness until the latter hours before dawn
Confirmed hadith from the Sahih collections, as well as others, from several Companions, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,
Allah, the Most High, descends each night to the lowest heaven when the last third of the night remains. He says, "Is there anyone who is repenting so that I may accept his repentance Is there anyone seeking forgiveness, so that I may forgive him Is there anyone asking of Me, so that I may grant him his request" until Fajr begins.
A good supplication of Prophet Yusuf AS