His command. The benefactor here is made a deputy of his Lord, and obeying the deputy is obeying the one who appointed him. “Whoever obeys the Messenger has obeyed God” [al-Nisaʾ 4:80].
This is why He, glory be to Him, said “Give thanks to Me,” using li, to encompass both senses. In both respects He said, “Seek help” in this “through patience and prayer” [al-Baqarah 2:45].
He likewise commanded help in what calls for thanksgiving, namely doing good by bestowing blessings. He said, “Help one another in goodness” [al-Maʾidah 5:2], meaning doing good by bestowing blessings, “and God-consciousness,” meaning make it a protection. This corresponds to prayer, for prayer protects against indecency and wrongdoing so long as the servant is clothed in it. God has named Himself the Protector. Prayer protects, and the servant is clothed in his prayer, which protects him from what we have mentioned. God is the Protector.
(Being Heedless of Prayer and Heedless Within It)
See how noble the state of prayer is for one who considers and sees clearly! Fortunate is the person who perseveres in it, guards it, and keeps it up. One sign of its nobility is that God attached the threat only to those heedless of it, leaving heedlessness within it outside the threat. He said, “Woe to those who pray, who are heedless of their prayer” [al-Maʿun 107:4–5]. He omitted “within their prayer.” In prayer the servant is engaged in intimate converse or witnessing. He may become heedless of converse through absorption in witnessing, or heedless of witnessing through absorption in converse by means of His speech.
His speech, glory be to Him, tells of the attributes of transcendence and praise due to Him, and tells of matters concerning created things, including rulings,
