Remember Allah standing, sitting, or lying on your sides. Indeed, prayer has been decreed upon the believers at specified times.
“Remember Allah standing, sitting, or lying on your sides. Indeed, prayer has been decreed upon the believers at specified times.”
When you, O believers, have finished the prayer, then remember Allah by glorifying Him by saying ‘Subḥān Allah’, praising Him by saying ‘Alḥamdulillāh’ and declaring His Oneness by saying ‘Lā ilāha illallāh’. This is to be done however possible, whether you are standing, sitting or lying on your sides.
The plain meaning, from Al-Mukhtasar fi at-Tafsir
فَإِذَا قَضَيْتُمُ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ فَٱذْكُرُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ قِيَٰمًا وَقُعُودًا وَعَلَىٰ جُنُوبِكُمْ ۚ فَإِذَا ٱطْمَأْنَنتُمْ فَأَقِيمُوا۟ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ ۚ إِنَّ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ كَانَتْ عَلَى ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ كِتَٰبًا مَّوْقُوتًا
And when you have completed the prayer, remember Allah standing, sitting, or lying on your sides. But when you become secure, re-establish regular prayer. Indeed, prayer has been decreed upon the believers a decree of specified times.
What does Quran 4:103 mean?
This was revealed in the context of prayer in danger — the passage before it describes how to pray when an enemy is near, in shifts, with weapons kept close. The remembrance in every posture is what remains when the prayer’s form has to be cut down. And the verse ends by fixing the point that does not bend: the prayer is written for the believers at set times.
Written from Al-Mukhtasar fi at-Tafsir