It is permitted to you, that is, it is allowed for you, upon the night of the Fast, that is, at those moments of forgetfulness which intervene in the abstention mentioned during the time of your presence, to go in to your wives, to condescend to the temptations of your souls on account of the shares due to them, since you will not endure staying away from these given that these [temptations] constantly garb you and that you constantly dress yourselves with them, necessarily by virtue of [your souls] being attached [to you]; God knows that you have been betraying yourselves, by stealing [moments for those] shares during various times of such wayfaring, spiritual discipline or presence [that you may be involved in]; and so He has turned to you [relenting], and He has pardoned you. So now, that is, during the time of uprightness and stability in the state of subsistence after annihilation: lie with them, during those moments of forgetfulness, and seek what God has prescribed for you, of fearing God and having power over those shares by allowing for what is due in the way of uprightness and the fulfilment of what God has commanded of servanthood (ʿubūdiyya) and the calling [of others] to Him; and eat and drink, that is, be in the company [ḍ] of these [things], until the white thread is distinct to you from the black thread at daybreak, [that is] until there manifest upon you the glimpses and flashes of the Presence, [until] Its effects and lights prevail against the blackness and darkness of forgetfulness; [then complete the fast to the night; and do not lie with them, while you cleave to the mosques in devotion [to God]: then adhere to the mentioned abstention through [your] presence with the Truth until the time of forgetfulness comes [again]: for were it not for this [return of forgetfulness] a person would not be able to pursue [his] best interests for what concerns livelihood and [the fulfilment of] his duties. [Those are God's bounds; do not approach them]: and do not approach them in your state of spiritual retreat, during your stay and presence in the mosques of your heart, lest your [spiritual] moment be disturbed by the manifestation of these [temptations]. [So, God makes clear His signs to people so that they might fear.]
