The previous verses are about divorce. Then comes a verse that is not about the rules for family and divorce but about prayers:

( حَافِظُوا عَلَى الصَّلَوَاتِ وَالصَّلَاةِ الْوُسْطَىٰ..) (Maintain with care the [obligatory] prayers and [in particular] the middle prayer…): There should have been a sequence of themes had the Qur’an been authored by humans. However, the Qur’an is miraculous and set by the Lord of Humans. Thus, the context is different as there is a unity of the obligations under faith. On the other hand, the family, man and woman need tranquility after the talk about divorce which is the most detestable lawful act to Allah and which causes disagreement and rift. The question here is what would the thing that brings tranquility over upon the society and makes humans assured, satisfied and content? They are the prayers. That’s why Prophet Muhammad (saws) used to said:

“O Bilal, call iqamah for prayer: give us comfort by it[1].”

Whenever something wrong happens with him he resorts to prayer. Give us comfort from all the burdens of life through the prayer. So, when the burdens are those of the problems between the man and the woman within the family which is being deconstructed, we should resort to Allah (swt) who legitimizes and sets the rules for divorce to bring back the balance to one’s self and, and thus, the man and the woman are assured.

( حَافِظُوا عَلَى الصَّلَوَاتِ وَالصَّلَاةِ الْوُسْطَىٰ..) (Maintain with care the [obligatory] prayers and [in particular] the middle prayer…): Maintain and never miss. We have a general thing and a special one mentioned here. ‘prayers’ is the general thing, and ‘the middle prayer’ is the special one that is part of the general thing. What is the point when a general thing is mentioned and a special thing that is part of the general thing is mentioned? An example of the same is the Sura of (Nooh):

 {رَّبِّ اغْفِرْ لِي وَلِوَالِدَيَّ وَلِمَن دَخَلَ بَيْتِيَ مُؤْمِنًا وَلِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتِ وَلَا تَزِدِ الظَّالِمِينَ إِلَّا تَبَارًا }

(My Lord, forgive me and my parents and whoever enters my house a believer and the believing men and believing women. And do not increase the wrongdoers except in destruction.”)  (Nooh: 28)

The special thing here is praying for the father and the mother which is repeated thrice (in person, when they enter the house and as believers): {My Lord, forgive me and my parents and whoever enters my house a believer} This also goes for the father and the mother when they enter the house as believers: {and the believing men and believing women.} In such case the special thing is mentioned as part of the general one. The same goes for the ‘middle prayer.’ What is the middle prayer? Allah (swt) mentions it without naming. We all know that there are five prayer times: Fajr (dawn), Dhuhr (noon), Asr (afternoon), Maghreb (sunset), and Ishaa (night); and this means that the middle prayer is the afternoon one (Asr). Yet, the sunset prayer (Maghreb) is considered the middle prayer in term of the number of Raka’s since it’s made up of three Raka’s which is the middle between two and four Raka’s. All prayers are either of two Raka’s like Fajr (dawn) prayer or four like the Dhuhr, Asr, and Ishaa (noon, afternoon, and night respectively) except for the Maghreb (sunset) prayer, which may be the middle prayer.

The middle prayer may also be the Dhuhr (noon) prayer if we consider the revelation of the Quran and the time by which prayers were enjoined, i.e. the first prayer started with.

In all, Allah (swt) has made it undisclosed so that you expect the middle prayer to be all the prayers, and thus, it’s as if you maintain all the prayer times. You do that while you expect all the prayers to be the middle prayer. However, the middle prayer is most likely to be the Asr (afternoon) prayer as it’s the middle of the five prayer times.

(… وَقُومُوا لِلَّهِ قَانِتِينَ  ) (….and stand before Allah, devoutly obedient): Devotion means to continue the thing. Prayer is not merely a set of moves but rather a matter of solemnity, submission and devotion to Allah (swt). Furthermore, it has to be maintained and established:

 {أَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ لِدُلُوكِ الشَّمْسِ إِلَىٰ غَسَقِ اللَّيْلِ وَقُرْآنَ الْفَجْرِ ۖ إِنَّ قُرْآنَ الْفَجْرِ كَانَ مَشْهُودًا }

(Establish prayer at the decline of the sun [from its meridian] until the darkness of the night and [also] the Qur’an of dawn. Indeed, the recitation of dawn is ever witnessed.)  (Al-Issra: 78)

The verse reads {Establish prayer} and not preform it. Prayer, then, should be as stated by Allah (swt):

 {قَدْ أَفْلَحَ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ* الَّذِينَ هُمْ فِي صَلَاتِهِمْ خَاشِعُونَ }

(Certainly will the believers have succeeded:% They who are during their prayer humbly submissive.)  (Al-Muminoon: 1-2)

So, submission is part of devotion.

[1] Sunan Abi Dawud, General Behavior Vol, Chapter: Salat al atamah (“darkness prayer”), Hadith no. 4985.