25.74 Supplication for a happy family and exemplary piety
This beautiful supplication, full of deep meaning, is among the supplications mentioned in the Quran with which His pious and righteous servants, people of firm faith, turn to the Lord of the worlds. These sincere servants of the Most Merciful undoubtedly belong to the best representatives of the human race, to the worthiest descendants of Adam. The good nature of these people found expression in their beautiful, God-pleasing words and deeds.
Every supplication with which these people turn to Allah the Almighty can teach us a great deal. For we know for certain that they asked the Lord for what really matters. They asked of the Almighty Creator exactly what everyone who strives for salvation, success and Paradise should ask of Him. This supplication is a beautiful example for those who long for earthly and eternal happiness and wish to attain good in both worlds.
“Our Lord!” they called out, as thousands upon thousands of people called before them and as His believing servants continue to call upon the Lord of the worlds to this day. These simple words hold a bottomless depth of meaning. They imply faith in the Lordship of the Almighty, faith that He created all that exists, sustains the existence of His creations, gives them their provision and bestows on them many favours. How often, uttering these words out of habit, we do not stop to think at all about what they mean and what they oblige us to do.
“Bless us with ˹pious˺ spouses and offspring who will be the joy of our hearts”: with these words they came to the very essence of their supplication. The first thing they asked of the Almighty was that in His mercy He should grant them good spouses and righteous offspring. They meant wives, children and grandchildren who would gladden them with their righteousness and their obedience to the Lord of the worlds. For a devout, pious family, obedient to Allah, is a source of joy in both worlds for any believer.
The importance of this supplication cannot be denied. For those close to us, our family, are the people with whom we spend a considerable part of our earthly life and whom we care about. How often does a spouse or a child become for a person a light, a blessing and a source of great joy, or else plunge him into an abyss of grief and sorrow and cause him severe pain. How the people closest and dearest to us live, how they behave and what they do cannot but affect our lives.
A good, close-knit family that supports a person in his good undertakings, helps him in obedience to the Almighty and encourages him to do God-pleasing deeds is a wonderful help to any believer and an enormous blessing that he should by no means underestimate. This blessing is unquestionably worth asking the Almighty Lord for as often as possible, while attaining it is an undoubted reason for the most sincere and deepest gratitude to the Almighty Creator.
The importance of a righteous family and good offspring in no way depends on the time and place in which a believer lives. This makes the supplication relevant in every age and in every corner of the globe. For a family can be either a great blessing for a descendant of Adam or a source of suffering. How easy it is to create and build when those close to you support and help you! And how hard even modest achievements come when you find no understanding and approval from those closest to you.
And so, in turning to the Lord with such a supplication, we are in fact making a supplication for ourselves, for we ask for a good that brings us undoubted benefit. And looking still further, through this supplication we benefit the entire Muslim community, because the righteousness of our life partners and our offspring will contribute to the righteousness of those who come into contact with them: their relatives, friends, acquaintances, fellow students and colleagues at work.
“…And make us models for the righteous.” This is the second, no less important part of the supplication. Lord, make us an example for the God-fearing in our words, actions, moral qualities and in the profession of religion in general. Whoever attains such a position will succeed and gain the pleasure of the Lord, and this is a truly priceless acquisition.
This is a request for a countless multitude of blessings, contained in a few short words. For to serve as an example for the God-fearing means to speak good words, to do worthy deeds, to possess beautiful moral qualities and to behave accordingly. And this supplication is a request for the Lord’s help in all of this, which makes it possible to embrace this immeasurable good.