60.4 Supplication for rescue from hostile disbelievers
60.5 Supplication not to become a trial for the disbelievers, and for forgiveness
This wonderful supplication from the Book of the Almighty is among those with which His noble prophets and other God-fearing believers turned to the Lord of the worlds. The prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) and the believers who were with him turned to the Almighty Maker with this supplication. This happened after they had declared to their disbelieving people that they were renouncing them.
They began their supplication with a courteous address: “Our Lord!” Having first acknowledged the Lordship of the Almighty, they continued the supplication in the proper way. We see that these people used several ways of drawing near to Him at once, including the mention of their own good deeds, done with a sincere intention. Firstly, they mentioned their trust in Him and their turning to Him. And secondly, they mentioned their faith in the Day of Judgment and the Hereafter. They mentioned all this because these actions are pleasing to the Almighty, and in this way they sought to draw near to the Lord, striving to increase their chances that their supplication would not go unanswered.
Since this was a prophet of God and his companions, there is enormous benefit for us in following their good example. For when we follow in the footsteps of God-fearing believers, we thereby make our path to Paradise easier.
These believers, among whom was Ibrahim (peace be upon him), trusted in Allah the Almighty in the most sincere way and turned to Him alone, acknowledging their offences and shortcomings. And they did not forget for a minute that they were to return to the Lord of the worlds and that after death resurrection and reckoning awaited them. They knew that beyond death there is another life, and that they would certainly stand before Allah and answer to Him for everything they had done in earthly life. In other words, these were deeply believing, righteous and supremely conscientious people, whose thoughts, words and deeds were good and who, moreover, were a model of courtesy and modesty towards the Almighty Creator.
This supplication testifies to the completeness of the faith of those who turned to the Lord with it, and to the fact that they understood religion deeply and professed monotheism in the best way.
“Our Lord! Do not subject us to the persecution of the disbelievers.” (Surah 60 «Al-Mumtahana», Ayah 5) That is, do not punish us by their hands and do not send down Your punishment upon us, so that the disbelievers do not say: “If what they hold to were the truth, this would not have befallen them!” But these words may also mean: do not let them prevail over us, so that this does not become a trial for them, for if this happens they will decide that they have overcome us because they hold to the truth.
This supplication teaches us to ask Allah the Almighty for well-being and protection from every evil. Who will protect us if not He, our Lord and God? It is with Him that we should seek protection, it is Him we should ask for help and for rescue from harm, whether possible or already upon us, and it is of Him that we should ask for good in both worlds. For troubles and temptations can be truly terrible, and there is no more serious and terrible temptation than when someone tries to force a believer to renounce his religion or tries to inspire in him an aversion to following the straight path.
The prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) and his pious companions ended their supplication with a request for forgiveness, and this is another valuable lesson for us. We should ask the Lord for forgiveness as often as possible, for who among us is without sin?.. And all of us wish to enter Paradise and fear being in the Fire even for a few moments.
We see also that at the end of their supplication these believers resorted to yet another means of drawing near to Allah, the mention of His beautiful names: “You ˹alone˺ are truly the Almighty, All-Wise.” Of His names they chose the most fitting and used precisely those, thereby seeking to draw near to the Creator and striving to earn His pleasure.