7.47 Supplication for protection from being among the wrongdoers
This supplication, mentioned in the Quran, is one with which a special category of people will turn to Allah the Almighty. It is given in Surah al-A’raf (The Heights). This supplication is remarkable, among other things, in that it relates to the eternal world and not to our earthly existence. It is the supplication of people whose good and evil deeds will be equal on the Day of Judgment.
Having remained between Hell and Paradise for some time, they will in the end enter Paradise. On seeing the inhabitants of the Fire of Hell and the torments they will be subjected to, these people will be horrified and, seized by fear, will hasten to call upon their Lord, begging Him for mercy. Who, on seeing these distorted and blackened faces in the flames, would wish to be in their place?
Filled with hope, trusting entirely in Him alone, tying all their hopes exclusively to Him, utterly sincere in their supplication, these people held back between Paradise and Hell will call upon Him with these words.
“Our Lord!” they will say with humility and fear. Our Creator, whose mercy we seek, Sustainer of all, without whom nothing that now exists could exist, the One whose authority extends over all His creations, the One for whom nothing is impossible or beyond His power and to whom those who long for earthly and eternal happiness humbly call!
They showed that, despite the offences they committed in earthly life, they did not forget that He is their Lord, and they mentioned this at the very beginning of their supplication, thereby seeking to draw near to Him and hoping to earn His favour and receive an answer to their supplication.
It is not hard to imagine the state of these people, for what is at stake is their future, and not a few years or decades that make up earthly life, but eternity. Eternal bliss or eternal suffering. Eternal happiness or eternal pain. Success or ruin. The gardens of Paradise or the Fire of Hell. What does a person feel, knowing that one of the two awaits him, but not knowing which fate has been prepared for him?..
How much this supplication meant to them!
“Do not join us with the wrongdoing people!” Do not include us among those who have wronged themselves and brought Your anger upon themselves. Do not make us one of those who by their disbelief, disobedience and sins have earned a place in the Fire. Do not join us to the wretched people towards whom our gaze is now turned and who are being tormented so close to us. Let us not be with those who missed the chance of salvation given to them, who used their earthly lives for the wrong purpose, so that their lives were permeated and sealed with injustice! We wish for a different lot, the lot of God-fearing believers, Your sincere servants with whom You are pleased and whom You have willed to honour with Your Paradise.
One has only to reflect a little to understand how important this supplication is for each of us. Every believer has every reason to ask the Lord of the worlds for salvation and Paradise. For none of us is guaranteed salvation and success. And this supplication should certainly be in the arsenal of a Muslim.
So as not to share the fate of unjust people in the eternal world and not to be among them on the Day of Judgment, we must not side with them in this world. It is not without reason that they say: “Lie down with dogs, get up with fleas.” If a person prefers the company of the unjust, and such surroundings are more desirable to him than the surroundings of God-fearing and righteous people, what outcome does he expect for his affairs? What, as he imagines it, should the result of his earthly life be? Which of the two abodes is he heading for?.. In making such a choice he exposes himself to a very serious danger.
In saying this supplication, we ask Allah not only to distance us from injustice, but also to protect us from the fate of the unjust. And the task of a believer is not to be with such people either in this world or in the eternal world, for they drag down to the bottom everyone who joins them.
This supplication teaches us to avoid everything that leads to a bad end, that is, words, deeds and moral qualities that do not please the Almighty.
And, of course, to ask Allah not only that we should not be among the unjust, but that we should not even be near them, for this is not the neighbourhood to strive for.