Our Lord! let not our hearts deviate after Thou hast guided us

Leaving one's faith of birth and entering into the fold of Islam is one's very difficult and ultimate decision, for it entails leaving one's family and friends besides age old habits and inclinations. But equally difficult is to maintain the faith once adopted and cling to it for it entails a lot of rebuttal and isolation. Such are the difficult times for the reverts as are experienced and expressed in many revert experiences that I have shared or are available on the social media.

For such reverts and even believers with weak faith, Allah has given them a supplication in the 8th verse of Surah 3. Al-i'Imran:

رَبَّنَا لَا تُزِغۡ قُلُوۡبَنَا بَعۡدَ اِذۡ هَدَيۡتَنَا وَهَبۡ لَنَا مِنۡ لَّدُنۡكَ رَحۡمَةً ​ ۚ اِنَّكَ اَنۡتَ الۡوَهَّابُ‏ 

They pray to Allah: "Our Lord!" (they say) "let not our hearts deviate now after Thou hast guided us but grant us mercy from Thine own Presence; for Thou art the Grantor of bounties without measure.

Ibn Kathir explains that the above said verse means meaning, "Do not deviate our hearts from the guidance after You allowed them to acquire it. Do not make us like those who have wickedness in their hearts, those who follow the Mutashabih in the Qur'an. Rather, make us remain firmly on Your straight path and true religion.'' And make our hearts firm, and increase in our Faith and certainty. Truly, You are the Bestower.

Ibn Abi Hatim and Ibn Jarir recorded that Umm Salamah said that the Prophet used to supplicate:

يَا مُقَلِّبَ الْقُلُوبِ ثَبِّتْ قَلْبِي عَلَى دِينِك

(O You Who changes the hearts, make my heart firm on Your religion.)

He then recited, the above said ayat: ("Our Lord! Let not our hearts deviate (from the truth) after You have guided us, and grant us mercy from You. Truly, You are the Bestower.'')

At the end of the verse, a powerful attribute of Allah, Al-Wahhab (الوهاب) - The Liberal Bestower, The Giver of Gifts, has been mentioned. When Allah's blessings are asked for, it is this attribute of Allah which answer back and tell the believers not to be unhappy for He is a Liberal Bestower, never turns back any supplication made to him. 

Thus all Muslims who feel weak and reverts who come under immense pressure from those they have left, should more often than not supplicate to Allah reciting the above said ayat for help and satisfaction of the heart. May Allah help us understand Qur'ān and help us to act upon the commandments of Allah contained therein. Aameen.

For more Selected Verses, please refer to our reference page: Selected Invocations / Dua " دُعا " from the Qur'an. You may also refer to our Reference Pages for knowing more about Islam and Qur'ān.

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Reading the Qur'ān should be a daily obligation of a Muslim - Reading it with translation will make it meaningful. But reading its Exegesis / Tafsir will make you understand it fully.

An effort has been made to gather explanation / exegesis of the surahs / verses (ayat) of the Qur'ān from authentic sources and then present a least possible condensed explanation of the surah. In that:

• The plain translation has been taken from the Qur'ān officially published by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. [1]
• The exegesis of the chapters of the Quran is mainly based on the "Tafhim al-Qur'an - The Meaning of the Qur'an" by one of the most enlightened scholars of the Muslim World Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi. [2]  

In order to augment and add more explanation as already provided by [2], additional input has been interjected from following sources: 

• Towards Understanding the Quran
• Tafsir Ibn Khatir
• Muhammad Asad Translation
• Javed Ahmad Ghamidi / Al Mawrid
• Al-Quran, Yusuf Ali Translation
• Verse by Verse Qur'an Study Circle

In addition the references of  other sources which have been explored have also been given above. Those desirous of detailed explanations and tafsir (exegesis), may refer to these sites.

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Posted in: Al Wahhab,Chapter 3,Selected Invocations from Quran,Surah Al-i'Imran,Verse 8