Our Lord! Ward off from us the chastisement of Hell - Verily it is a wretched abode

The believers are always mindful of their errors and sins that have been committed knowing or unknowingly and are forever repenting and asking for forgiveness so that the chastisement of hell could be warded off from them. The fear of torment of hellfire constantly keeps them at ease and they are all the time praying and supplicating for aversion of this dreadful place. The following two verses from Surah 25. Al Furqan show the way to the believers as how to invoke Allah's countless blessings so that they may be forgiven:

وَالَّذِيۡنَ يَقُوۡلُوۡنَ رَبَّنَا اصۡرِفۡ عَنَّا عَذَابَ جَهَـنَّمَ ​ۖ  اِنَّ عَذَابَهَا كَانَ غَرَامًا ​ۖ ‏ 

اِنَّهَا سَآءَتۡ مُسۡتَقَرًّا وَّمُقَامًا‏ 

(25:65) who entreat: "Our Lord! Ward off from us the chastisement of Hell, for its chastisement is one that clings. (25:66) Verily it is a wretched abode and resting place.

These two verses are in fact continuation of previous two verses which describe the traits of a true believer [(25:63) The true servants of the Merciful One are those who walk on the earth gently and when the foolish ones address them, they simply say: "Peace to you";] and [(25:64) who spend the night prostrating themselves before their Lord and standing;]

And when they [ray to their Lord, they entreat "Our Lord! Ward off from us the chastisement of Hell, for its chastisement is one that clings. (25:66) Verily it is a wretched abode and resting place.

Yusuf Ali interprets this invocation and notes:

This is a prayer of humility: such a person relies, not on any good works which he may have done, but on the Grace and Mercy of Allah; and he shows a lively sense of the Day of Judgment, when every action will weigh for or against a soul. The misery which results from sin is not only grievous to live in ("an abode") but also grievous "to rest in" or "to stand in", if it be only for a short time.

Tafsir Ibn Kathir: 

(And those who say: "Our Lord! Avert from us the torment of Hell. Verily, its torment is ever an inseparable punishment.'') meaning, ever-present and never ending. 

Al-Hasan said concerning the Ayah, (Verily, its torment is ever an inseparable, permanent punishment.) Everything that strikes the son of Adam, then disappears, does not constitute an inseparable, permanent punishment. The inseparable, permanent punishment is that which lasts as long as heaven and earth. 

This was also the view of Sulayman At-Taymi. (Evil indeed it is as an abode and as a place to rest in.) means, how evil it looks as a place to dwell and how evil it is as a place to rest.

[4] True believers always remember the hereafter and the day of reckoning. They believe that all human deeds will be accounted for on that day, the good will be rewarded multiple times, and the evil will be rewarded accordingly. When they munajat with God at night, it is reflected in their minds how terrible the atmosphere at that time is as if they really saw how ferocious the fire of hell is, which always awaits the disobedient servants of Allah to become its prey and food. At that time their tears fell and they earnestly begged God to be freed from the torments of that painful hellfire.

People who have such strong belief in the hereafter will certainly use the opportunity of living in this world to do as much good as possible and will not do evil deeds because they are sure that their actions will be rewarded with painful torment. No matter how good a regulation is made by humans and how strict supervision is in its implementation, humans who are not aware of Allah's supervision can escape from the bonds of those rules and laws. However, a man who believes, if there are no rules and laws, will not commit a single crime, because he is aware that even though he can be free from punishment in this world, he will not be able to escape the punishment in the hereafter.

This verse explains how a believer is truly afraid of falling into the torments of hell because the torment is so painful and terrible. Hell is the worst place reserved for the servant of Allah who denies and is disobedient. The unbelievers are in it forever, suffering all kinds of torments. Even though their skin has been scorched and the heat of hellfire has penetrated into the flesh and bones, they still live to feel the torment as it is in His words:

Truly, those who disbelieve in Our verses, will be Us. enter into hell. Every time their skin was scorched, We replaced it with another skin, so that they would taste the punishment. Truly, Allah is all-powerful, all-wise. (Surah 4 An-Nisa ': 56). 

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: Chapter 25,Selected Invocations from Quran,Selected Prayers from Quran,Surah Al Furqan,Verses 65-66