Prayers and supplications are central to a true believer's faith for he knows unless he invokes the mercy of Allah, his prayers will not be answered. Throughout the history of mankind, even prophets have been invoking Allah's mercy by supplicating and praying so that they should be blessed. We too must never knock at any other door except that of Allah for answer to our woes lies solely there and nowhere else.
Today we share a supplication (the 40th verse of Surah 14. Ibrahim) which is attributed to the Prophet Ibraheem (Abraham, may peace be upon him) which he offered to thank Allah for having blessed him with two sons at very later stage of life and he thanked him for surely Allah hears all prayers:
رَبِّ اجۡعَلۡنِىۡ مُقِيۡمَ الصَّلٰوةِ وَمِنۡ ذُرِّيَّتِىۡ ۖ رَبَّنَا وَتَقَبَّلۡ دُعَآءِ
(14:40) My Lord! Enable me and my offspring to establish Prayer, and do accept, our Lord, this prayer of mine.
This verse is connected with the previous verse in which the revered prophet showed his gratitude to Allah for having blessed him with two sons:
اَلۡحَمۡدُ لِلّٰهِ الَّذِىۡ وَهَبَ لِىۡ عَلَى الۡـكِبَرِ اِسۡمٰعِيۡلَ وَاِسۡحٰقَؕ اِنَّ رَبِّىۡ لَسَمِيۡعُ الدُّعَآءِ(14:39) All praise be to Allah Who, despite my old age, has given me Ishmael and Isaac. Surely my Lord hears all prayers.
Thus it is seen that after after been blessing with two sons, he not only acknowledges that there is no one but Allah Who listens to all prayers, but goes on to further supplicates that may Allah enable him and sons establishers of regular prayers and is hopeful that his supplication will also be accepted.
Here is a lesson for many believers in some parts of Middle East and Asia who instead of invoking mercy of Allah, seek 'help' from worldly deities, in most cases dead saints by visiting their graves and when some of their 'prayers' are accepted, they attribute it to the saints and not to Allah, Who in fact is THE bestower of every blessing and answerer of all prayers.
Tafsir Ibn-Kathir:
(O my Lord! Make me one who performs Salah,), preserving its obligations and limits, (and (also) from my offspring,), make them among those who establish the prayer, as well, (our Lord! And accept my invocation.), all of my invocation which I invoked You with herein.
Muhammad Asad Explanation:
I.e., metonymically, "to remain utterly devoted to Thee". The particle min ("[some] of") preceding the word dhurriyati ("my offspring") is obviously an allusion to 2:124 , where God says in answer to Abraham's question about his descendants: "My covenant does not embrace the evildoers." Thus, Abraham has been given to understand that not all of his posterity would be righteous and that none can claim to belong to a "chosen people" by virtue of his or her descent from an apostle of God: a statement which relates not only to the Israelites, who descended from Abraham through Isaac, but also to the Arabian (Ishmaelite) branch of the Abrahamic peoples, from whom the Quraysh were to spring: hence, by implication, even to the unrighteous among the descendants of the Last Prophet, Muhammad, who belonged to the tribe of Quraysh.
Yusuf Ali Explanation:
Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born (Gen. xxi. 5); and as Isma'il was 13 years old when Abraham was 99. (Gen. xvii. 24-25), Isma'il was also a son of his father's old age, having been born when Abraham was 86 years old. The younger son's progeny developed the Faith of Israel and that of Christ; the elder son's progeny perfected the more universal Faith of Islam, the Faith of Abraham the True.
Abraham prays for both branches of his family, having a wider vision than some of the later Children of Israel.
Qur'an Wiki:
Prophet Abraham follows his thanksgiving with a supplication to God to make him always thankful. His thanks take the form of prayer, worship and obedience to God. Thus he declares his determination to always be a devout worshipper, but fears that something may divert him from it. Hence, he prays that God may help him to carry out his intention: “My Lord, cause me and [some of] my offspring to establish regular prayers. My Lord, accept my prayer.” (Verse 40)
Prophet Abraham’s supplication shows the irony in the Quraysh’s attitude, the Arab tribe which had custody of the Ka`bah. Abraham is appealing to God for help to attend to his prayers, and to enable him to perform these at all times. They, however, turn away from it, denying the truth of what God’s Messenger tells them of how Abraham prayed for himself and his offspring. Now, Abraham concludes his humble supplication by appealing to God to forgive him and forgive his parents and all believers (verse 41). He prays for that forgiveness to be forthcoming on the Day of Judgement when nothing is of benefit to anyone except the good works he or she may have done in life and God’s forgiveness for what they might have committed or omitted to do:
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.
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.
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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