Man is offer erring and sinning and more often than not stepping away from the righteous path as shown by Allah. Yet, awhile later those with true conscious revert to Allah asking for forgiveness and showing their very sincere repentance. For such true servants, Allah gives them the right words to ask for forgiveness and seek mercy.
Such are the two verses, 109 and 111, of Surah 23. Al-Muminun that we choose today for the guidance of believers, specially the reverts, who may not have as yet read the entire Qur'an with translation:
اِنَّهٗ كَانَ فَرِيۡقٌ مِّنۡ عِبَادِىۡ يَقُوۡلُوۡنَ رَبَّنَاۤ اٰمَنَّا فَاغۡفِرۡ لَـنَا وَارۡحَمۡنَا وَاَنۡتَ خَيۡرُ الرّٰحِمِيۡنَۖۚ
(23:109) You are those that when a party of My servants said: 'Our Lord, we believe, so forgive us, and have mercy on us, for You are the Best of those that are merciful,'
This verse is directed toward the disbelievers wherein Allah taunts them that despite your mockery and teasers and that you made fun of them for calling on Me and praying to Me, my servants continued to believe in me and praying for forgiveness and mercy for I alone is the best of the merciful.
Qur'an Wiki:
The crime they perpetrated was not merely that they disbelieved and made their rejection of the faith a personal matter, which is in itself a grave offence. They went much further by allowing their stupid impudence to go as far as ridiculing the believers who pray to God for mercy and forgiveness. They derided them so often that such derision became their main preoccupation, stopping them from remembering God and glorifying Him, and from reflecting on the numerous signs God has placed in the world pointing them in the direction of faith. They are now called upon to compare their own station with that of the people they ridiculed. “Today I have rewarded them for their patience in adversity. Indeed it is they who have achieved triumph.” (Verse 111)
Muhammad Asad Explanation: Lit., "the best of those [or "of all"] who show mercy". The same expression is found in the concluding verse of this surah as mentioned herein under:
وَقُلْ رَّبِّ اغۡفِرۡ وَارۡحَمۡ وَاَنۡتَ خَيۡرُ الرّٰحِمِيۡنَ
(23:111) And say, (O Muhammad): "My Lord, forgive us and have mercy on us, for You are the Best of those that are merciful."
That is for the harm and mockery that you inflicted on my servants, I have caused them to attain the victory of joy, safety, Paradise and salvation from the Fire.'
Compare and contrast this prayer with (verse 109). Here the Prophet (peace be upon him) has been told to make the same prayer as contained in (verse 109), as if to say, You (and your followers) should supplicate Allah with the same prayer so that, if the people scoff at you, they themselves might provide a proof of a strong case against themselves.
Here Allah is teaching us to recite this supplication, for forgiveness, in a general sense, means wiping away sins and concealing them from people, and mercy means guiding a person and helping him to say and do good things.
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.
- 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.
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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