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Showing posts with label Surah Az-Zukhruf. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Surah Az-Zukhruf. Show all posts

Sunday 9 May 2021

Supplication / Dua before mounting a means of transportation

Qur'an is an excellent guide to live a peaceful and thankful life. Allah on each step has provided guidelines to the true believers to live a life as prescribed by Him. For this purpose, there are many supplications and prayers loaded in the Qur'an wherein Allah puts the right words in a believer's mouth so that he doesn't fall short of the right words. 

In our series of posts on " Selected Invocations  (Dua / دُعا) from Qur'ān " we share a beautiful supplication which Allah wants us to pray whenever mounting a means of transportation, including horses, camels, ships, steamers, railways, aeroplanes, airships, cars or even bikes and cycles.  This supplication, which is the 13th verse Surah 43. Az-Zukhruf will God Willing "In Sha Allah" save us from hazards during our journey:

لِتَسۡتَوٗا عَلٰى ظُهُوۡرِهٖ ثُمَّ تَذۡكُرُوۡا نِعۡمَةَ رَبِّكُمۡ اِذَا اسۡتَوَيۡتُمۡ عَلَيۡهِ وَتَقُوۡلُوۡا سُبۡحٰنَ الَّذِىۡ سَخَّرَ لَنَا هٰذَا وَمَا كُنَّا لَهٗ مُقۡرِنِيۡنَۙ‏  
(43:13) so that when you are mounted upon them you may remember the bounty of your Lord, and say: “Glory be to Him Who has subjected this to Us whereas we did not have the strength to subdue it."

Only man from among all the creatures of the earth has been given this power by Allah to use boats and ships and animals as conveyance. Should he never think and be grateful as to who it is who created possibilities for him to run boats in the mighty oceans, and who created some animals, among the countless kinds of animals, with a nature that they become his servants in spite of being far stronger than him in power, so he ride on them and drive them wherever he likes. To benefit by these blessings and to forget the Benefactor is a sign of the heart’s becoming dead and the conscience’s being insensitive. For, when a man endowed with a living heart and a sensitive conscience will sit on these conveyances, he will be filled with the feelings of the blessings and with the gratitude for it, and will cry out: Glorified is the Being Who subjected these things to me. Glorified is He from that another should be His associate in His Being and attributes and powers. Glorified is He and free from the weakness that He should become helpless of performing the functions of His Godhead by Himself and should stand in need of other associate gods. Glorified is He that I should make another an associate with Him in rendering thanks for these blessings.

The best practical commentary of the intention and meaning of this verse are the words that the Prophet (peace be upon him) used to pronounce at the time he sat on the conveyance. Abdullah bin Umar says that whenever the Prophet (peace be upon him) sat on a conveyance for a journey, he would pronounce Allahu-Akbar three times, then would recite this verse, and then pray: O God, I implore You to grant me in this journey the grace of goodness and piety and such acts as may please You. O God, make the journey easy and roll up the long distance for us. O God, You alone are the Companion during the journey and Guardian of the family in our absence. O God, take care of us during the journey and our household in our absence. (Musnad Ahmed, Muslim, Abu Daud, Nasai, Darimi, Tirmidhi).
Ali says: Once the Prophet (peace be upon him) put his foot in the stirrup with Bismillah, and then, after riding, said: Alhamdu-lillah subhan-alladhi sakhkhara lana hadha . . . . , then pronounced Alhamdu-lillah three times, and Allahu- Akbar three times; then said: Subhana-ka la-ilaha illa anta, qad zalamtu nafsi faghfir-li. Then he laughed. I asked: What made you laugh. O Messenger of Allah? He replied: When a servant says: Rabb-ighfir-li, Allah Almighty is very pleased with this. He says: My servant knows that there is none beside Me who can forgive sins. (Ahmed, Abu Daud, Tirmidhi, Nasai, and others)
Abu Mijlaz says: Once I rode on my animal and recited this verse: Subhan-alladhi sakhkhara lane hadha . . ., Hasan said: Have you been commanded to say so? I said: What should I say then? He replied: Say, thank God, Who guided us to Islam: Thanks to Him, Who did us a favor by sending Muhammad (peace be upon him): Thanks to Him Who admitted us into the best community that has been raised for the people; then recite this verse. (Ibn Jarir, Ahkam al- Quran by Jassas).
Tafsir Ibn-Kathir: The verse means, if it were not for the fact that Allah has subjugated these things to us, we could never have done this by our own strength.' Ibn `Abbas, Qatadah, As-Suddi and Ibn Zayd said: "We could not have done this ourselves.''

(And verily, to Our Lord we indeed are to return.) means, `We will return to Him after our death, and our ultimate destination is with Him.' In this Ayah, mention of earthly journeys draws attention to the journey of the Hereafter, just as elsewhere, mention of earthly provision draws attention to the importance of ensuring provision for the Hereafter, as Allah says:
(And take a provision (with you) for the journey, but the best provision is the Taqwa) (2:197). And mention of earthly garments is also used to draw attention to the raiment of the Hereafter:
(and as an adornment; and the raiment of the Taqwa, that is better) (7:26).

Qur'an Wiki: This is to remind man that God has placed him in charge of the earth, putting at his disposal its considerable and varied power and potential. It also invites man to show gratitude for God's choice and blessings, reminds him of the One who grants blessings every time such a blessing is enjoyed. Such expressions of gratitude for God's blessings is sure to keep our hearts alive to their bond with God at every turn in life: "So that when you are seated on their backs you remember your Lord's blessings and say: 'Limitless in His glory is He who has made all this subservient to our use. We could not have done it by ourselves." (Verse 13)

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'anYou 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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