Supplication for Acceptance: Quranic Supplications 4
During Ramadan 2023, Sheikh Faraz Rabbani gave a series of daily video talks on supplications in the Quran. This series of articles is drawn from those talks and the related eBook. This fifth article is about asking Allah for acceptance. The video series can be viewed here.
رَبَّنَا تَقَبَّلْ مِنَّآ ۖ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ ٱلسَّمِيعُ ٱلْعَلِيمُ
“Our Lord, accept from us; verily You are the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing.” [Quran, 2:127]
This supplication begins with calling upon Allah, calling upon God as rabbana, our caring and nurturing Lord. When we call upon Allah as our Lord this affirms both the Majesty of Allah, but it is also one of the Divine Names of mercy. Because the Rabb, the caring Lord, is the One who nurtures us, who has concern for us, who has mercy for us, who sustains us, and who takes us towards eternal good.
When we call upon our Lord, we should intend and mean and feel Divine Mercy, care and concern, that should fill us up with hope, should fill us up with certainty, should fill us up with joy that we have a caring and concerned Lord. But we spread that concern not only to ourselves but to all people. When you say our Lord, for God is the Lord of all that exists, so when we call upon the good, typically it is in this plural sense: our Lord – رَبَّنَا.
Enveloped in His Mercy
All supplications should be meant before they are said. All supplications should be felt as they are expressed, and we should really mean that we are calling upon our Lord. We should also really mean and feel and spread our concern, that O Lord of all people, past, present and future, all living things, all existing things – تَقَبَّلْ مِنَّآ – “accept from us.”
We ask God for acceptance. Why? Because if the Most Generous accepts, He will accept in accordance with His Generosity. If the Most Merciful accepts, He will envelope you in His Mercy.
That acceptance is an eternal acceptance. “You are so generous, all I ask from you is that You accept me.” And we close with a declaration of certitude: إِنَّكَ أَنتَ ٱلسَّمِيعُ ٱلْعَلِيمُ. “Indeed, You alone are the All-Hearing and All-Knowing.” Why? Because other people may let you down. You may ask them, they may not reply. But Allah hears all things and He accepts all pleas.
This is a beautiful supplication, asking Allah for acceptance. It should fill us with confidence, with clarity, with comfort, with solace. It is a declaration of gratitude, because it is God who facilitated and then we ask the One who facilitated to accept by His mercy.
Praise be to Allah, Lord of all the worlds.
