Supplication to Remove Hatred from the Heart: Quranic Supplications 20
During Ramadan 2023, Sheikh Faraz Rabbani gave a series of daily video talks on supplications in the Quran. This series of articles are drawn from those talks and the related eBook. This article is about removing hatred from the heart. The video series can be viewed here.
رَبَّنَا ٱغْفِرْ لَنَا وَلِإِخْوَٰنِنَا ٱلَّذِينَ سَبَقُونَا بِٱلْإِيمَـٰنِ وَلَا تَجْعَلْ فِى قُلُوبِنَا غِلًّۭا لِّلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ رَبَّنَآ إِنَّكَ رَءُوفٌۭ رَّحِيمٌ
“Our Lord, forgive us and our brethren who won unto true faith before us; Nor put the slightest rancor in our hearts for any who believe: Our Lord, verily You are all-tender, all-compassionate.” [Quran, 59:10]
This supplication contains an amazing expression of concern, but also contains within it profound spiritual lessons. “O Lord, forgive us.” This is a consistent theme in the Quran because forgiveness is an encompassing concept. It is to be both cleansed of sin and shortcomings but also to be enrobed in goodness, and grace, beauty, and virtue.
“O Lord forgive us and forgive our brethren who have preceded us in faith,” of our own family, of our parents, and our grandparents, and our ancestors. But also forgive the people around us, of our families, and their ancestors all the way back.
Transcendent Good
Our concern for good transcends generations. We pray for future generations, but we also pray for those who came before us. Not only from our families, but other people. For the good that we find is the result of the efforts and striving of so many before us. We have gratitude for all of them, and we want forgiveness for us and for them.
“And do not place in our hearts any rancor whatsoever for any of those who have believed.” – وَلَا تَجْعَلْ فِى قُلُوبِنَا غِلًّۭا لِّلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟. This is a commitment that we make and we have the courage to ask Allah, but then we must have the courage to live it. Because what do we present to God on the Day of Resurrection? We present to God a heart that is sound. Sound in its state with God and sound in its relationship with God’s creation.
A Heart that Is Clear
When your uncle disappoints you, when so and so distresses you, when so and so lets you down, when so and so wrongs you, when so and so hurts you. Can we live without rancor? And that’s to be free. We take the means to rectify wrong, to seek our rights when we choose to seek them, and to overlook when we choose to overlook, but with a heart that is clear.
“O Lord, indeed You are the All-Tender,” – رَبَّنَآ إِنَّكَ رَءُوفٌۭ رَّحِيمٌ. And tenderness is a particular type of mercy – of the Subtle Care, the Overlooking, the Caring and Most Compassionate.
We ask Allah to grant us the courage to be the servants of the All-Tender. To be servants of the All-Compassionate in the way we have the courage to conduct ourselves with concern for all and rancor for none.
Praise be to Allah, Lord of all the worlds.
