O Allah, Protect Us from Ourselves
Anyone
who looks around modern society will quickly notice the many blessings
of technology and scientific advancement. As Muslims we recognize that
these are blessings from our beloved Creator who provided us with the
means to achieve peace and success.
We also see, as a result of people straying from God and His message, the ugly side of modernity.
Without
divine guidance, the evils of seeking power and open indulgence in our
desires have led to major individual as well as societal corruption.
A
true believer realizes that he or she is in need of detailed guidance
as well as the forgiveness of God to protect himself from his own ego
and carnal desires.
As a result of this humility and awareness of God, the believers say:
“Our Lord, avert from us the punishment of Hell. Indeed its punishment is ever adhering.” [Surah Al Furqan, 25:65]
True
believers are in a state of trying to please Allah by following His
guidance and when they slip up the slightest bit, they are seeking His
forgiveness.
This
supplication embodies deep spiritual humility, which the believers do
not assume themselves saved from their sins and holding a free ticket to
heaven. Indeed, they realize that they live in a test where they must
prove their devotion and loyalty to their Creator. They recognize the
need to make their spiritual consciousness overcome their ego and
material desires.
This
takes a strong effort in self-discipline, but even more than that it
requires divine support, as nothing is possible without the will of
Almighty God. So the true believers are in a state of trying to please
God by following His guidance and when they slip up the slightest bit,
they are seeking His forgiveness.
Here
we see the value of seeking Allah’s forgiveness. Throughout the Quran
and Sunnah we find many benefits that seeking Allah’s forgiveness brings
to us. In addition to forgiveness, seeking forgiveness brings wealth,
children, rain, strength, comfort and it also repels misfortune.
Our beloved Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah
be upon him), who was sinless, sought the forgiveness of Allah seventy
times a day. This was both to teach us and as an act of his humility in
that he (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) did feel guilty when
he (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) felt he (peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him) could have done better, when he (peace
and blessings of Allah be upon him) saw the sins of others.
Similarly,
we seek Allah’s forgiveness after every prayer. Although we just
prayed, our prayers are not perfect and we could have done better so we
need God to overlook that. I pray we can all leave this article, not
just with theoretical guidance but a practical set of tools by which we
may become the servants of The Merciful.
The
master remembrance for seeking forgiveness (sayid al-Istighfaar) is
something we should never leave, as the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him) taught in a well known authentic hadith
that whoever said this remembrance with certainty in the morning and
died before night would go to heaven, and whoever would recite it at
night and died before dawn would also go to Heaven.
“O
Allah, you are my Lord. There is no God but You. You created me and I
am your servant. I am trying to fulfill my covenant with you and prepare
for Your promise of the Hereafter to the best of my ability. I seek
refuge from the evil that I have done. I admit to You that I recognize
your blessings upon me. I admit my sins to you and I seek your
forgiveness because no one forgives sins except you.”(Al Bukhari: 8: 2: 318)
Anyone
who looks around modern society will quickly notice the many blessings
of technology and scientific advancement. As Muslims we recognize that
these are blessings from our beloved Creator who provided us with the
means to achieve success. We also see, as a result of people straying
from God and His message, the ugly side of modernity. Without divine
guidance, the evils of seeking power and open indulgence in our desires
have led to major individual as well as societal corruption. A true
believer realizes that he or she is in need of detailed guidance as well
as the forgiveness of God to protect himself from his own ego and carnal desires. As a result of this humility and awareness of God, the believers say,
“Our Lord, avert from us the punishment of Hell. Indeed its punishment is ever adhering.” (Qur’an, 25:65)
This
supplication embodies deep spiritual humility. The believers do not
assume themselves saved from their sins and holding a free ticket to
heaven. Indeed they realize that they live in a test where they must
prove their devotion and loyalty to their Creator. They recognize the
need to make their spiritual consciousness overcome their ego and
material desires. This takes a strong effort in self-discipline, but
even more than that it requires divine support, as nothing is possible
without the will of Almighty God. So the true believers are in a state
of trying to please God by following His guidance and when they slip up
the slightest bit, they are seeking His forgiveness.
Here we see the value of seeking Allah’s forgiveness. Throughout the Qur’an and Sunnah we
find many benefits that seeking Allah’s forgiveness brings to us. In
addition to forgiveness, seeking forgiveness brings wealth, children,
rain, strength, comfort and it also repels misfortune. Our beloved
Prophet ﷺ, who was sinless, sought the forgiveness of Allah (swt)
seventy times a day. This was both to teach us and as an act of his
humility in that he did feel guilty when he felt he could have done better, when he made human error and when he saw the sins of others.
Similarly,
we seek Allah’s (swt) forgiveness after every prayer. Although we just
prayed, our prayers are not perfect and we could have done better so we
need God to overlook that. I pray we can all leave this article, not
just with theoretical guidance but a practical set of tools by which we
may become the servants of The Merciful.
The master remembrance for seeking forgiveness (sayid al-Istighfaar) is something we should never leave, as the Prophet ﷺ taught in a well known authentic hadith that
whoever said this remembrance with certainty in the morning and died
before night would go to heaven, and whoever would recite it at night
and died before dawn would also go to Heaven.
اللهم
أنت ربي لا إله إلا أنت ، خلقتني وأنا عبدك ، وأنا على عهدك ووعدك ما
استطعت ، أعوذ بك من شر ما صنعت ، أبوء لك بنعمتك علي وأبوء لك بذنبي فاغفر
لي ، فإنه لا يغفر الذنوب إلا أنت
“Dear
God, you are my Lord. There is no God but You. You created me and I am
your servant. I am trying to fulfill my covenant with you and prepare
for Your promise of the Hereafter to the best of my ability. I seek
refuge from the evil that I have done. I admit to You that I recognize
your blessings upon me. I admit my sins to you and I seek your
forgiveness because no one forgives sins except you.” (Bukhari)
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