With Allah is the reward of this world and also of the World to Come. (4:134)
There is a prayer which is extremely popular among the Muslims the world over. There are people who ask Allah to grant them everything in this world. As a result, they will have no share of Allah’s bounties in the hereafter. That is why, Allah teaches us to pray in a better and more comprehensive manner. The prayer taught is as follows:
Our Lord, grant us what is good in this world and what is good in the world to come, and protect us from the chastisement of the Fire (2:201)
The chart of this dua resembles two balances. The balance on the right is complete. The balance on the left is a repetition of the balance on the right; the third string contains the same words but those words are explicit in the balance on the right whereas they are implicit in the balance on the left. The final string in the balance on the left has only one phrase and its counterpart is missing. The omission of fid Dunya wa fil Aakhira and the antonym of Hasanah below fid Dunya in the balance on the left foregrounds the phrase Athaban Naar. The prominence given to the phrase through such an omission is to drive home to the praying devotee the fact that the ultimate protection is the protection from the fire of hell. The impact of the single outstanding phrase in the final string of the balance on the left is stunning.
This dua is a collective dua too. It begins with an address to Allah as ‘Our Lord!’ and not as ‘My Lord!’. This address constitutes the first string. Two duties of Allah are highlighted in this prayer, Allah is the Granter par excellence and so we ask of Him Aatina or ‘Grant us’. The second duty of Allah is to protect and save us – Qina. These two duties form the second string.
We live in this world (fid duniya) and we are going to live in the hereafter (fil Aakhira). Allah’s authority extends to both the worlds. Our relationship with Him endures in both the worlds and is never severed. Our relationship with every other object is subject to termination at one stage or the other. Even in death we return to Him only, and not to any other non-existent deity or object of devotion. The reality of the present life and the prospect of the future are explicit in the balance on the right and implicit in the balance on the left. The third string is unique in the sense that there is no change of expression in both balances. In 57:20, these words occur: Wa fil aakhirati Athaban Shadeed. In 2:201, the first half wa fil aakhirati is implicit and instead of Athabun Shadeed, we have Athabun Naar. The second string refers to two different duties. The final string contrasts hasanah of the balance on the right with athaban naar of the balance on the left.
Another point to note is that the dua lays more stress on the hereafter than on this world. We pray that Allah should grant us hasanah in the hereafter and that Allah should protect and save us from the fire of hell. The positive aspect as well as the negative one of the hereafter is made explicit. In contrast, stress is laid upon securing hasanah in this world. Protection from the negative aspect of the present life is rendered implicit. Thus, preference is given to the hereafter. Thus, this dua is an antidote to our natural inclination to focus on and pursue the good and grand things of this life.
The final string is extremely important because it deals with what we want from our Lord in this world and in the hereafter and what protection we look forward to from Him. It has to be borne in mind that Allah has taught us this prayer so that we may repeat it before Him. It is our good fortune that Allah teaches us how to seek help from Him as He taught Jesus how to convey the message. (St. John, 12:49) Allah will be pleased as we follow His instruction and repeat the beautiful words that He has taught us and consequently the chances of His positive response to our plea are increased beyond measure.
Allah grants boons and rewards. He has been doing so all along. “Who heeds the prayers of the distressed when he calls out to Him and who removes his affliction? And who makes you vicegerents of the earth?” (27:62) “Indeed your Lord is exceedingly bountiful to mankind.” (27:73) He gives knowledge and wisdom, scripture and guidance to the Prophets. Prophet Abraham was specially favoured by Allah. “And the Lord has blessed my master greatly; and he is become great and he has given him flocks, and herds and silver and gold, and menservants and maidservants, and camels, and asses.” (Genesis, 24:35)
Allah informs Prophet Abraham, “Indeed I am going to appoint you a leader of all people”. (2:124) “We bestowed upon the house of Abraham the Book and wisdom, and We bestowed upon them a mighty dominion. (4:54)” “We bestowed good upon him in this world and in the hereafter. He shall certainly be among the righteous.” (16:122)
Prophet Abraham prays, “My Lord, endow me with knowledge and wisdom and join me with the righteous.” (26:83) Allah says, “And we bestowed upon him (offspring like) Isaac and Jacob, and bestowed prophethood and the Book on his descendants and granted him his reward in this world; he will certainly be among the righteous in the hereafter.” (29:27)
This dua (2:201) reminds us acutely of Prophet Abraham (peace be unto him). This dua finds a place in the context of Hajj, associated with Prophet Abraham. This dua is recited while circumambulating the K’abah.
We request Allah, who grants our prayers, to grant hasanah in this world as He granted hasanah to Prophet Abraham. (16:122) Though we prefer the hereafter, we do not ignore the present life. We need food, clothes, a home, some transport and someone who can be of great help. We need a standard of life in which pollution and adulteration are conspicuously absent, quality education and health care are easily available; security of life, property, honour is guaranteed; pedlars of hate, crime and violence should have no quarter; all freedoms must be ensured and exercised in a civilized manner; the dignity of a human being should not be compromised; differences should be celebrated and not used to humiliate, discriminate and subjugate. The tongue and the hand are divine gifts to be used thankfully. The people in whose midst we live should be paragons of virtue and motivated by a desire to serve others and not by a desire to feather their own nests by hook or by crook.
All the above ideals are summed up in one word – hasanah. What does hasanah mean exactly? Moulana Abdur Rahman Keelani of respected memory offers an explanation in his monumental Urdu work – Synonyms in the Quran and their Semantic Differences, pp.121-123. Nim means wow, an expression for appreciation. It denotes one’s attraction towards something pleasing and wonderful. Khair refers to something highly coveted like justice, bounty, rationality, wealth. (See verse 16:30 wherein Khair and Nim are aptly used) The plural of Khair is Khairat. Khair is applied to a good word, a good deed, a good person. ‘N’im refers to one’s delight on seeing a wonderful object. Hasun has the connotation of physical attractiveness, moral uprightness, and inner beauty. We want the present life to be full of physical comfort and joy, ethical excellence, and aesthetic satiety. Hasanah may mean Shreyas in Sanskrit.
How to get all the good in this world? We should not fancy that Allah will not support us in this world and in the hereafter. (22:15) Instead, we must trust Allah when He says, Surely We shall help Our Messengers and the believers in the life of this world and on the Day when witnesses will rise to testify.” (40:51)
Therefore we must say, “Nothing shall befall us except what Allah has decreed for us; He is our Protector,” Let the believers, then put all their trust in Allah”. (9:51) We should depend and rely upon Him and be patient and thankful to Him. Allah will increase His favours.
Allah says, “He who desired his reward in this world, We shall grant him the reward of this world; and he who desires the reward of the other world, We shall grant him the reward of the other world. And soon shall We reward those that are grateful.” (3:145) And so, Muslims pray to Allah: “Grant us what is good in the world to come.” They know لاعيش الاعيش الاخرة (There is no ideal state of happiness anywhere else except in the hereafter). Moreover, if we do not believe in the hereafter and do not strive to secure success and salvation in the world to come, we will have no share in the cornucopia and riches of the hereafter. “Those who merely seek the present world and its adornment, We fully recompense them for their work in this world, and they are made to suffer no diminution in it concerning what is their due. They are the ones who shall have nothing in the hereafter except Fire”. (11:15,16) Muslims know too that the hereafter is so structured that only in its ambience wages can be paid in full and there will be nothing left to be desired further. “But he who desires the hereafter and strives for it in the manner he should, and is a true believer, his striving will come to fruition.” (17:19) To come off with flying colours in the hereafter, we have to do good in this world. “Tell them (O Prophet) O you servants of Mine who believe, have fear of your Lord. A good end awaits those who did good in this world.” (39:10)
An important point to note is that the world hasanah is used to encompass all the good things needed and provided in this world. The same word hasanah is again used as a comprehensive word to include all the wonderful things which will be made available to those who will live in Paradise. Particularly, “Happiness and Blissful End.” (13:29) Eyes have not seen those wonderful things; ears have not heard about them; minds have not imagined about them. In addition to such gifts and assets, things with which we are familiar in this world will also be given. The fruits of the gardens of Paradise will remind the followers of the Qur’ān of the fruits of the earth.
They will say, “It was this which was granted to us on earth before.” (2:25) There will be striking similarities between this world and the hereafter and so hasanah is used to refer to physical comfort and joy, ethical excellence and aesthetic satiety, needed and provided in this world and in the next. Hasanah in this world will be temporary; hasanah in the hereafter will be permanent. Synonyms for hasanah in this world are Thawabud Duniya (3:148), Mataan Hasanah (11:3) Hayatun Tayyiba (16:97) etc. Synonyms for hasanah filaakhira are Ajr-e-akbar, (16:42), Khair (16:32) Jannaatun Nayeem (10:9) etc.
A glimpse of hasanah in the hereafter can be caught in the following verses: They shall enter the everlasting gardens, shall be adorned with bracelets of gold and with pearls and their apparel therein shall be silk. They will say: All praise be to Allah who has taken away all sorrow from us. Surely our Lord is Most Forgiving, Most Appreciative; (the Lord) who, out of His Bounty, has made us dwell in an abode wherein no toil, nor fatigue affects us.” (35:33-35) “They are the ones who will be rewarded for their patience; lofty palaces will be granted to them, and they will be received with greeting and salutation. Therein they shall abide for ever; how good an abode, and how good a resting place!” (25: 75, 76) Followers of Allah and Prophet Muhammad (May Allah bless and greet him) will have the company of the Prophets, the truthful, the martyrs and the righteous. How excellent they will be for companions. (4:69)
We want Allah to make certain things a part of our lives and we want Him to keep certain things out of our lives. For the former we use the phrase Aatina or Hablana; and for the latter, we say, Waqina.
In this dua (2:201) what we do not want in this life is muted. This is done to foreground the most horrible chastisement of the hereafter. In other contexts, what we do not want in this life is explicitly stated. There is degradation (2:114) in this world and we don’t want it to happen to us. O Allah, save us from disgrace in this world and chastisement in the hereafter.
Life is not always a ball and a song. There occur many unexpected situations tearing our hearts and our feet are swept off the ground. So we pray, O Allah! We seek your protection from insurmountable tribulations, from unfortunate disasters, from oppressive fate, and from the taunts of the foes.
اللهم إني اعوذ بك من ضيق الدنيا وضيق يوم القيامة
O Allah, I seek your protection from straitened circumstances in this world and from feeling ensnared on the Day of Judgement. When we pray to Him, He comes to our aid. (52:28) Allah rescued Lot’s household in the last hours of the night as a favour from Him. (54:34,35) Allah’s promise is there that He will help His Messengers and the believers in the life of this world. (40:51) It is incumbent upon us to deliver the believers. (10:103) Allah rescued Jonah from grief in this world when he cried out in the darkness. (21:88) Allah delivered Noah and his household from the great calamity. (37:76)
Allah delivers us from every distress. (6:64) There are diseases galore in this world and they wreak havoc. We are obliged to seek Allah’s help because all healing is with Allah. Prophet Job cried to his Lord, “Behold disease has struck me and You are the Most Merciful of those that are merciful. (21:83) Allah accepted his prayer and removed his affliction from him. He removes all sorrows and all obstacles.
Though Allah helps us when we are caught between the deep blue sea and the devil, it is the protection from the chastisement of the Fire that we direly need and we have to constantly remember and this dua highlights the fact only too eloquently. Allahumma Ajirni minan naar is another prayer, echoing this dua. Waqina Athaban Naar is repeated in the Qur’ān (3:16) and in different ways. Athaban Naar has several synonyms : Athaban Shadeed (3:56), Athabu Jahannam, Athabul Hareeq (85:10), Athabus Samoom (52:27) Athabul Jaheem (52:18) Athaban fowqa Athab (16:88) Athabun Azeem (16:94) Athabun Aleem (16:117) etc.
Why do we dread hell so much? The following verses of the Qur’ān send a chill down the spine. As for those that disbelieve, garments of fire have been cut out for them; boiling water shall be poured down over their heads, causing (not only) their skins but all that is in their bellies as well to melt away. There shall be maces of iron to lash them. Whenever they try in their anguish, to escape from hell, they will be driven back into it, (and shall be told) Now taste the torment of burning. (22:19-22)
Other forms of punishment available in hell are described in different places in the Qur’ān. It is but natural that we should seek Allah’s grace and protection to escape from such a punishment. To enter hell is to suffer the most horrible humiliation. (3:192) None but Allah comes to our succour and so we make a fervent plea that we should be kept far away from such a disgrace.
If we have Iman and Aml-e-Salih, Allah promises that Allah will grant our request. (16:97) Triumph and disaster are decreed by Allah and so we should not grieve over the loss we suffer, nor exult over what He generously donates to us. (vide, 57:23)
It will be interesting to note that Prophet Moses (peace be unto him) made a similar dua to Allah as follows : “And ordain for us what is good in this world and in the world to come, for to You have we turned.” (7:156)