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Some Qur`anic Prayers
By:
Dr. Ahmad Shafaat
(1983-84)
FOR DIVINE HELP IN TIME
OF SOME DIRE NEED
In life we often encounter situations
when we direly need help of one sort or another. Many of us may
right now be in such situations. For example, there may be some who
have just arrived in the country and badly need a place under the
sun - a job, an accommodation, a family and some friends. There may
be others who are settled here for some time, but may have now
become victims of the present economic circumstances and desperately
need new opportunities. Some may have no economic difficulties but
under social pressures from this society may be facing hard times.
Then there are situations that have
nothing to do with social and economic circumstances. They arise
suddenly and make us badly need help. For example, we are driving
and our car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. Or, we are
traveling by air and at one of the airports on the way we loose our
luggage, passport and money.
More than ever, in such situations a
Muslim turns to God and asks Him to send some help. In our
supplication we may use any suitable words to express our need, but
the following Qur'anic prayer is strongly recommended and has been
often found effective by many pious and saintly Muslims:
"O my Lord and Sustainer! I am
truly in need of whatever good You may send down to me."
(28:24) (Rabb-e inni lima anzalta ilayya min khayrin faqir)
This prayer was
said by the prophet Moses,
may peace be upon him, when he arrived in Madyan – a part of Sinai
then inhabited by Arab tribes of the Amorite group. Chased by the
oppressive police of the Pharaoh, the prophet Moses had traveled a
long distance through the desert and had just arrived in an oasis.
He found there a group of men watering their flocks while there
stood two women holding their flocks back. The prophet Moses asked
them, why they were not watering their flocks, to which they replied
that they must wait until the men took back their flocks, for their
father was a very old man and they themselves could not go among the
shepherds. The prophet Moses went forward and watered the women's
flocks for them. Afterwards he sat under the shade of a tree and
reflected on his situation. He was sitting in a new country, tired
and alone, without a family to console him, without friends to talk
to and without a source of income to support himself. As he became
vividly aware of his situation, he turned to his Lord and prayed in
the words quoted above. the prayer was graciously accepted. The same
day, one of the women whom he had helped by watering their flocks,
returned to the oasis. On behalf of her father she invited the
prophet Moses to visit her family. This invitation turned out to be
a great opportunity for the prophet Moses whereby he was able
gradually to acquire a job, a home, a family and, above all, an
environment for further spiritual development.
IN TIME OF SICKNESS
Most of us fall sick at one time or
another in our lifetime. Some of the illnesses that afflict us only
cause minor discomfort but others bring considerable pain and
suffering. Some are temporary while others are chronic. For all
kinds of serious illnesses, the following Qur'anic prayer is
recommended:
"O my Lord, Distress has
seized me, but You are the most merciful of those who have
mercy." (21:83)
This is the prayer of Hadhrat Ayyub (or
Job), an ancient prophet of North Arabian origin. Ayyub was a happy,
prosperous man when a number of calamities began to afflict him. His
property was taken away by his enemies and his servants were put to
the sword. His children died in an accident and he himself fell
victim to a disease that covered him with loathsome sores from head
to foot. At times his affliction temporarily made him loose his
peace of mind and he even cursed the day he was born but deep down
in this soul he always held on to the hope and faith in God and kept
praying in the spirit of the words quoted above from the Holy
Qur'an. As a result, the Merciful God
"listened to him and removed
from him all the distress from which he suffered and gave him
new offspring, doubling their number, as an act of grace and as
a reminder unto all the servants (of God)." (21:84)
Ayyub wrote a long poem depicting the
story of his life which was later translated into Hebrew and
included in the Old Testament(1), possibly after having
undergone many changes.
THE WAY TO RECITE THE
PRAYER
It is important to recite the prayer of
Hadhrat Ayyub in the right mood and state of mind. In times of
illness or other distress most people pass through moods of anger
and frustration when they may be inclined to curse and yell. Even
Prophet Ayyub passed through such moods. But
in case of believers such moods are of a very transient nature and
are no part of their basic character which is built on steadfast
faith and forbearing patience. But whatever the state of
faith, most people also pass through moods when they feel mellowed
and wiling to bow before Someone and beg for His help and be
recipient to it. It is in this type of mood that the recommended
prayer should be recited in the original Arabic language. The prayer
should be recited three times or until its meaning, mood and rhythm
sinks into the heart. If recited according to this instruction, the
effect of the prayer will Inshah Allah prove to be miraculous.
Notes
(1)Because
of the fact that the Book of Job is found in the Old Testament, we
may be inclined to think that Job or Ayyub was a Jew. But as Phillip
K. Hitti points out in History of the Arabs (London, 1937,
99. 42-43) "Job, the author of the finest piece of poetry in the
ancient Semitic world, was an Arab, not a Jew, as the form of his
name (Iyyob) and the scene of his book, North Arabia , indicate.
However, it's the spiritual lessons that can be drawn from him that
are of the utmost importance. |