Translation
(Prayer): Our Sustainer, do not let our hearts and conscience deviate from Your teaching after You have guided us right. Grant us mercy and support from Yourself since You are a Generous Giver. O our Sustainer, You are the Gatherer of people on a day [e.g., the Day of Judgment] about which there is no doubt; a promise, O God, you will not fail to deliver.166
For those who are persistent in denying God, their wealth and their family will not be enough to protect them from God’s accountability, and they will face the suffering of hellfire. This was the case with Pharaoh and others before them. They refused to accept God’s message and guidance, and on account of their continued sin [and refusal to serve people], God took away their power and prominence. God is Able, and He is Just in taking such actions. Therefore, tell those who continue to disbelieve [and refuse to act justly] that they will be made to suffer the consequences in this life and will be driven toward Hell, which is an evil place to find oneself in.167
Interpretation
166. In the Qur’an in many places relevant to the context, God has elucidated beautiful prayers telling us how to offer prayer in the most beautiful of language and expression. For many Muslims who memorize these prayers but fail to comprehend the meanings and fail to commit to what they are saying, it is a serious flaw of our worship to God. We need to find a way to make our worship and our prayer more meaningful by allowing people to worship and pray in the language they speak and comprehend and not blindly follow Arabic script. After all, it is God who said in the Qur’an, “We never send a prophet who does not speak the language of the people so that he can explain to them clearly” (14:4). Yet in too many Muslim societies, the public does not get the full benefit and understanding of the religions when we insist on Friday sermon (Khutbah) to be in Arabic and many steps in our formal prayer (Salat) to be in Arabic, and so forth. Every community and every generation has a responsibility to ensure that Islam is fully understood in the way we worship and in the way we serve people. This has been a major failure!
167. The Qur’an is very clear as to the consequence of persistent denial of God and His guidance. This same outcome or consequence is embedded in the nature of human creation and natural laws. People like Pharaoh, Hitler, Stalin, Saddam, and Gaddafi have come and gone and were humiliated on this earth and will be facing consequences in the hereafter as well. Their military forces, their political allies, their secret police, their tribes and families, and their enormous wealth did not protect them when God took them on. And God does not need to send heavenly forces as some people tend to think; He just empowers another group to overcome these groups and then watches to see how this new group behaves in turn.
REFLECTION
Prayer is a direct form of communication between God and the heart of the faithful. It should be genuine, and one should do it with full comprehension, submission, and with clear intent to follow through. Otherwise we will be hypocritical and insincere and will sound like a broken record. One should also reflect on the consequences of denial of God’s supremacy, grace, and guidance. Without proper reflection, we cannot set priorities in life and in our societies, which is a major problem in most of the Muslim countries of today as well as in other societies.
ACTION
Each one of us is responsible for taking account of our lives and our responsibilities so that we become productive human beings in terms of our service to God, to ourselves, to other human beings, and to the natural world we live in and depend on.