An-Nasr · Madani · ayah 3 of 3

An-Nasr 110:3

فَسَبِّحْ بِحَمْدِ رَبِّكَ وَٱسْتَغْفِرْهُ ۚ إِنَّهُۥ كَانَ تَوَّابًۢا

“Then exalt [Him] with praise of your Lord and ask forgiveness of Him. Indeed, He is ever Accepting of Repentance.[2006]”

Saheeh International

Essence

At the summit of success the command is not to celebrate yourself but to declare Him flawless, praise Him, and ask forgiveness for falling short.

A reflection

No invoices to heaven

Fa-sabbiḥ: declare Him far above every flaw. Why is that the first word after victory, even before praise?

Listen to how the Arabs used it. Tasbīḥ puts distance between a thing and what does not fit it. When a rival's bragging reached one old poet, he answered with subḥāna: how far that boaster is from all he claims. Now, at the height of triumph, the victor is handed the same word, turned towards his Lord.

It goes straight to the ego. When help finally arrives, a quiet thought follows it in: I earned this. I prayed, I struggled, so I was owed. One classical commentator explains that tasbīḥ clears Allah of exactly that picture. No one holds a claim over Him; everything He gave was a gift, not wages. The same word answers the opposite whisper of the long waiting years: if I am in the right, why does He not help me? He is above stinginess and injustice. The timing was wisdom.

Both whispers put the self at the centre, sending invoices to heaven. Pride wears religious clothes very comfortably.

The same commentator notices the order of the ayah. First tasbīḥ, then praise: both about Allah. Only then istighfār, which looks at oneself. Some people, he says, see a thing and then think of Allah. The greater see Allah first, and then the thing. The ayah trains the second way of seeing.

Does Allah need this glorification? No. A hadith qudsi in Sahih Muslim says so. If every person were as devout as the most devout heart, it would add nothing to His dominion. The tasbīḥ does not raise Him. It guards the heart of the one who has just been given much.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.