Al-Mu'minun · Makki · ayah 109 of 118

Al-Mu'minun 23:109

إِنَّهُۥ كَانَ فَرِيقٌ مِّنْ عِبَادِى يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَآ ءَامَنَّا فَٱغْفِرْ لَنَا وَٱرْحَمْنَا وَأَنتَ خَيْرُ ٱلرَّٰحِمِينَ

“Indeed, there was a party of My servants who said, 'Our Lord, we have believed, so forgive us and have mercy upon us, and You are the best of the merciful.'”

Saheeh International

Essence

In the middle of the Fire's silence, Allah quotes a small, mocked group of His servants and the short prayer they kept saying.

A reflection

Why this prayer is for you

A woman is sorting through her late mother's handbag. Under the purse and the reading glasses is a small folded card, soft from handling. On it, in her mother's handwriting, is this prayer. It had been in every handbag she owned for forty years. Her daughter had never once seen her read it.

The ayah describes a group who kept saying this prayer. The verb is in the present tense, yaqūlūn: they were saying it, again and again. It was their habit, the way the card was the mother's. Our Lord, we have believed, so forgive us and have mercy on us, and You are the best of those who show mercy.

Allah needs none of it. The Quran is plain: you are the ones in need of Allah, and He is the Rich, the Praised (35:15). Whoever strives, strives only for his own soul (29:6). So the prayer is not a tribute paid upward. It is a lifeline held by the one who prays.

Think of what it gives. The person who says it every day starts from a sentence that names who they belong to: rabbanā, our Lord. They admit they need covering, which is a great relief to anyone tired of pretending to be fine. They ask for mercy, which is the thing every anxious heart is actually looking for. And they end by remembering that the One they are asking is the best of all who show mercy.

The Quran says hearts find rest in the remembrance of Allah (13:28). Many people today look for that rest in a dozen places: apps, routines, retreats. Some help a little, for a while. This prayer costs nothing, takes ten seconds, and points the heart to the only source that does not run dry.

Learn it. Write it down if you need to. Say it in the morning, after prayer, in the car. Let it become the folded card in your own pocket.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.