Ali 'Imran · Madani · ayah 8 of 200

Ali 'Imran 3:8

رَبَّنَا لَا تُزِغْ قُلُوبَنَا بَعْدَ إِذْ هَدَيْتَنَا وَهَبْ لَنَا مِن لَّدُنكَ رَحْمَةً ۚ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ ٱلْوَهَّابُ

“[Who say], "Our Lord, let not our hearts deviate after You have guided us and grant us from Yourself mercy. Indeed, You are the Bestower.[117]”

Saheeh International

Essence

The people firmest in knowledge do not trust their own steadiness; they ask the Giver not to let their hearts swerve.

A reflection

'I was given it'

A man who memorised the whole Quran at twelve is asked, at forty, how he has kept it. He begins to answer: discipline, revision every morning. Then he stops. 'No. I was given it. I have been asking to keep it ever since'.

The ayah ends on a name: innaka anta al-Wahhāb, You are the Giver. The root pictured a gift in its purest form: making what is yours another's, with nothing taken in return and no hidden aim. Wahhāb is an intensive pattern, used of one whose gifts are many. A modern commentary adds: abundant in favour, giving whom He wills without reckoning.

Now notice who is praying. The previous ayah called them al-rāsikhūna fī al-ʿilm, the firmly rooted in knowledge. These are the steadiest people in the passage. And their first words are not a claim to steadiness. They ask not to lose it. Even their guidance is credited elsewhere: baʿda idh hadaytanā, after You guided us. Not after we found our way.

This is where the ego quietly takes credit. A person who prays on time for years begins to feel it is his character. A person who has never left the faith begins to think she is the kind who never would. Pride does not usually boast. It simply forgets that the steadiness was a gift.

Someone may ask: why address God with praise in the middle of a request? Is it flattery, to win His favour? Naming Him is not flattery; it is knowing whom you are asking. He needs nothing from it (35:15). It reminds the one praying that he is a receiver, not an earner.

Say the name slowly next time: al-Wahhāb. Then think of one steadiness in your life you have been treating as your own.

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.