Al-Hashr (The Exile)

10. And those who came after them [the Emigrants and the Helpers] say: “Our Lord! Forgive us and our brethren who have preceded us in faith and put not in our hearts any hatred against those who have believed. Our Lord! You are verily full of kindness, Most Merciful.”

Qur’anic attestations of forgiveness and the related vocabulary exceed two hundred in number. It is incumbent upon us to invoke Allah for forgiveness and also ask Allah's friends to pray for our forgiveness. The blessed Verse treats of another group of early Muslims designated as Successors (tabi‘un) after the Qur’anic designation.

Next to the Emigrants and the Helpers, they form the third largest group of Muslims. They are also praised by the enumeration of their virtues and merits. Firstly, they invoke God Almighty for forgiveness not only for themselves but also for their brethren. It alludes to the fact that true faith may not be tinged by self-conceit as a true believer wishes for himself what he does for others.

Secondly, another virtue of the believers is that all their virtuous attributes springs from their pure heart unadulterated by hatred and enmity against believers.

It was in the same vein that believers in the early days of Islam invoked God Almighty to bestow purity upon their hearts and their prayer was seemingly answered such that they could united and defeat the enemies and raise the banner of the Islamic faith.

Today, we are indebted to them. Had we been treading the path of our ancestors, we would be pure in heart and our hearts would be unadulterated by covetousness, miserliness, hatred, envy, self-conceit, and other vices. Thus, we were even able to exceed our ancestors in making the Muslim community more prosperous and rid ourselves of the tyranny, disbelief, and bondage to unbelievers and cooperate with each other to add further glory to the Islamic faith and Muslims.

It is also worthy of note that the antecedent of

“and those who came after them”

is seemingly

“the poor Emigrants”

reflecting that the booties do not solely fall into the share of the Emigrants and the Helpers, but the Muslims in need down the centuries should have their own shares.

The word

“brethren”

and invoking Allah, the Compassionate, the Most-Gracious reflects the spirit of love, purity, and brotherhood that should prevail over the Muslim community such that it is incumbent upon believers to wish all good things for themselves and others and all members of the Muslim community are supposed to cooperate for the good of the community. The Arabic word ghill denotes hatred, enmity, and covetousness.