Tazkirul Quran, Qur’an 26:83–89
The Poets (Al-Shu‘ara’)
By Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
English text; the translator is not named in the archive’s data.
Translation
(83) My Lord, bestow wisdom upon me; unite me with the righteous; (84) give me a good name among later generations; (85) and make me one of the inheritors of the Garden of Bliss; (86) and forgive my father; for he is one of the misguided; (87) and do not disgrace me on the Day when all people are resurrected, (88) the Day when wealth and sons will be of no avail, (89) and when he alone will be saved who comes to God with a sound heart.’
Commentary
(a) These verses deal with right understanding, i.e. seeing things as they really are. For a subject of God, this is the greatest blessing next to prophethood. That is why it is mentioned in a tradition which says, ‘If God wants to do something good to a man, He bestows on him the understanding of religion.’
Whatever Abraham asked for in his prayer was granted to him, but the prayer for the pardon of his father (Azar) was rejected. One can imagine from this that prayer (du‘a) is mostly a matter between God and His subject. One man’s prayer cannot obtain pardon for another man.
Before Almighty God, real value attaches to a pure heart (qalb salim). This means the right kind of pure heart, i.e. a heart which is free from the tendency to ascribe partners to God, feelings of hypocrisy, jealousy and ill-will. In other words, the believer should go before God with a heart as pure as it was at the time of his birth. He should not present himself before God with any other heart.