الآية رقم (193) - رَّبَّنَا إِنَّنَا سَمِعْنَا مُنَادِيًا يُنَادِي لِلإِيمَانِ أَنْ آمِنُواْ بِرَبِّكُمْ فَآمَنَّا رَبَّنَا فَاغْفِرْ لَنَا ذُنُوبَنَا وَكَفِّرْ عَنَّا سَيِّئَاتِنَا وَتَوَفَّنَا مَعَ الأبْرَارِ

(193) - {Our Lord, indeed we have heard a caller calling to faith, [saying], 'Believe in your Lord,' and we have believed. Our Lord, so forgive us our sins and remove from us our misdeeds and cause us to die with the righteous.}

Who is the caller for faith? He is the Messenger of Allah (saws), who came and guided us to our Lord and told us about Him, so the first word they said:

رَّبَّنَا إِنَّنَا سَمِعْنَا مُنَادِيًا يُنَادِي لِلإِيمَانِ أَنْ آمِنُواْ بِرَبِّكُمْ{Our Lord, indeed we have heard a caller calling to faith, [saying], ‘Believe in your Lord,}: This call that the Prophet (saws) made since that time has reached us by the Qur’an and the Sunnah and the guidance of our Prophet (saws) to us, and also the call of faith is embedded in our nature before the revelation of the Messengers as Allah (swt) says:

وَإِذْ أَخَذَ رَبُّكَ مِن بَنِي آدَمَ مِن ظُهُورِهِمْ ذُرِّيَّتَهُمْ وَأَشْهَدَهُمْ عَلَى أَنفُسِهِمْ أَلَسْتَ بِرَبِّكُمْ قَالُواْ بَلَى شَهِدْنَا أَن تَقُولُواْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ إِنَّا كُنَّا عَنْ هَذَا غَافِلِينَ

{And [mention] when your Lord took from the children of Adam – from their loins – their descendants and made them testify of themselves, [saying to them], “Am I not your Lord?” They said, “Yes, we have testified.” [This] – lest you should say on the day of Resurrection, “Indeed, we were of this unaware.} (Al-A’raaf: 172)

فَاغْفِرْ لَنَا ذُنُوبَنَا وَكَفِّرْ عَنَّا سَيِّئَاتِنَا{Our Lord, so forgive us our sins and remove from us our misdeeds}: So what the believer is waiting? The Prophet (saws) said:

“All the sons of Adam are sinners, but the best of sinners are those who are given to repentance.” [1]

Habib bin Al-Harith came to the Prophet (saws) and said:

“O Messenger of Allah! I am a man who repeats the sin. The Prophet (saws) said: “So repent to Allah, O Habib.” He said: “O Messenger of Allah, I repent and then return.” He said: “Whenever you sin, you must repent.” He said: “O Messenger of Allah, then my sins will multiply.” He said: “Allah’s forgiveness is greater than Your sins, O Habib bin Al-Harith” [2]

Repentance is a call to reform, and a repeated call to stop making mistakes. When we say:

رَّبَّنَا إِنَّنَا سَمِعْنَا مُنَادِيًا يُنَادِي لِلإِيمَانِ أَنْ آمِنُواْ بِرَبِّكُمْ فَآمَنَّا {Our Lord, indeed we have heard a caller calling to faith, [saying], ‘Believe in your Lord,’ and we have believed.}: The first thing comes to this person’s mind after all this giving from Allah (swt) is to ask Allah (swt) for forgiveness. There is a difference between forgiveness of sins and removing the misdeeds, as there is a difference between sins and misdeeds. Sin is to be culpable towards your Lord and the misdeed is to offend others in a way that violates the law of Allah (swt). Forgiveness of sin requires seeking forgiveness from Allah (swt). As for expiation the evil deeds require returning rights to their owners with seeking forgiveness. So there are two main issues: forgiveness of sins, and atonement of misdeeds.

وَتَوَفَّنَا مَعَ الأبْرَارِ {and cause us to die with the righteous.}: The righteous are those who have fulfilled their covenant and are honest with their Lord, we ask Allah (swt) to gather us in their group.

[1] Al-Mustadrak ‘Ala As-Sahihayn: Vol.4, Page.4, Hadith No.7617.

[2] Majma’ az-Zawaid wa Manba’ al-Fawaid: Vol.10, Hadith No.17531.