and more reprehensible than that, whereas the modest, chaste Muslim woman avoids all of this and continually asks Allah to protect her from trials and graciously keep the parts of her body that must be covered concealed.
His words, “and calm my fears,” refer to security, the opposite of fear. The word translated as “fears” is plural, and its singular denotes fear and sorrow. Thus, this is a plea that Allah spare him everything that might frighten, sadden, or trouble him. The plural form indicates that such fears are numerous and varied.
His words, “O Allah, protect me from in front of me and from behind me, on my right and on my left, and from above me; and I seek refuge in Your greatness from being seized unawares from beneath me,” ask Allah for protection from the perils and evils that may confront a person from the six directions. Evil and affliction may come upon him from in front, from behind, from the right, from the left, from above, or from beneath, while he does not know from which direction an affliction might suddenly strike him or a calamity befall him. He therefore asks his Lord to protect him from every direction. Among the gravest evils from which a person needs protection is the evil of Satan, who lies in wait for man and approaches him from in front, from behind, from his right, and from his left, seeking to plunge him into misfortunes, drag him into afflictions and ruin, and turn him away from the path of goodness and the way of uprightness, as he claimed when he said: “Then I will come upon them from in front of them and from behind them, from their right and from their left, and You will not find most of them grateful.”1.
The servant therefore needs a fortress against this enemy and a shield from his schemes and evil. This tremendous supplication fortifies the servant against Satan’s evil reaching him from any direction, for he is under Allah’s protection, shelter, and care.
His words, “and I seek refuge in Your greatness from being seized unawares from beneath me,” point to the magnitude of