with perfect majesty and irresistible power; to Him alone belong pride and absolute greatness. Thus the supplicant seeks refuge and protection from all evils through the majesty of Allah and through His power, which encompasses every created thing.
– an aghtāl (lest I be taken unawares): the verb aghtālah means to seize a person when he is unsuspecting and destroy him. It is derived from ightiyāl, “to take something stealthily.”
Lessons Drawn from the ḥadith
1 – The Prophet ﷺ never abandoned these noble invocations, morning or evening. They are a fortress against afflictions, a shield from evils, and a safeguard from all that is detested. A Muslim should hold fast to them and never neglect them, following the example of his Prophet ﷺ and protecting himself from harm and its causes.
2 – The supplication asks Allah for al-ʿāfiyah (well-being) in one’s religion: freedom from sins, innovations, and the neglect of obligations.
• Well-being in worldly life means safety from its evils, calamities, perils, over-involvement, delusion, and the heedlessness of the Hereafter that such attachment breeds.
• Well-being for one’s family means that their religion be kept safe from base desires and doubts, that their bodies be preserved from illnesses and ailments, and that their hearts be protected from the trial of this world—plunging into it at the expense of what benefits them in their everlasting life.
3 – “Conceal my vulnerabilities”: the servant asks his Lord to hide his shameful deeds from people, then to grant him repentance from them, and to spare him the disgrace of those sins in this life and the next. The plea also includes provision for clothing that affords dignity.
4 – “Calm my fears”: security is sought from the disasters, calamities, and terrifying accidents of this world, and—more importantly—from the terrors of the Day of Resurrection. On that Day the horrors will be such that “every nursing mother will forget her nursing, every pregnant woman will deliver her burden, and you will see people drunk, though they are not drunk; rather, the punishment of Allah is severe.” (Q 22:2)