and the prompting to act upon that knowledge, for mere awareness of the truth does not lead to guidance unless a person puts his knowledge into practice. For this reason He said to His Prophet—after the Treaty of Ḥudaybiyyah, at the opening of Sūrat al-Fatḥ: “Indeed, We have granted you a manifest victory, so that Allah may forgive you your past and future sins, perfect His favor upon you, and guide you to a straight path” (48:1-2). Concerning Moses and Aaron He likewise said in Sūrat al-Ṣāffāt: “We gave them the clear Scripture and We guided them to the straight path” (37:117).
Yet Muslims have disputed, by Allah’s will, over many matters of report, knowledge, creed, and practice, even though they are all agreed that Muhammad is true and that the Qur’an is true. Had they been granted from Him guidance to the straight path regarding the issues over which they differed, they would never have differed. Moreover, of those who do know what Allah has commanded, most of them disobey Him and fail to follow His example. If they had been guided to the straight path in those deeds, they would have done what they were commanded and avoided what they were forbidden.
Those whom Allah has guided from this community, so that they became among the God-fearing friends of Allah, attained that rank largely because they begged Allah with this very supplication in every prayer, fully aware of their perpetual need and poverty before Him to guide them to the straight path. Through constant supplication and continual neediness they became of the God-fearing friends of Allah. Sahl ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Tustarī said, “There is no road between the servant and his Lord that is shorter than neediness.”
Whatever guidance a person has received in the past, he still needs to receive guidance concerning it for the future. This is the reality of one who says, “Make us firm and guide us to remain upon the path,” and of another who says, “Increase us in guidance.” Both utterances cover what has already occurred, yet they are entirely a request for future guidance to the straight path. The deeds that lie ahead, based on knowledge, have not yet come to be, and a person is not truly guided until, in the future, he acts upon what he knows. Indeed, knowledge itself may fail to arise in the future and may even depart from the heart; and even if knowledge is there, action may not follow. Thus all people are in desperate need of this supplication. For that reason Allah made it obligatory for them in every prayer—they need no supplication more urgently than they need this one.
When guidance to the straight path is obtained, victory, provision, and every other form of happiness the soul seeks are obtained as well. Allah knows best.