and he urged the believers to make them a regular practice. One such supplication is the report of al-Ḥuṣayn, that the Prophet ﷺ would say: “O Allah, inspire me with my right guidance and protect me from the evil of my own self.” In another wording: “…and shield me from the evil of my own self.”

“Inspire me with my right guidance” means: grant me success in choosing what is right, for right guidance (rushd) is the opposite of error, and error is nothing but sin, evil, and corruption. When a person is granted right guidance, he is truly successful. This is the ultimate goal of the believers of whom Allah says, “But Allah has endeared faith to you, made it pleasing in your hearts, and made hateful to you disbelief, defiance, and disobedience; such are the rightly guided” (Q 49:7). That is the very essence of right guidance.

Another example: al-ʿAbbās once asked the Prophet ﷺ to teach him a prayer by which he could call upon Allah. He told him, “Say: O Allah, I ask You for well-being (ʿāfiyah).” A few days later al-ʿAbbās returned and asked again, so the Prophet ﷺ said, “Say: O Allah, I ask You for well-being in this world and the Hereafter.” Well-being is safety from every harm. If Allah grants you well-being and protects you from all evil—whether of the body, the heart, one’s desires, or anything else—you are truly blessed.

Likewise, the Prophet ﷺ often repeated this prayer: “O Allah, Controller of the hearts, make my heart firm upon Your obedience.” We have already mentioned a closely related supplication of his: “O Allah, Director of the hearts, direct our hearts to obey You.” If you combine the two and say, “O Allah, Controller of the hearts, make my heart firm upon Your obedience; O Allah, Director of the hearts, direct my heart to obey You,” that is even better.