40 Rabbana Duas

Dua 2

رَبَّنَا وَاجْعَلْنَا مُسْلِمَيْنِ لَكَ وَمِن ذُرِّيَّتِنَا أُمَّةً مُّسْلِمَةً لَّكَ وَأَرِنَا مَنَاسِكَنَا وَتُبْ عَلَيْنَآ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيمُ

Rabbana wa-j'alna Muslimaini laka wa min Dhurriyatina 'Ummatan Muslimatan laka wa 'Arina Manasikana wa tub 'alaina 'innaka 'antat-Tawwabu-Raheem  

Word by Word:

Rabbana: Our Lord

wa-j'alna: And make us

Muslimaini: both submissive

laka: to YOU

wa: And 

min: from

Dhurriyatina: our offsprings

 'Ummatan: a community

Muslimatan: submissive/ Muslims

laka: to YOU

 wa 'Arina: And show us

Manasikana: our ways of worship

wa tub: and turn

'alaina: to us

 'innaka: Indeed YOU

'anta: YOU Are

At-Tawwab: The Oft-Returning

Ar-Raheem: The Most Merciful

Translation: Our Lord! Make of us Muslims, bowing to Thy (Will), and of our progeny a people Muslim, bowing to Thy (will); and show us our place for the celebration of (due) rites; and turn unto us (in Mercy); for Thou art the Oft-Returning, Most Merciful [2:128]  

Tafseer: And, our Lord, make us both submissive to You, and of our progeny a people submissive to You. And show us our ways of Pilgrimage and accept our repentance. Indeed, You - and You alone - are the Most-Relenting, the Very-Merciful.

Verse 128 reports that he (Ibrahim AS) further prayed to Allah "to make" him and his son obedient to His commandments and to His Will. This prayer too proceeds from the same sense of fear and awe, and from the same knowledge. He has, all his life, been performing exemplary deeds of obedience, and yet he prays to "be made" obedient. It is so, because the more one grows in one's knowledge of Divine Majesty, the more one comes to realize that one is not being faithful and obedient as is due.

It is significant that Ibrahim AS included his descendants too in his prayer. This shows that the "men of Allah" who never hesitate in sacrificing themselves and their children in the way of Allah, yet love them deeply. All the same, they know what the proper requirements of parental love are, and how they should be fulfilled. This is something beyond the reach of average men, who suppose the well-being of their children to reside in physical health and comfort alone, and spend all their love and care on providing just this to their family. But those who have received the favour of Allah show a much greater solicitude for the spiritual well-being of their children than for the physical, being more anxious as to what happens to them in the other world than in this. So, the great prophet prayed to Allah to make a group from among his descendants fully obedient to Him. This prayer aims at another advantage as well. Experience tells us that if those who enjoy a respectable position in their community, and their descendants keep to the right path, they are naturally held in esteem, and their conduct inspires others to reform themselves.  Allah heard this prayer too, and among the descendants of  Ibrahim AS there has always been a group of people obedient to Allah and firm in the Straight Path. Even in the Age of Ignorance (Jahiliyyah ) when the whole world, and Arabia in particular, was lost in the darkness of idol-worship and Shirk, there still remained some men from among his descendants who had faith in the One God, who believed in the other world, and were obedient to Allah.