Man's Haste and Prayers against Himself
Ayahs Covered
Common Words
Other Scholars on These Ayahs
And man prays for ill against himself and his family when he is frustrated as avidly as he prays for good. And mankind is ever hasty to pray against himself without contemplating the consequence there...
Related Hadiths
Be prompt in doing good deeds (before you are overtaken) by turbulence which would be like a part of the dark night. During (that stormy period) a man would be a Muslim in the morning and an unbelieve...
The supplication of every one of you is granted if he does not grow impatient and says: I supplicated but it was not granted.
“There is not a worshipper who raises his hands, such that his armpit becomes visible, asking Allah for something, except that He shall grant it to him - as long as he does not become hasty.” They sai...
"No supplication is more readily responded to, than the supplication made for someone who is absent."
Make haste at a funeral; if the dead person was good, it is a good state to which you are sending him on; but if he was otherwise it is an evil of which you are ridding yourselves.
Ibn Kathir Commentary
Related Tafsir
Man's Haste and Prayers against Himself
Allah tells us about man's haste and how he sometimes prays against himself or his children or his wealth, praying for something bad to happen for them, or for them to die or be destroyed, invoking curses, etc. If Allah were to answer his prayer, he would be destroyed because of it, as Allah says:
وَلَوْ يُعَجِّلُ اللَّهُ لِلنَّاسِ الشَّرَّ
(And were Allah to hasten for mankind the evil...) 10:11 This is how it was interpreted by Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid and Qatadah. We have already discussed the Hadith:
«لَا تَدْعُوا عَلَى أَنْفُسِكُمْ، وَلَا عَلَى أَمْوَالِكُمْ أَنْ تُوَافِقُوا مِنَ اللهِ سَاعَةَ إِجَابَةٍ يَسْتَجِيبُ فِيهَا»
(Do not pray against yourselves or your wealth, for that might coincide with a time when Allah answers prayers.) What makes the son of Adam do that is his anxiety and haste. Allah says:
وَكَانَ الإِنْسَـنُ عَجُولاً
(And man is ever hasty.) Salman Al-Farisi and Ibn `Abbas mentioned the story of Adam, when he wanted to get up before his soul reached his feet. When his soul was breathed into him, it entered his body from his head downwards. When it reached his brain he sneezed, and said, "Al-Hamdu Lillah" (praise be to Allah), and Allah said, "May your Lord have mercy on you, O Adam." When it reached his eyes, he opened them, and when it reached his body and limbs he started to stare at them in wonder. He wanted to get up before it reached his feet, but he could not. He said, "O Lord, make it happen before night comes."