11 Jul Supplication of the Righteous
At the end of surah al-Furqan [25], Allah mentions a supplication of the righteous people, which is:
[وَاجْعَلْنَا لِلْمُتَّقِينَ إِمَامًا ]
“… and make us *li’l-muttaqeen imaman*” [74]
The scholars fell into two camps as to how to explain this phrase:
1) “… and make us role models for the righteous.”
2) “… and make us followers of the model of the righteous.”
The famous tabi’oon Mujahid ibn Jabr combined both of these meanings in his explanation when he said:
[قال مجاهد : مؤتمين بهم، مقتدين بهم ، نقتدي بمن كان قبلنا ، حتى يأتم بنا من خلفنا .]
“Those that are led by them and follow their example. We follow the example of those that came before us, and then those who come after us can take us as role models.” [Sunan Sa’eed ibn Mansoor 1649]
And al-Baghawi also mentioned a similar explanation combining both meanings:
[قال الحسن : نقتدي بالمتقين ويقتدي بنا المتقون]
al-Hasan al-Basri said, “We follow the example of the righteous ones, and we are taken as an example to follow by the righteous ones.” [Tafsir al-Baghawi 6/99]
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