40 Duas Starting from Rabbana

There are 40 du’as (supplications) in the Holy Quran in the form of verses of several surahs which can be recited in times of stress and need. They’re often referred to as the ’40 rabbana’ owing to the presence of the Arabic word ‘rabbana’ at their start.  Translation of ‘Rabbana’ is ‘Our lord!’ thus addressing the Almighty Allah for our needs and wishes. The 40 rabbanna with their brief detail is described below:

The 40 rabbana

There are 40 verses in the Quran that start with ‘rabbana’ and express our feelings, need and wishes to our creator. Describing each of the 40 with their history and detail would be too long of an article here. Hence, here we’ll be mentioning only a few:

1.      Dua recited by Ibrahim (A.S.)

When Ibrahim (A.S.) and Ismail (A.S.) were done with the construction of Ka’bah, they recited the following du’ah:

“ Our Lord! Accept from us this (service); verily You alone are the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing.” (The Quran 2:127)

2.      Dua recited by Ibrahim (A.S.) (II)

After the construction, he had an epiphany and recited another dua.

“Our Lord! Make us (Muslims) submissive to Your Will, and raise from our offspring a (Muslim) community submissive to you, and teach us our rites of worship and relent toward us. Verily You alone are the most relenting, the Ever-Merciful.”  (The Quran 2:128)

3.      Refuge from the torments of fire

Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.) recited the following du’a very often:

“O our Lord! Grant us good in the world and good in the Hereafter and save us from the torment of the fire.”  (The Quran 2:201)

4.      Du’a for help in enduring evil

“Our Lord! Bestow on us endurance and make us firm of foot and grant us victory over the disbelieving folk.”  (The Quran 2:250)

It was recited at the time when Muslims were at war with the disbelievers and sought the help of Allah in achieving victory.

5.      Du’a for forgiveness of sin

We often commit sin and most of the times we’re unaware of our actions. Hence, we must be asking His forgiveness for the sins we do for He is the most merciful.

“Our Lord! Condemn us not if we forget or fall into error”
(The Quran 2:286)

6.       “Our Lord! Lay not on us such a (heavy) burden as you did lay on those who have passed away before us.”  (The Quran 2:286)

7.      “Our Lord! Lay not on us that burden which we have not the strength to bear. And pardon us; absolve us; and have mercy on us; You alone are our Friend and Helper; help us to triumph over The unbelieving folk.”  (The Quran 2:286)

Following are the verses from Surah ‘Ali-‘Imran (till verse # 194):

8.      “Our Lord! Do not stray our hearts after granting us Hidayat (guidance) and gift us from Your Mercy (special), Definitely You are the only Bestower.”  (The Quran 3:8)

9.      Our Lord! Surely You are the Gatherer of all mankind on a Day about which there is no doubt. Verily Allah never fails in His Promise.  (3:9)

10.  “Our Lord surely we have believed; forgive us then our sins; and save us from the torment of the fire.”  (3:16)

11.  “Our Lord! We believe in that which You have sent down; and we follow the Apostle; so write us with those who bear witness to the truth.”  (3:53)

12.   Our Lord! Forgive us our sins, and our excesses that we have committed in our affairs, and Lord! Keep us firm-footed and grant us victory over the disbelieving folk.”  (3:147)

13.  “Our Lord! You have not created all this (Universe) in vain. Glory be to you! Save us Lord, from the torment of the blazing fire”  (3:191)

14.   Our Lord! Whomsoever You cause to enter Hell, him You have surely disgraced, and for the wrongdoers there shall be no helpers.”  (3:192)

15.   “Our Lord! We have heard a proclaimer calling to faith (saying): 'Believe in your Lord;' so we have come to believe.”  (3:193)

16.   “Our Lord! Forgive us our sins, and wipe off our misdeeds from us and cause us (in all grace) to die with the righteous.”  (3:193)

17.  Our Lord! Grant us that which You have promised to us through Your Apostles and disgrace us not on the Day of Reckoning. Surely You never fail in Your Promise.”  (3:194)

Similarly, the list of 40 Rabbana goes on and one can search the Quran for such verses and find various beautiful verses and hence, various ways to supplicate to Allah Almighty. We must be consistent in praying to Allah for the countless blessings we experience everyday and for guidance to maintain our straight path.However, if you want to have blessings of the holy book, then you may use Surah Rahman App with Translation for this purpose.

The Preservation of Quran

Iqra: the first word that started the process of the Quranic revelations to the Holy Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.). The meaning of this word is ‘recite’.  The Quran was revealed to the Holy prophet at a time of its utmost need; a time when mankind was misguided and ignorance was easily found in abundance everywhere. Women were treated inhumanely and the only rule accepted and dominated was ‘Might is Right’. Islam, the religion of guidance and peace for mankind was completely forgotten. 

Quran sets forth rules for everyone and every aspect of life. It was, therefore, imperative that such a book doesn’t get altered to continue to be guidance for generations to come. From the first revelation or Nazool to the preservation of the Quran and making copies, everything was done with great care.

Revelation:

The Quran was revealed by Allah to Muhammad (S.A.W.) via Hazrat Jibraeel (A.S.). The same was not conveyed to the messenger of Allah via any human method which would otherwise, contain errors. Muhammad (S.A.W.) said in repetition to whatever was said to him in the form of the recitation by the angel. His sayings were recorded by Muslims who are educated and who noted down whatever the Prophet (S.A.W.) in the revelation’s duration.

Since it was Allah’s word, Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.) was worried about making any mistake of pronunciation when repeating after the Angel. Upon that an ayah was revealed comforting him (S.A.W.) that he need not worry as the words would be pronounced from his lips by His power and no mistake would be made by him in recitation.

Copying:

In the Prophet’s (S.A.W.) time, very few Muslims were educated. Having the skill of reading and writing was considered a great attribute. For recording whatever he said on paper, Muslims having these skills were selected. Numerous copies of the original written material were made and distributed to different parts of the world.

Pronunciation:

The Quran was revealed in a place where the common language of the people was Arabic. The Arabs knew the exact ways to pronounce various words and did not require the need of any kind of diacritic marks on the alphabets.

When the Quran was distributed to different parts of the world where Arabic was not the primary language, so, it became necessary to present diacritic marks to assist in pronunciation. This practice was highly important because in Quranic Arabic, words can give different meaning if pronounced differently. Once pronounced differently, the style might be copied and spread to other parts of the region. Therefore, copies which are revised were sent with complete instructions of the diacritic marks to avoid confusions. It is, thus, customary to learn the Noorani Qaida first before proceeding to recitation of Quran to avoid any pronunciation mistakes.

Divine protection:

Besides the efforts of Muslims, this Holy Book is blessed with the protection of the Almighty Himself. There have been previous revelations to the prophet before Muhammad (S.A.W.) but the holy books like that could not remain preserved in their original state. Humans changed the verses according to their wishes (the ones they could not follow or did not like). The important downside of the Humans could not follow the true guidance of Allah and be directed to the right path. The Quran was, however, given the unique quality of having its creator’s protection. Allah has vowed to protect this book till the end of times. This is mentioned in the Quran in Surat Al-Hijr as:

“Indeed, it is We who sent down the Qur'an and indeed, We will be its guardian.” 

(The Quran 15:9)

This is the greatest evidence that no matter which century we belong to, we can use this book for whatever type of guidance we may need. Be it a matter of women’s rights, dealing with adults, the time of the prayer, patience etc.

Conclusion:

The Holy Quran’s preservation is what makes it unique from the rest of the books. No other book in the world can ever remain unaltered the way Quran has been. Quran hasn’t faced the alteration of even a slight dot in the past 1400 years. We should take advantage of this benefit and blessings (Surah Rahman) by taking its help whenever we seek guidance in a matter or wish to seek mental and inner peace. It is our Dua (40 Rabbana) that all Muslims remain on the right path.