Read · 3 min · This is the session
Our discussion is 15 minutes, so we will take three questions. Start with the core questions: Q1, Q2 and Q3. The sample circle ends with Q1 and Q2. You are welcome to pass or use a general example rather than share something personal.
Q1 core
Ayah 55 says: call on your Lord taḍarruʿan wa khufyatan, humbly and privately. Al-Tabari records al-Hasan al-Basri: the early Muslims worked hard at their du'a, and no voice was heard from them, only a whisper between them and their Lord. Much of the du'a we hear is said out loud, at a gathering or after a talk. What makes a quiet du'a, alone and in your own words, hard to keep up?
Read 7:55Q2 core
Ayah 54 says Allah created the heavens and the earth in six days. Al-Jalalayn says He could have created them in an instant, but “He wanted to teach His creatures to be circumspect”: careful, and not in a hurry. Al-Qurtubi says the same in his own words: to teach gentleness and care in our affairs. Where are you in a hurry for change, in yourself or in someone close to you? What would it look like to give it time?
Read 7:54Q3 core
Ayah 58 shows the same rain on two kinds of land. The good land brings out its plants by permission of its Lord; the bad land gives only a little, nakidan, with difficulty. Al-Tabari reports al-Suddi, and al-Qurtubi reports al-Hasan, reading this as a parable for hearts receiving the Qur'an. Think of a reminder that stayed with you and changed something, and one you heard and soon forgot. What was different in you the first time?
Read 7:58Four more questions (Q4–Q7), if the conversation goes there
Q4 optional
Ayah 52 calls the Book “guidance and mercy to a people who believe”. Al-Qurtubi says the believers are named because they are the ones who benefit from it. Think of an ayah or a part of the Qur'an that has been a mercy to you, in a hard time or an ordinary one. What was it, and what did it do for you?
Read 7:52Q5 optional
Ayah 56 says: “invoke Him in fear and aspiration”. Al-Qurtubi says hope and fear should be like the two wings of a bird; with only one, a person falls. The word for hope, ṭamaʿ, has the root of session 07's word yaṭmaʿūna. In your du'a, which wing do you lean on more, and what helps you keep both?
Read 7:56Q6 optional
In ayah 57 the winds drive heavy clouds “to a dead land”, and Allah brings out every kind of fruit. Ibn Kathir reads it as a sign of the resurrection: “just as We bring life to dead land, We shall raise up the dead”. Is there something in your own life, a habit of prayer, a friendship, your time with the Qur'an, that feels like dry ground right now? What would the first rain look like?
Read 7:57Q7 optional
Ayah 55 ends: “indeed, He does not like transgressors”, which the commentators read as those who overstep in du'a. On the hadith page, ʿAbdullah ibn Mughaffal hears his son ask for the white palace on the right side of Paradise, and gives him a fuller du'a: ask Allah for Paradise, and seek refuge with Him from the Fire. Has someone ever taught you a better way to make du'a? How did they do it?
Read 7:55Tadabbur — personal reflection
- Ayah 55 asks for du'a said humbly and privately. Once this week, make one du'a with no one else in the room, in your own words.
- Ayah 57 calls the rain His mercy. The next time it rains, stop for a moment and say alhamdulillah.
- Ayah 54 ends: “blessed is Allah, Lord of the worlds.” Say it once this week when you look up at the night sky.
- Finish this silently: One du'a I will make quietly this week is ……… One reminder I want to let grow in me is ………