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What is the meaning of the supplication: "O Allah, grant us the joy of gazing upon Your Noble Face, without harmful adversity or misleading temptation"?

2 min readAlso available in العربية

This supplication was narrated by Ammar ibn Yasir from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him: "O Allah, by Your knowledge of the unseen and Your power over creation, keep me alive as long as You know that life is better for me, and cause me to die when You know that death is better for me. I ask You for fear of You in secret and in public, and for the word of truth in anger and pleasure, and for moderation in poverty and wealth, and for the joy of gazing upon Your Face, and for the longing to meet You, without harmful distress or misleading tribulation." It was narrated by Ahmad and An-Nasa'i, and authenticated by Al-Albani.

Its explanation: - His saying: "without harmful distress or misleading tribulation" is a precaution against the longing to meet Allah being caused by harm or tribulation, but rather that its cause be love for Allah the Almighty and hope for His bounty. - His saying: "by Your knowledge of the unseen and Your power over creation" indicates the permissibility of supplicating by means of Allah's attributes. - His saying: "keep me alive... cause me to die..." indicates the permissibility of supplicating with this when harm befalls. - His saying: "fear of You in secret and in public" means fearing Allah in all circumstances, not fearing people. - His saying: "the word of truth in anger and pleasure" is so that anger or pleasure do not prevent one from speaking the truth. - His saying: "moderation in poverty and wealth" means balance, without extravagance or negligence. - His saying: "the longing to meet You" is because it is among the necessities of loving Allah. - His saying: "harmful" and "misleading" clarifies that not all distress or tribulation is sought refuge from, but only that which is harmful or misleading.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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