وَٱلَّذِينَ جَآءُو مِنۢ بَعْدِهِمْ يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَا ٱغْفِرْ لَنَا وَلِإِخْوَٰنِنَا ٱلَّذِينَ سَبَقُونَا بِٱلْإِيمَٰنِ وَلَا تَجْعَلْ فِى قُلُوبِنَا غِلًّا لِّلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ رَبَّنَآ إِنَّكَ رَءُوفٌ رَّحِيمٌ
Wa'lladhīna jāʾū min baʿdihim yaqūlūna rabbana'ghfir lanā wa li-ikhwānina'lladhīna sabaqūnā bi'l-īmāni wa lā tajʿal fī qulūbinā ghillan li'lladhīna āmanū, rabbanā innaka Raʾūfun Raḥīm
"And those who came after them say: 'Our Lord! Forgive us and our brothers who went before us in faith. And do not leave in our hearts any rancour towards those who have believed. Our Lord! You are indeed most kind, most merciful.'"
| Circle | Who | What they have in hand |
|---|---|---|
| The first (59/8) | The Muhājirūn | Nothing — their property was taken |
| The second (59/9) | The Anṣār | They had something, but they shared it |
| The third (59/10) | Those who came afterwards | Only a prayer |
What the three circles have in common is striking: not one of them is praised for its property. The first group lost its property, the second shared its property, the third group has no property at all in hand — it has a sentence.
And this becomes meaningful through the fact that it comes immediately after the section on the division of the fayʾ. A moment ago the division of a property was spoken of; now three groups are enumerated, and none of them is mentioned by the share it received.
| View | Who |
|---|---|
| Those who became Muslims after the Muhājirūn and the Anṣār | Within that period itself |
| The whole of the later generations | All who come until the resurrection |
| The other Muslims who received no share of the fayʾ | A reading bound to the context of the division |
This reading brings everyone who reads the verse into the list. And this is the most noteworthy side of the verse: the text takes the one who is reading it into the group it describes.
One: forgiveness for oneself. ighfir lanā. Two: forgiveness for those who went before. wa li-ikhwānina'lladhīna sabaqūnā bi'l-īmān. Three: cleanness for one's own heart. wa lā tajʿal fī qulūbinā ghillā.
Note the order: the person asks first for himself, then for those who went before, then again for himself. The structure puts the prayer for those who went before in the middle — between two requests of his own.
And the third item is the natural continuation of the second: to ask forgiveness for those who went before requires bearing no rancour against them. The prayer builds its own consistency.
- غُلّ (ghull) — the iron ring or shackle put on the neck or on the hand. Its plural, أَغْلَال, occurs in the Qurʾān: "On their necks are rings" (Yāsīn 36/8; al-Raʿd 13/5; Ghāfir 40/71).
- غِلّ (ghill) — rancour, enmity kept inside, hidden anger.
- غُلُول (ghulūl) — secretly taking property from the spoils. "It is not for any prophet to commit ghulūl" (Āl ʿImrān 3/161).
That is, ghill is named not as an emotion in the heart but as a shackle fitted to the heart. The word positions rancour not as a feeling but as a constraint: the man who holds a grudge thinks he is holding, but it is he who is held.
And an interesting intersection: ghulūl — to steal from the spoils — is from the same root. And this sūra is speaking of a division of spoils and of fayʾ.
Two words come out of the same root: secretly taking property from the division (ghulūl) and holding rancour inside on account of the division (ghill). Both are two faces of the same situation: the corruption of the heart in the matter of a share.
I record this as an observation; I do not claim that the two words were chosen deliberately in this context. But that they stand side by side in the text is striking.
"And We shall tear out whatever of rancour is in their breasts" — وَنَزَعْنَا مَا فِى صُدُورِهِم مِّنْ غِلٍّ (al-Aʿrāf 7/43; al-Ḥijr 15/47)
The verb is nazʿ — to pull out, to wrench away. That is, ghill does not go of its own accord; it is torn out. Like taking off a shackle.
And in this verse the human being asks for that tearing out by way of prayer: "do not leave any rancour in our hearts." That is, the person accepts that he cannot himself remove what is in his own heart. This is the same logic as the passive form of the verb yūqa (is guarded) in the preceding verse.
This verse determines what relation the later generations are to set up with the earlier ones. And the stance it determines is this: not to judge, but to pray.
The one who comes afterwards can do two things about those who went before: call them to account, or ask forgiveness for them. The verse puts the second in place.
This has a practical consequence, and it is of use in the matter of assessing the internal conflicts of Islamic history. But here I take no side and do not enter into historical debates; I merely record the stance the verse lays down.
And the verse itself also gives the ground of the stance: "do not leave … any rancour in our hearts." That is, the matter is not what will happen to those who went before; it is what will happen to the heart of the one who comes after. Holding rancour about the past does not change the past; it changes the one who holds it.
The lexicographers draw a distinction between raḥma and raʾfa: raḥma is general and can sometimes contain harshness (like a treatment that gives pain in order to heal a sick man); raʾfa involves not giving pain at all, not hurting. I transmit this distinction as a point about the language.
And it suits the content of the prayer. What is asked is that the heart should not be hurt, that the rancour should be torn out. And the name at the close is the gentlest name of mercy.