A narration from the 6 th Holy Imam, Ja’far as-Sadiq (as) mentions, “A believer is between two things, fear {of Allah (swt)’s punishment} and hope {in His mercy}; his fear doesn’t overcome his hope and his hope doesn’t overcome his fear”.
In both cases moderation is balanced, otherwise it leads to extremes.
In this Munajaat, Imam is constantly reminding of the favors and bounties towards the creation so that man is always aware and never heedless of them, making him careful in avoiding sins and if at all does sin, then he is hopeful of Allah (swt)’s mercy and forgiveness. A classic example of one of the phrases:
أَسْأَلُكَ بِكَرَمِكَ أَنْ تَمُنَّ عَلَيَّ مِنْ عَطآئِكَ بِما تَقَرُّ بِهِ عَيْنِي – “(O Lord) I ask You, by the sake of Your generosity to do favors on me, gift me something that will give tranquility to my eyes”.
– تَمُنَّ – from (minnah) منة i.e “to remind someone of the favors done on him”; it’s not giving something in compensation, rather giving one who doesn’t deserve. This one-sided giving (out of generosity) is the quality of Allah (swt) greatly manifested by the Imams (as).
Imam Sajjad (as) adds –
وَمِنْ رَجآئِكَ بِما تَطْمَئِنُّ بِهِ نَفْسِي – “O my Lord, from the fulfillment of my hopes from You, give me whatever that will satisfy my nafs”.
In relation to Allah (swt), رَجآئِكَ doesn’t mean “Your hope”; it means “fulfillment of the hopes”.
Only Allah (swt) has the right to do (minnah) منة because He is giving us out of His generosity and exaltedness as man doesn’t deserve them. Hence, His attribute, “Al-MANNAAN”- the abundant Giver!
Namaaz Timetable for Shaban:
