Through the Right Guidance, stages are reduced, sufferings are alleviated, good results are increased when Allah the Almighty is your “Protecting Guide”.
Generally, if someone is ever asked, “What do you want most?”
His reply might be “wealth,” “health,” “power,” “knowledge,” “happiness,” “satisfaction,” “total control over my own life,” “a super car,” “a villa with a swimming pool,” or the like of any material gains in this present life.
Yes… this is true and possible; all the above, besides many other wishes, can be longed for by many people. However, there were others who longed for ANOTHER thing. Those people were different in terms of so many things. Their make-up was different; their life conditions were different; their psychology was different; their wishes were different. Let us take a look at some of these people who were mentioned in the Ever-Glorious Qur’an and see what they aspired to and wished for.
Amazingly, all of these people asked Allah the Merciful to grant them only one thing. Do you have any idea about that thing? If you are given the chance that Allah the Almighty would give you only one thing and you are asked what this thing should be; what do you like most?
What will that thing you wish for be? Keep the answer to yourself and compare it to what follows.
Those people only wished for and asked Allah the Almighty to grant them the Right Guidance “Al-Rashad”. Yes, true, that is all they asked for and they were right in their choice indeed. You know why? Because they knew that if one is granted the Right Guidance by Allah the Almighty all other good things will be at his fingertip and Allah the Almighty would have given them everything indeed.
Let us look at the following examples from the Qur’an…
When the young men went into the cave, they did not ask Allah the Almighty to grant them victory over their enemy, nor to establish them in the earth and make them rule over all the others. All they asked for was to grant them the Right Guidance.
Allah says in His Ever-Glorious Qur’an what may mean,
“[Mention] when the youths retreated to the cave and said, “Our Lord, grant us from Yourself mercy and prepare for us from our affair right guidance.”” (Al-Kahf 18:10)
Yes. All that they asked for was to be granted the “Right Guidance”!
Even when the Jinn first listened to the Ever-Glorious Qur’an as being recited, their reaction was as follows:
“Say: It has been revealed to me that a company of Jinns listened (to the Qur’an). They said, ‘We have really heard a wonderful Recital! It gives guidance to the Right, and we have believed therein: we shall not join (in worship) any (gods) with our Lord.’” (Al-Jinn 72: 1-2)
In a similar vein, Allah the Almighty states in the Qur’an that:
“When My servants ask thee concerning Me, I am indeed close (to them): I listen to the prayer of every suppliant when he calleth on Me: Let them also, with a will, listen to My call, and believe in Me: That they may walk in the right way.” (Al-Baqarah 2: 186)
What one can get from all the above Qur’anic ayahs (verses) is that the Al-Rashad (the Right Guidance) stands for hitting the very middle of the targeting mark, the eye of truth, the essence of everything and anything. It is to be guided by The Creator of the whole universe and protected by Him in all that you do and utter. It is to walk in the right direction and toward the right destination. If Allah the Almighty guides you, you are given the greatest of all blessings and, thus, your steps will be blessed and rightly guided.
That is why He, Glory be His, commands us to repeatedly say the following supplication that reads,
“and say, ‘Perhaps my Lord will guide me to what is nearer than this to right conduct.’” (Al-Kahf 18: 24)
One can say, through the Right Guidance, stages are reduced, sufferings are alleviated, good results are increased when Allah the Almighty is your “Protecting Guide”.
That was the reason why when Prophet Musa ((Moses) Peace and blessings be upon him) met with the righteous man (Al-Khidr) he did not ask for but one thing which can be found in the following Qur’anic ayah that reads what may mean,
“Moses said to him, “May I follow you on [the condition] that you teach me from what you have been taught of sound judgement?” (Al-Kahf 18: 66)
He only asked for the Sound Judgement or the Right Guidance. If Allah the Almighty gives you the Right Guidance and grants you with its means, He, Glory be His, will prepare for you all the means of achieving success in this present life and the hereafter.
Finally, let raise our hands together and supplicate for Allah the Almighty as saying:
Oh Allah! We earnestly ask You to prepare for us from our affair right guidance! Ameen.
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Dr. Ali Al-Halawani is Assistant Professor of Linguistics and Translation, Kulliyyah of Languages and Management (KLM), International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He was Assistant Professor and worked for a number of international universities in Malaysia and Egypt such as Al-Madinah International University, Shah Alam, Malaysia (Mediu) and Misr University for Science & Technology (MUST), Egypt; Former Editor-in-Chief of the Electronic Da`wah Committee (EDC), Kuwait; Former Deputy Chief Editor and Managing Editor of the Living Shari`ah Department, www.islamOnline.net; Member of the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS); and member of the World Association of Arab Translators & Linguists (Wata). He is a published writer, translator and researcher. You can reach him at [email protected].