[2:128] – General, For Guidance, Forgiveness and For the Guidance of One’s Children
رَبَّنَا وَٱجۡعَلۡنَا مُسۡلِمَيۡنِ لَكَ وَمِن ذُرِّيَّتِنَآ أُمَّةٗ مُّسۡلِمَةٗ لَّكَ وَأَرِنَا مَنَاسِكَنَا وَتُبۡ عَلَيۡنَآۖ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ ٱلتَّوَّابُ ٱلرَّحِيمُ. Our Lord, and make us Muslims [in submission] to You and from our descendants a Muslim nation [in submission] to You. And show us our rites and accept our repentance. Indeed, You are the Accepting of repentance, the Merciful. Rabbana wajalna muslimayni laka wamin dhurriyyatina ummatan muslimatan laka waarina manasikana watub alayna innaka anta ttawwabu rrahim. Prophets Ibraheem and Isma’eel ask Allah to raise from their descendants a people who would submit themselves, in both heart and body, to His Will. They ask Allah that He teaches these descendants different acts of worship—both specific to the rites of Pilgrimage and those more general than that. This admirable supplication is essentially a request that Allah bless them with sincerity and the ability to do righteous deeds. Regardless of a servant’s virtue, sincerity, or devotion to their Lord, shortcomings in one’s duty to Allah are inevitable. For this reason, they both ask Allah to forgive them for such shortcomings and to accept their repentance. -Tafseer As-Sa’di.