Tafsir of Al-Mu'minoon 23:118

It is as if, after He consoled him by mentioning the outcome of those whose prayers are of no avail to them, He commanded him—in a manner that symbolizes disassociating from his opponents—saying, "And say, 'My Lord'" (Ibn Muhaysin recited "Rabbi" with a damma), "forgive and have mercy, for You are the best of the merciful."

The apparent meaning is that the request for both forgiveness and mercy is generally for him (peace and blessings be upon him) and his followers. It is also more general than requesting the root of the act or its continuity, so there is no ambiguity. Other arguments could be raised to counter this, but the specification of this particular supplication indicates the importance of its contents. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) taught Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) to say something similar in his prayer. Al-Bukhari, Muslim, al-Tirmidhi, al-Nasa'i, Ibn Majah, Ibn Hibban, and a group [of scholars] recorded from Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: "O Messenger of Allah, teach me a supplication I may use in my prayer." He replied, "Say: 'O Allah, I have wronged my soul with much wrong, and none forgives sins but You, so grant me forgiveness from You and have mercy on me; indeed, You are the Forgiving, the Merciful.'"

Reciting these verses—meaning from the Almighty’s saying, "Did you think," to the end of the Surah—over an afflicted person has great benefit, as does maintaining their recitation while traveling. Al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi, Ibn al-Mundhir, Abu Nu'aym in al-Hilyah, and others recorded from Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) that he recited "Did you think" into the ear of an afflicted person until he finished the Surah, and he recovered. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "By Him in whose hand is my soul, if a man with certainty were to recite it over a mountain, it would move."

Ibn al-Sunni, Ibn Mandah, and Abu Nu'aym in al-Ma'rifah recorded with a sound chain, through Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn al-Harith al-Taymi from his father, who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) sent us on a military expedition and ordered us to say when we entered the evening and the morning: "Did you think that We created you in jest and that you would not be returned to Us?" We recited it, and we obtained spoils and were kept safe. This, and Allah the Almighty is the one sought for all good.

"The believers have succeeded"—meaning they have reached the highest station, proximity, and felicity. "And those who are in their prayers humble"—inwardly and outwardly. Outward humility is the bowing of the head, looking at the place of prostration and what is before it, abandoning distraction, and attaining tranquility in the pillars [of prayer]. Inward humility is the total settling of the soul from worldly thoughts and anxieties, or abandoning the tendency to follow them, the presence of the heart with the meanings of the recitation and the remembrances, the observation of the inner self by abandoning attention to hidden things, and the immersion of the spirit in the sea of love. Humility is a condition for the validity of prayer according to some of the spiritual elite. Al-Ghazali reported from Abu Talib al-Makki, from Bishr al-Hafi, that "whoever does not have humility, his prayer is void." This is an opinion held by some jurists, and its details are in their books. There is no disagreement that there is no reward in any word or action of the prayer performed with heedlessness. How ugly it is for a worshiper to say, "All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds," while he is heedless of the Lord (the Glorified and Exalted), turning his entire being toward dirhams and dinars, then saying, "You alone we worship and You alone we ask for help," while his heart and mind are occupied with nothing but those [worldly things]. Such examples are many. Hence, al-Hasan said: "Every prayer in which the heart is not present, it is swifter toward punishment."

They have mentioned that prayer is the ascension of the believer. Does the prayer of such a person resemble that? Far from it! Allah forbid. Whoever claims that has fabricated a lie. "And they who turn away from ill speech"—some said: "Ill speech" is everything that distracts from the Truth (the Mighty and Majestic). Abu Uthman said: Everything in which the soul has a share is ill speech. Abu Bakr ibn Tahir said: Everything other than Allah (the Exalted) is ill speech. "And those who are observant of Zakah"—this is the purification of the soul from base character traits. "And those who guard their private parts—except from their wives or those their right hands possess, for indeed, they are not to be blamed"—an allusion to their mastery over the appetitive power, so they do not transgress what has been set for them. It is also said that the allusion here is to guarding secrets: meaning those who conceal those secrets which are ugly to reveal from others, except to their peers, those who are joined with them, or their students who are like slaves to them. "And those who of their trusts..."

Muhammad ibn al-Fadl said: They observe all their faculties and the primordial covenant. Thus, they are good in actions, words, and beliefs. "And those who carefully maintain their prayers"—they perform them according to their conditions and do not perform within them or after them that which spoils them, such as showing off or vanity. "And certainly did We create man from an extract of clay"—it is said that what is created from this is the physical frame, whereas the spirit is created from a divine light whose reality is hard for the intellect to grasp. In His saying (the Almighty), "Then We produced it into another creation; so blessed is Allah, the best of creators," there is an allusion to the breathing of that spirit created from that light, which is the human reality intended in the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): "Allah created Adam in His image"—meaning upon His attributes (the Exalted), in terms of being alive, knowing, willing, and capable, and other such attributes. "And We have created above you seven layers—and never have We been of [Our] creation unaware"—an allusion to the stations of the soul, some of which are above others, and every lower station obscures the higher one; or an allusion to the veils of the five outward senses and the two senses of conjecture and imagination. It is said otherwise. "And We sent down from the sky"—it is said: the sky of divine providence—"water"—meaning the water of mercy—"by measure"—according to the capacity of the seeker—"so We settled it in the earth"—meaning the earth of his being—"and We produced for you thereby gardens of palm trees"—meaning the palm trees of knowledges—"and grapevines"—meaning the grapevines of unveilings. It is said the palm trees allude to the sciences of the Sacred Law, and the grapevines allude to the sciences of the Spiritual Path. "You have in them many fruits"—these are what were in excess of the obligatory—"and from them you eat"—an allusion to what was obligatory, without which the foundation of the Sacred Law and the Path cannot be sustained. "And [We brought forth] a tree issuing from Mount Sinai"—an allusion to the light that shines from the mountain of the heart by means of the divine manifestation it attained—"producing oil and a condiment for those who eat"—meaning it produces that which combines the two characteristics, which is readiness. "Those who eat" is an allusion to the nourishment of those who are fed with the foods of knowledges. "Repel, by that [deed] which is better, the evil"—it contains an instruction toward noble character traits. "And say, 'My Lord, forgive and have mercy, for You are the best of the merciful'"—in this is an allusion that one should not be deluded by deeds, and guidance to cling to the mercy of the Almighty King. We ask Allah (the Exalted) to grant us success in obeying Him, to forgive us for what we have committed in disobedience to Him, and to favor us with more than we hope for of His mercy, out of honor for His noble Prophet and beloved, who is to the believers kind and merciful—may the blessings, peace, honor, greatness, and generosity of Allah (the Exalted) be upon him, his family, and his companions.