Tafsir of Al-A'raf 7:55

Then, after He, the Exalted, explained monotheism and informed that He is the Unique in creation and command, He commanded His servants to call upon Him in sincerity and humility. He, the Most Mighty of speakers, said: (Call upon your Lord), the One whose magnificent affairs you have come to know.

The intended meaning of du’a (supplication), as many have stated, is asking and requesting. It is the marrow (essence) of worship because the supplicant does not proceed to supplicate unless he realizes his own need for that which he requests, and that he is incapable of achieving it, and knows that his Lord, Blessed and Exalted is He, hears the supplication, knows the need, and is capable of fulfilling it for him. There is no doubt that a servant’s knowledge of his own inability and deficiency, and his knowledge of his Lord’s power and perfection, is among the greatest of acts of worship.

It has been said: The intended meaning here is "worship," because He subsequently says, (Call upon Him with fear and hope), and the coordinated element must be distinct from the element to which it is coordinated. However, this is debatable: Firstly, because distinction is sufficiently achieved through the consideration of the objects of the verb, just as you say, "I struck Zayd, and I struck ‘Amr." Secondly, because it does not necessitate interpreting du’a here as worship, but rather interpreting it as such only here or there. Thirdly, because it contradicts the transmitted interpretation, as you will soon know, God willing.

(With humility) means "possessors of humility" or "being humble," so it is an accusative state (hal) from the doer, based on estimation or interpretation. It is also permitted that it be an infinitive (masdar), and the same applies to what follows. It is from dara’a, which is lowliness and submissiveness. It is said, "So-and-so dara’a (humbled himself) to so-and-so," meaning he became lowly and submissive to him. Al-Zajjaj said: Humility (tadarru’) is fawning/flattery, and it is close to what they said, meaning: "Call upon Him in submission." It was also said: Tadarru’ is the opposite of concealment, an opinion chosen by Abu Muslim, meaning: "Call upon Him openly."

(And in secret), meaning: privately.

Ibn al-Mubarak, Ibn Jarir, and Abu al-Shaykh extracted from al-Hasan, who said: "The Muslims used to strive in supplication, yet no voice was heard from them; it was nothing but a whisper between them and their Lord. That is because He, the Exalted, says: (Call upon your Lord with humility and in secret). And He, Glory be to Him, mentioned a righteous servant and was pleased with his deed, saying: (When he called upon his Lord with a secret call)." In another narration from him, he said: "Between a secret supplication and an open supplication is seventy times the difference."

It has come in a hadith from Abu Musa al-Ash’ari that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said to some people who were calling out aloud: "O people, be gentle with yourselves; you are not calling upon one who is deaf or absent. You are calling upon the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing, who is with you and is closer to one of you than the neck of his riding beast." The meaning is: be gentle and refrain from shouting in supplication.

From this, a group has stated the disapproval of raising the voice in it. As for the implication, it is sufficient for the necessity of secrecy in it that it is paired in the verse with tadarru’ (humility); thus, to lack one is like lacking humility before Allah, the Exalted. Just as a supplication without humility or reverence has little benefit, so too is a supplication without secrecy or dignity accompanying it. You see many of the people of your time relying on screaming in supplication, especially in congregational mosques, until the clamor becomes great and intense, and the ears are deafened and blocked, and they do not realize that they have combined two innovations: raising the voice in supplication, and doing so in the mosque.

Ibn Jarir narrated from Ibn Jurayj that raising the voice in supplication is from the "transgression" (excess) referred to by His saying, the Exalted: (Indeed, He does not like the transgressors).

Ibn Abi Hatim extracted the like of this from Zayd ibn Aslam. Some held the view that there is no harm in it. The "transgression of the supplicants" that Allah, the Exalted, does not love is requesting that which does not befit the supplicant, such as the rank of the prophets (peace be upon them) or ascending to the heavens. Among it is that which a group has deemed as disbelief, such as asking for the entry of Iblis, Abu Jahl, and their likes into Paradise, or asking for the descent of revelation and prophethood, and similar impossibilities, because it contains a request that Allah, the Exalted, belie Himself.

Ahmad extracted in his Musnad and Abu Dawud from Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas, who said: I heard the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) say: "There will be people who transgress in supplication. It suffices a person to say: 'O Allah, I ask You for Paradise and what brings one closer to it of word and deed, and I seek refuge in You from the Fire and what brings one closer to it of word and deed.'" Then he read: (Indeed, He does not like the transgressors).

Others elaborated and said: Concealment is better when there is fear of showing off (riya'), and open expression is better when there is no such fear. More appropriate than this is to say that concealment is preferred over openness when showing off is feared, or if the openness causes disturbance to someone like a person praying, a sleeper, a reader, or one occupied with religious knowledge. Openness is preferred over concealment when it is free from that, and when it involves an intention of teaching the ignorant, or something like removing the loneliness of someone who is lonely, or repelling drowsiness or laziness from the supplicant himself, or bringing joy to the heart of a believer, or repelling an innovator from his innovation, or similar matters. From this is the audible supplication (du'a) for the Companions and for the leader of the Muslims in the sermon. The Shafi'is have ordained the audible saying of Amin after the Fatiha, and it is a supplication, and the Imam and the follower pronounce it aloud according to them.

Some have distinguished between raising the voice excessively—as the muezzins do in the supplication for relief (faraj) upon the minarets—and raising it just enough so that those nearby can hear it. They said: There is generally no harm in the second, but not so for the first. The apparent meaning is that the "transgressors" are those who exceed what they were commanded in all things, and those who transgress in supplication enter into this primarily.

Ibn Abi Hatim extracted from Ibn Jubayr that the meaning of the verse is: "Call upon your Lord in all your needs of the affairs of this world and the Hereafter, and do not transgress by calling out against a believing man or woman with evil, such as disgrace and cursing." Scholars have differed regarding the disbelief of one who supplicates against another with the stripping of faith or that they die as a disbeliever, which is among the greatest types of transgression. The fatwa issued is that it is not disbelief.

They mentioned many etiquettes for supplication, including being in a state of purity, facing the Qiblah, clearing the heart of distractions, beginning and ending it with blessings upon the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), raising the hands toward the sky, including the believers in it, and seeking the hours of response. Among these is Friday, during the hour of the sermon for many; one should supplicate during it in his heart, as was stated by the best of the late scholars of his city, the learned al-Tahtawi, in his marginal notes on al-Durr al-Mukhtar, as transmitted from him by the most learned of contemporaries, Ibn ‘Abidin al-Dimashqi. Also, the time of rainfall, the time of breaking the fast, the last third of the night, after finishing the recitation of the Quran, and other times that are explained in their appropriate places.