The 365 · Verses · Day 292 · Repentance
Yā ḥasratā. Oh my regret. The exact sentence your soul will say on that Day, if you have not been minding what you neglected toward Allah.
Qur'an Qur'ān 39:56 (al-Zumar)
أَن تَقُولَ نَفْسٌ يَـٰحَسْرَتَىٰ عَلَىٰ مَا فَرَّطتُ فِى جَنۢبِ ٱللَّهِ وَإِن كُنتُ لَمِنَ ٱلسَّـٰخِرِينَ
“Lest a soul should say: Oh my regret over what I neglected in the side of Allah, and I was indeed among the mockers.”
Svenska: För att en själ inte skall säga: Ack, vilken sorg över det jag försummat gentemot Gud, och jag var sannerligen bland dem som hånade.
The story
Sūrat al-Zumar carries one of the most piercing passages on the Day. Verse 55: follow the best of what was revealed before the punishment comes suddenly. Verse 56: lest a soul say, oh my regret. Verse 57: or it should say, if only Allah had guided me. Verse 58: or it should say, if I could return. Allah is naming the four sentences souls will say on that Day, so we can avoid saying them by changing our behavior NOW.
In the language
Yā ḥasratā: a cry of regret so deep the language uses an exclamatory form usually reserved for the irreversible. Farraṭtu: I was excessive in falling short, I neglected. Janb Allāh: the side of Allah, an idiom for the right of Allah upon you, what He is owed in worship and obedience.
Why this verse
The most direct mercy in the Qur'an: Allah tells us the regret-sentences in advance so we can preempt them. He literally writes out the lines we will say if we do not change, and then offers us the chance to never say them.
Bring it into today
Day four of the Regret cluster. Allah named the regret. Now you can prevent it. Today's discipline: ask yourself what you are currently neglecting in janb Allāh that you will say 'yā ḥasratā' about. Then move it from neglect to action.
A reflection to carry
There is a tenderness in this verse that should not be missed. Allah did not have to tell us. He could have left the regret as a surprise on the Day. Instead He named it in advance, in plain language, written out word for word: yā ḥasratā. This is the mercy of a Lord who is begging you to skip the regret. He is saying: you do not have to say this. The neglect is happening now. Stop the neglect. Save yourself the sentence. The Qur'an names regret in advance so it can be prevented in practice.
Read the longer reflection
Look at the words: mā farraṭtu fī janb Allāh. What I neglected toward Allah. Not what I did against Allah; what I NEGLECTED toward Him. The verse warns about the omitted prayer, the unread Qur'an, the unspoken dhikr, the unfasted Monday, the abandoned tahajjud. The largest regrets of the Day will not be about what we did but about what we did not do. Now look at your life. What is your current biggest farraṭa? The salah you delay until its time is almost over. The Qur'an you have not opened this week. The parent you have not called. The fast you have not made up. The night when you knew Allah was inviting you to tahajjud and you stayed on your phone. These are the farraṭas. Allah is not threatening; He is inviting. He is saying: I have shown you the line you will say. Now you do not have to say it. Convert one farraṭa this hour. Pray a sunnah you have been skipping. Read a page of Qur'an. Make istighfār a hundred times. Each conversion shortens the regret list of that Day. Yā Allāh, do not let the sentence yā ḥasratā cross our lips on the Day. Wake us to our neglects today while they can still become deeds. Āmīn.
Sources: Ibn Kathir, Tabari, Saadi. The Qur'an and its translation are verified; the scholarship is retold faithfully in our own words and credited to its sources, never reproduced verbatim.
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