‘Allahumma Maalikal Mulki Tu’til Mulka Man Tashaa’u….’

Bismillahir Rahmaanir Raheem.

I would like to discuss on these two most beautiful verses of Surah Aal Imraan. These two verses are Eemaan Boosters in the true sense of the term! 

Say: “O Allah! the Sovereign-Lord of all dominion: You grant dominion to whom You will and take dominion away from whom You will. You exalt whom You will and abase whom You will. In Your hand is all that is good. You are able to do all things. You cause the night to pass into the day, and You cause the day to pass into the night. You bring forth the living from the dead, and You bring forth the dead from that which is alive.You grant sustenance to whom You will, beyond all reckoning.” (3:26, 27)

Merit of these two verses:

In his famous Tafseer entitled Ma’aariful Qur’an Mufti Muhammad Shafi Usmani Sahib quotes from Imam al Baghawi

He writes: “Imam al Baghawi reports a hadith from the Holy Prophet (sal-lal-laahu-alaihi-wa-sallam) in which he said, “It is Allah’s promise that anyone who recites, after every Salah, the Surah al Fatihah, the aayatul Kursi, two verses of Aal Imran, that is shahidallaahu..(3:18) and the present verse: Qulil laahumma Maalikal Mulki upto Bi ghairi hisaab (3: 26, 27), He will make his abode in Paradise, and have him placed in the Sacred Enclosure, and bless with His mercy seventy times every day, and fulfill seventy of his needs, and protect him against every envier and enemy and make him prevail over them”. 

For the fear of this post becoming longer, I am not including the historical background of this verse. If you are interested you can go to this page and click chapter 3, then click verse number 26-27.

Here are some points to summarize the lessons we can learn from these two sublime verses of the glorious Qur’an:

1. Mankind owes an obligation to glorify Allah as there is none worthy of glorification and exaltation except Him.

2. This Ayah encourages Muslims to thank Allah for the favors He granted to His last and final Messenger and his Ummah.

3. Muslims have been taught and prompted to make this special prayer, which in a subtle way, gives an indication that Muslims will overpower the disbelievers and ultimately falsehood will be uprooted!

4. Appearing in the form of a prayer, verse No. 26 so eloquently brings into focus the most perfect power of Allah as it manifests itself in the rise and fall of nations and in the revolutions that rock countries.

5. Allah is the Maalik-al Mulk, the Lord of all dominion, the Possessor of powers and all Sovereignty belongs to Him. He is the Owner of everything.

6. Whomever He likes, He gives dominion to him and whomsoever He likes, He takes away dominion from him. He is Lord of all Honour. Honour belongs to Him alone. He honours whomsoever He likes and He abases whomsoever He likes.

7. As Allah is the Lord of all Power, it follows that man should consider all power — whether it may be in the form of a personal rule or a demo­cratic government or in any other form — a trust from Allah, and should use that power according to the directions given by Him. This Qur’anic concept of power negates the concept of king/hero worship and also the belief in the ‘Divine right’ of kings. It also refutes the claim of demo­cracy that its sovereignty is absolute and that it has no concern with God.

8. Honour, privilege, status and leadership in the world have to be earned through devotion and hard work.

9. Leadership is an ‘amanah’, Trust, from Allah. If a person or a group entrusted with authority tampers with this Trust, then Allah snatches leadership and gives to those who are better and more deserving.

10. Allah effected a permanent transfer of leadership from Bani Israeel to Bani Ismaeel. He does things as He is Al Muiz, Al Muzil and Al Hakeem.

11. Allah allowed Prophet Muhammad’s Ummah to reach the eastern and western parts of the world and gave dominance to his religion and Law over all other religions and laws

12. In Allah’s Hand is all goodness. One of the meanings of ‘biyadikal khayr’ is that goodness is only in the Hands of Allah and the other meaning is that there is nothing but goodness in Allah’s hand and that He is the Source of all goodness and blessings.

13. Day and Night are in Allah’s control, so are the seasons – spring, summer, fall and winter.

14. Allah brings out the seed from the plant and the plant from the seed; the date from its seed and the date’s seed from the date; the chicken from the egg and the egg from the chicken..

15. Allah created man from a life­less matter, that is dust. And again this very man, after his death, becomes the same lifeless matter, dust. In this way He creates living creatures from lifeless matter and brings forth dead bodies from the living.

16. Allah gives whomever He wills innumerable amounts of wealth while depriving others from it, out of wisdom and justice. He is the Lord of abundant measure.

17. Some are rich, some are poor. Some are in prosperity, some in adversity. Some enjoy honour, some suffer humiliation. Allah knows best whom to give what, and in what measure. This belief removes the evils of greed and jealousy from the hearts of true believers in Islam.

18. How can human beings, then, try to isolate themselves and their affairs from the Creator Who controls and plans everything?

May Allah guide us to live by His teachings until we meet Him. Aameen. 

Consulted works: Ibn Kathir Dawatul Qur’an Ma’aariful Qur’an. In addition I referred to ‘fi zilalil Qur’an’ ‘Tafheemul Qur’an’ and ‘A thematic commentary on the Qur’an’ by Shaykh Muhammad al Ghazali apart from a couple of Islamic websites.