Part 4: The Greatest Ayah in the Qur’an – The Divine Protection

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Read the previous Part (3): The timings of these supplications

What is the greatest ayah?

Ubayy bin Ka’b (radiAllahu anhu) reported: The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: “Abu Mundhir! Do you know which Ayah in Allah’s Book is the greatest? I said: ‘Allah and His messenger know best.’He (peace be upon him) again said: ‘Do you know which Ayah in Allah’s Book, according to you, is the greatest?’ I (Abu Mundhir) replied: ‘It is ‘Allah la ilaha illa Huwal-Hayyul-Qayyum’.[2:255]. Thereupon he (peace be upon him) patted me in the chest and said, ‘ Rejoice by your knowledge, O Abu Mundhir! (i.e, may this knowledge be a source of respect, honour and benefit to you)’.” (Muslim)

Ayatul-kursi and the greatest Name of Allah

• One of the manners of making du’a is to use His beautiful Names in our supplications.
• One of these names is called “The Greatest Name of Allah.” If used in our du’a, it is mostly likely to be answered.
• No one knows exactly what this name is. Infact, it is a controversial matter. Similar to this, is the controversy about

•   The “Night of Power”- so that we will do Ibadah on all the last 10 days.
•   The best hour on Fridays- so that we will do dua all throught friday.

Scholars say that the greatest name of Allah could be “Al Qayyoom” and “Al Hayyu”

Protection from Satan

Narrated ‘Abd-Allah ibn Ubayy ibn Ka’b that his father told him that he had a vessel in which he kept dates. He used to check on it and found that the number was decreasing. So he kept guard on it one night and saw a beast that looked like an adolescent boy. He said: “I greeted him with salaams [peace] and he returned my greeting, then I asked him, ‘What are you, a jinn or a human?’ He said, ‘A jinn.’ I said to him, ‘Show me your hand.’ So he showed me his hand, and it looked like a dog’s paw with dog’s fur. I said, ‘Do all the jinn look like this?’ He said, ‘I know no one among the jinn who is stronger than I.’ I said, ‘What made you do what you did [i.e., taking the dates]?’ He said, ‘We heard that you are a man who loves charity, and we wanted to have some of your food.’” Ubayy asked him, “What will protect us from you?” He said, “This ayah, Ayat al-Kursi.” Then the next day he [Ubayy] went to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and told him (about what had happened) and he [the Prophet] said, “The evil one spoke the truth.” (Nasai)

Abu Huraira and his story with Saitan

The same story happened to Abu Huraira(RA), expect that the saitan appeared to him in the shape of a man. (Bukhari)

Lesson from this story: Recite Ayatul Kursi before you go to bed, Allah will send an angel to protect you till the night is over.

Other Virtues of this Verse

• Protection: “When you go to your bed, recite Ayat-al-kursi, for then there will be a guard from Allah who will protect you all night long, and Satan will not be able to come near you till dawn.” (Bukhari)
• Paradise: “Whoever recites ayatul-kursi after each prescrived salah, nothing will be standing between him and paradise excpet death.” (Nasai)
• It was narrated from Abu Hurairah (RadiAllahu anhu) that the Messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said: “In Surat Al-Baqarah there is a verse which is the best of all the verses of the Qur’an. It is never recited in a house but Shaitan leaves: Ayat Al-Kursi.” (Tirmidhi)

Read the next Part 5: Tafseer of Ayatul Kursi