Prayers of the Pious

That this man, who one day went out to kill the Prophet (peace be upon him) and became Muslim, would be killed in the city of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and be buried next to him, shows that you never know the ending of a person.

May Allah (glorified and exalted is He) forgive us for our sins, the big ones and the small ones, the public ones and the private ones, the ones we recognize and the ones we fail to recognize. Āmīn.

Here, ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwan is acknowledging a very important point in the duʿā’ that you will not enter Jannah because of your good deeds, or because of the greatness of your good deeds or the lack of your sins. You will enter Jannah on the basis of your efforts and qualifying for the mercy of Allah (glorified and exalted is He), and we are all in need of the mercy of Allah.

I have no confidence except in Your mercy

Ya rabbi inna dhunūbī ʿaẓimatun, wa-inna qalīla
ʿafwika aʿẓamu minhā, allāhumma famḥu bi-qalīli
ʿafwika ʿaẓīma dhunūbī
My Lord, my sins are enormous, but a little
of Your forgiveness is greater than all of them.
O Allah, so erase with a little of Your forgiveness
the enormity of my sins.

So when you call upon Allah and you say, ‘O Allah! You never break your promises. You promised us mercy, so please show us mercy; You promised that if we do this, You will do that.’ It’s a very beautiful and powerful way to engage your Rabb, to engage your Lord, to engage your Sustainer. A Lord that loves to forgive, a Lord that loves to pardon, a Lord that loves to show mercy.

No one will have the power to intercede [with Allah], except for him who has taken a covenant with the All-Beneficent, (Maryam 19:87)

Allāhumma fātira al-samāwāti wal-arḍi, ʿālima al-ghaybi
wal-shahādati, innī aʿhadu ilayka fī hādhihi al-ḥayāti
al-dunya: innaka in takilnī ilā nafsī tuqarribunī
mina al-sharri, wa-tubāʿidunī mina al-khayri, wa-innī
in athiku illā biraḥmatika fajʿalhu lī ʿindaka ʿahdan
tu’addihī ilayya yawma al-qiyāmati, innaka
lā-tukhlifu al-mīʿād
O Allah, Originator of the heavens and earth, Knower
of the seen and unseen, I testify in this worldly life of
mine that if You leave me to myself, by that You are
bringing me closer to harm and distancing me from
good. I have no confidence except in Your mercy, so let
that be a covenant that You deliver to me on the Day
of Judgment—for You never break Your promises.

Even if you scold me, I will never leave your door, nor will anything but your generosity and your grace be felt in my heart.

O Allah! Here goes the night departing and here comes the day brightening, and how I wish to know, have you accepted this night from me so that I may congratulate myself, or have you rejected it from me so that I may extend myself condolences. By Your might! This is my commitment for as long as you keep me alive. By Your might!