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wa-yā-qawmi staghfirū rabbakum thumma tūbū ʾilayhi yursili s-samāʾa ʿalaykum midrāran wa-yazidkum quwwatan ʾilā quwwatikum wa-lā tatawallaw mujrimīna
‘O my people! Plead with your Lord for forgiveness, then turn to Him penitently: He will send copious rains for you from the sky, and add power to your [present] power. So do not turn your backs [on Him] as guilty ones.’
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah Hud – Verse 52
52. “And O my people! Ask forgiveness of your Lord, then turn unto Him repentant. He will send you the sky pouring abundant rain, increasing you strength unto your strength; and do not you turn back (from the Truth) as sinners.”
Eventually, to encourage them and utilize all possible means of awakening the truth – seeking spirit of this misled people, he takes recourse to offering those material rewards that are conditional upon faith which Allah makes available to the faithful in this world; Hud said to his people to ask the Lord for forgiveness for having committed sins, thus repenting and returning to Him. The verse says:
“And O my people! Ask forgiveness of your Lord, then turn unto Him repentant...”
By doing so, (you will notice that) He will order the skies to provide you with enlivening rain in on a regular basis. The verse continues saying:
“…He will send you the sky pouring abundant rain...”
He will do all this so that your cultivated lands and your gardens would not fall into the grip of drought and would always remain green. Moreover because of your faith, virtue, abstinence from sin and returning to Him, your power would be increased. The verse says:
“…increasing you strength unto your strength; and do not you turn back (from the Truth) as sinners.”
Imam Hasan (as) has been quoted as saying that he once went to Mu‘awiyah. On his return, one of Mu‘awiyah’s gatemen told him that he had a great deal of wealth but he could not father a son. Then he asked the Imam to instruct him in a prayer so that He might enable him to have a child. The Imam (as) answered:
“Make repentance one of your primary goals.”
That man repented over and over again, sometimes repenting seven hundred times a day. Then Allah bestowed upon him a son. On hearing the news, Mu‘awiyah asked the man why he had not asked the Imam as to why repentance carries such a tremendous influence. The next time he encountered the Imam, he thus made this query to which the Imam (as) responded:
“Have you not heard that Allah says in the story of Hud:
“…and increasing strength upon your strength...””
The Qur’anic term /quwwah/ has been interpreted as property (wealth), children, and energy. In the story of Noah, verse 12, the Qur’an implies that if you repent and apologize, He will add to your prestige with children and property. One should not think that faith in Allah and focusing on Him signifies distancing oneself from wealth and property. Were we to accept the faith, not only we would not lose anything, but also our wealth and property will be multiplied. If the Islamic state aspires towards economic expansion, it must seek a strategy for expanding the spiritual state of its society.
At any rate, turning away from the prophets and neglecting them is a grave sin.