The Meaning of Khifah and Khafiyah in the Verse “Call Upon Your Lord”
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
This is a reminder. The questioner says: Honorable Shaykh, in the noble verse[Al-A'raf 7:55] and khifah, and in another verse khafiyah, what is the meaning of the two verses and their meanings? May you be rewarded.
Answer:
[Al-Fatihah 1:1-2] And may Allah send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions. In the two noble verses, Allah commands His worship, and supplication is the best type of worship. In fact, supplication is worship, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said. Tadharru'an means in a state of you being humble before Him in your supplication. As for supplication that is only with the tongue, without humility and without the presence of the heart, it is of no benefit.
And in the hadith:
As for khifah and khafiyah, they differ in meaning. Khafiyah means secretly, between you and Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He). This is the most sincere in worship: keeping it secret. However, it is not a secrecy where one does not hear it from oneself; rather, one must speak it and hear oneself. As for khifah, it is from fear. So khafiyah is from concealment, and khifah is from fear, meaning fearing Him (Glorified and Exalted is He), fearing His punishment, and hoping for His reward. Yes.
This is a reminder. The questioner says: Honorable Shaykh, in the noble verse
Call upon your Lord in humility
ادْعُوا رَبَّكُمْ تَضَرُّعًاAnswer:
(1) In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful. (2) [All] praise is [due] to Allah, Lord of the worlds -
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَAnd in the hadith:
Call upon Allah while being certain of the response, for supplication is not answered from a heedless, distracted heart.
ادعوا الله وأنتم موقنون بالإجابة فإن الدعاء لا يستجاب من قلب غافل لاهن.As for khifah and khafiyah, they differ in meaning. Khafiyah means secretly, between you and Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He). This is the most sincere in worship: keeping it secret. However, it is not a secrecy where one does not hear it from oneself; rather, one must speak it and hear oneself. As for khifah, it is from fear. So khafiyah is from concealment, and khifah is from fear, meaning fearing Him (Glorified and Exalted is He), fearing His punishment, and hoping for His reward. Yes.
Source
نور على الدرب - الفوزان - 02/287 — archive.org (0:52)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.