Quran Universe
17:11

وَيَدۡعُ ٱلۡإِنسَٰنُ بِٱلشَّرِّ دُعَآءَهُۥ بِٱلۡخَيۡرِۖ وَكَانَ ٱلۡإِنسَٰنُ عَجُولٗا

WayadAAu alinsanu bialshsharri duAAaahu bialkhayri wakana alinsanu AAajoolan

And man supplicates for evil as he supplicates for good, and man is ever hasty.

Word by word
  1. وَيَدۡعُAnd prays
  2. ٱلۡإِنسَٰنُthe man
  3. بِٱلشَّرِّfor evil
  4. دُعَآءَهُۥ(as) he prays
  5. بِٱلۡخَيۡرِۖfor the good
  6. وَكَانَAnd is
  7. ٱلۡإِنسَٰنُthe man
  8. عَجُولٗاever hasty
Al-Isra · 17:11Makkah

In anger, we pray for harm as eagerly as for good.

Haste and the curses we throw

A hasty prayer
a person, upsetat self, kids, money
asks for
harmcurses, may it break
as if asking for
goodsame eagerness
Why it happens
I did not mean itjust words
hastecould meet an hour of answering

Ibn Kathir explains that people sometimes pray against themselves, their children, or their wealth in a moment of anger. He cites the hadith: do not pray against yourselves, it may meet an hour when Allah answers. What drives it is anxiety and haste.

The kids spill juice on the laptop and the words fly out: I wish I had never... The car breaks down and you curse it. You would never say these things calmly. Hasty words can become prayers. Pause before you speak in anger.

Words said in anger do not count, I did not mean them.

My angry words can be prayers, so I guard my tongue when I am upset.

Try this

Next time anger rises today, replace the curse with: Allah, make it easy.

Related10:11
Simplified reflection. Read the tafsir for scholarship.draft
Tafsir Ibn Kathir

And man invokes (Allah) for evil as he invokes (Allah) for good and man is ever hasty (11)

Man's Haste and Prayers against Himself

Allah tells us about man's haste and how he sometimes prays against himself or his children or his wealth, praying for something bad to happen for them, or for them to die or be destroyed, invoking curses, etc. If Allah were to answer his prayer, he would be destroyed because of it, as Allah says:

وَلَوْ يُعَجِّلُ اللَّهُ لِلنَّاسِ الشَّرَّ

(And were Allah to hasten for mankind the evil...)[10:11] This is how it was interpreted by Ibn 'Abbas, Mujahid and Qatadah. We have already discussed the Hadith:

لَا تَدْعُوا عَلَى أَنْفُسِكُمْ، وَلَا عَلَى أَمْوَالِكُمْ أَنْ تُوَافِقُوا مِنَ اللهِ سَاعَةَ إِجَابَةٍ يَسْتَجِيبُ فِيهَا

(Do not pray against yourselves or your wealth, for that might coincide with a time when Allah answers prayers.) What makes the son of Adam do that is his anxiety and haste. Allah says:

وَكَانَ الْإِنسَانُ عَجُولًا

(And man is ever hasty.) Salman Al-Farisi and Ibn 'Abbas mentioned the story of Adam, when he wanted to get up before his soul reached his feet. When his soul was breathed into him, it entered his body from his head downwards. When it reached his brain he sneezed, and said, "Al-Hamdu Lillah" (praise be to Allah), and Allah said, "May your Lord have mercy on you, O Adam." When it reached his eyes, he opened them, and when it reached his body and limbs he started to stare at them in wonder. He wanted to get up before it reached his feet, but he could not. He said, "O Lord, make it happen before night comes."