when they were going through a hard time, they just kept calling on Allah they just kept talking to Allah. they kept crying out to Allah, they made conversation with Allah,
إِنَّا كُنَّا مِن قَبْلُ نَدْعُوهُ
[52:28]
Before even that so Allah protected us from the punishment of hell, and we used to be worried about our families but even much before we were even worried about our families notice the Min kabulu this time, there’s an extra men in the previous Ayah two hours ago there was قَبْلُ without mean, but now there’s been مِن قَبْلُ even before then, and even since the beginning, we were doing something نَدْعُوهُ
we just kept calling Allah and this is a summary of their remembrance of their entire life. All these people in Jannah, from all these different centuries, all these different continents, all these different languages, and they all have one thing in common.
When they were going through a hard time they just kept calling on Allah, they just kept talking to Allah, they kept crying out to Allah, they made conversation with Allah,
إِنَّا كُنَّا مِن قَبْلُ نَدْعُوهُ
and dua mean نَدْعُوهُ two things call him and also means pray to him ask him for things make Dua from him.
We kept praying to him, we kept asking him, we kept begging him, we kept talking to him, and begging him and talking to him and begging him this is what we did this was our relationship with Allah.
Ya Allah just give me this, Ya Allah just give me this, ya Allah just give me this, and then what did Allah prove himself
إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْبَرُّ الرَّحِيمُ
As a unique name of Allah. never in the Quran does Allah describe himself as Al-bar except this ayah. Al-bar this is the only place in the Quran where Allah describes himself as Al-bar.
Al-bar used in other places in the Quran, like
وَتَوَفَّنَا مَعَ الأَبْرَارِ
[3:193]
like for example another version of this word
لَّيْسَ الْبِرَّ أَن تُوَلُّوا وُجُوهَكُمْ
[2:177]
ظَهَرَ الْفَسَادُ فِي الْبَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِ بِمَا كَسَبَتْ أَيْدِي النَّاسِ
[30:41]
so it’s used in other places, but for Allah you’ve seen Ar-rahim before, but what have you not seen before Al-bar. So let’s understand what al-bar means, originally means, land far away from the water.
land far away from the water, the land close to the water is Reef, Reef and the land in Inland is bar.
the idea is it’s the opposite of bahar, so let’s understand this first. when you’re in the sea and you’re on a ship are you absolutely safe. no it depends on the sea, doesn’t it.
If the sea decides and it comes it turns into a tsunami wave or something, the ship can overturn. there could be a lightning strike anything can happen but you’re not safe until you reach what, land and once you reach land even the reef area is still dangerous because large waves can come and strike that, but when will you feel if you’ve been out at sea for a long time, where will you feel the safest. when you are deep inland. now you’re on stable ground, this is a reliable place for safety, from it comes the idea that someone who is good, and reliable like they’re good for their promise, I know in American English we say this, you may have may not have heard of it, you say, hey can I borrow 20% I’m good for it.
I’m barr for it, meaning I’m reliable, I’ll pay it back. Allah is good for his promise, is one of the main implications of the Ayah here. in other words barr actually means good, but good in what sense good in being reliable, God is good, God is reliable, we used to call him and pray to him and pray to him and death because he is the ultimate one that is good for promises. he fulfills his promise.