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Du’a for Hajah – The Prayer for Need

Dua for Hajjat – The Prayer for Need

Salatul Hajah

The Prophet (peace be on him) used to make many comprehensive dua. The dua Hajah teaches us how to ask Him for help.

`Abdullah bin Abi Awfa narrated that Allah’s Messenger (peace be on him) said:

“Whoever has a need from Allah, or from one of the sons of Adam, then let him perform Wudu’, performing it well, then pray two Rakah, then praise Allah and say Salat upon the Prophet (peace be on him). Then let him say:

La ilaha illallah Al-Halimul-Karim. Subhan Allah Rabbil-`Arshil-`Azim. Al-Hamdulillahi Rabbil-`Alamin. As’aluka mujibati rahmatika wa `aza’im maghfiratika, wal-ghanimata min kulli birrin, was-salamata min kulli ithmin, la tada` li dhanban illa ghafartahu, wa la hamman illa farrajtahu, wa la Hajatan hiya laka ridan Illa Qadaitaha, ya arham ar-rahimin

‘None has the right to be worshiped but Allah. Al-Halim (the Forbearing) Al-Karim (the Generous). Glorious is Allah, Lord of the Magnificent Throne. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. I ask You for that which warrants Your mercy, and that which will determine Your forgiveness, and the spoils (fruits) of every righteous deed, and safety from every sin; do not leave a sin for me without forgiving it, nor a worry without relieving it. Or a need that pleases you without granting it. O Most-Merciful of those who have mercy.'” (Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah – weak narration)

عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ أَبِي أَوْفَى، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏ “‏ مَنْ كَانَتْ لَهُ إِلَى اللَّهِ حَاجَةٌ أَوْ إِلَى أَحَدٍ مِنْ بَنِي آدَمَ فَلْيَتَوَضَّأْ وَلْيُحْسِنِ الْوُضُوءَ ثُمَّ لْيُصَلِّ رَكْعَتَيْنِ ثُمَّ لْيُثْنِ عَلَى اللَّهِ وَلْيُصَلِّ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم ثُمَّ لْيَقُلْ لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللَّهُ الْحَلِيمُ الْكَرِيمُ سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَرْشِ الْعَظِيمِ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ أَسْأَلُكَ مُوجِبَاتِ رَحْمَتِكَ وَعَزَائِمَ مَغْفِرَتِكَ وَالْغَنِيمَةَ مِنْ كُلِّ بِرٍّ وَالسَّلاَمَةَ مِنْ كُلِّ إِثْمٍ لاَ تَدَعْ لِي ذَنْبًا إِلاَّ غَفَرْتَهُ وَلاَ هَمًّا إِلاَّ فَرَّجْتَهُ وَلاَ حَاجَةً هِيَ لَكَ رِضًا إِلاَّ قَضَيْتَهَا يَا أَرْحَمَ الرَّاحِمِينَ ‏”‏ ‏.‏ الترمذي.

Seeking help by praying extra salah

This prayer for need (salatul Hajah) is well known among scholars. It is agreed upon in the four schools of thought that it is allowed, although there is a minor opinion which says it is not allowed.

The salatul hajah has been mentioned in four narrations, of which two are fabricated and two are weak. Regardless of the discussion how strong these Hadiths are, we know without doubt that the Quran and Sunnah tell us to appeal to Allah Almighty for any need through praying extra salah.

Seeking help by praying has been recommended to us in the Quran itself. Therefore, we do not need any narration to confirm that praying extra Sunnah in salah to seek Allah’s help is required. It is clear in the Quran and accordingly the Prophet (peace be on him) himself used to pray extra rakahs of salah whenever he felt distressed or sad:

 يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اسْتَعِينُوا بِالصَّبْرِ وَالصَّلَاةِ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَ الصَّابِرِينَ

O you who believe! Seek help through patience and prayers. Allah is with the patient. (2:153)

In an authentic narration, Hudhaifah said:

When anything distressed the Prophet (peace be on him), he prayed. (Abu Dawoud)

عَنْ حُذَيْفَةَ، قَالَ ‏:‏ كَانَ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم إِذَا حَزَبَهُ أَمْرٌ صَلَّى ‏.أبو داود

Seek forgiveness by praying extra salah

We also know from authentic hadith that if we want to seek forgiveness we can also do 2 rakahs, and seek Allah’s forgiveness:

There is not any slave of Allah who commits a sin, then he perfects his purification and stands to pray two rakahs of prayer, then seeks Allah’s forgiveness, except that Allah will forgive him. (Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi).

مَا مِنْ عَبْدٍ يُذنِبُ ذَنْباً فَيُحْسِنُ الطُّهُورَ، ثُمَّ يَقُومُ فَيُصَلِّي رَكْعَتَيْنِ، ثُمَّ يَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ إِلاَّ غَفَرَ اللَّهُ لَهُ. أبو داود.

In another narration, it says:

Abu Bakr narrated. He said: I heard the apostle of Allah (peace be on him) saying: When a servant (of Allah) commits a sin, and he performs ablution well, and then stands and prays two rakahs, and asks pardon of Allah, Allah pardons him. He then recited this verse: “And those who, when they commit indecency or wrong their souls, remember Allah” (Al-Qur’an 3:135). (Abu Dawoud)

أبُو بَكْرٍ – رضي الله عنه – أَنَّهُ قَالَ سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم يَقُولُ ‏”‏ مَا مِنْ عَبْدٍ يُذْنِبُ ذَنْبًا فَيُحْسِنُ الطُّهُورَ ثُمَّ يَقُومُ فَيُصَلِّي رَكْعَتَيْنِ ثُمَّ يَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ إِلاَّ غَفَرَ اللَّهُ لَهُ ‏”‏ ‏.‏ ثُمَّ قَرَأَ هَذِهِ الآيَةَ ‏{‏ وَالَّذِينَ إِذَا فَعَلُوا فَاحِشَةً أَوْ ظَلَمُوا أَنْفُسَهُمْ ذَكَرُوا اللَّهَ ‏}‏ إِلَى آخِرِ الآيَةِ ‏.أبو داود.

How to pray Salatul Hajah?

You simply perform 2 rakahs of salah, in which you recite any short surah after the Fatiha, and then upon finishing, you raise your hands to make dua.

You can make any dua, but this prophetic dua is particularly beautiful. It does not matter if the narration of this dua is weak or not, because dua is not prescriptive like salah. This is why scholars say, in general, for righteous deeds (fadail amal), you may follow weak narrations.

Inspire us to do good

The dua is very deep. It begins by praising Allah for His forbearance, and generosity, then glorifies Allah with tasbih (subhanallah rabbil arshil azim) as the Lord of Magnificent Throne.

Then we ask Allah Almighty to inspire us to what pleases Him to elicit His forgiveness. This point does not come across in the translation. We do not know what these things are but we ask Allah to enable us to have the will (aza’im m) to good good deeds.

This is the beauty of the dua – we are not simply asking Allah for forgiveness, but for us to behave in such a way that He will grant us His forgiveness.

The fruits of righteousness and good deeds

In addition, the Prophet (peace be on him) asked for ghanima, which is usually used in terms of booty from war, which you receive after the struggles of battle. Here, it is a metaphor for the fruits of battling against our daily struggles against our whims, desires, shaytan’s whispers.

We ask Allah to give us the fruits of our struggles to do good deeds and battle against our lower inclinations.

Safety from every sin

We ask Allah Almighty for salamah from every sin. Isma is infallibility which is not granted to humans, but is awared to prophets. Scholars have wondered if we are allowed to ask for isma and the answer is no, we can ask for safety from any sin. It is permissible.

We ask Allah to protect us against any sin and anything which displeases Him and make us from those who win Jannah.

Relief from worries

We ask for relief from worries, as they cloud us – our emotions and our vision and they can divert our direction. Therefore we ask Allah Almighty to relieve us of our burdens.

Enable us to please you

We ask Allah to only fulfil needs which please Him and to not fulfil needs which would lead to His displeasure. Sometimes we are stubborn, and we persist and insist on asking for things which will not benefit us.  Therefore we delegate the choice to Allah and not to ourselves.

The gift of Jannah

Ibn Mas’ud (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that one of the supplications of the Messenger of Allah (peace be on him) was:

Allahumma inni as’aluka mujibati rahmatika, wa ‘aza’ima maghfiratika, was-salamata min kulli ithmin, wal-ghanimata min kulli birrin, wal-fawza bil- jannati, wannajata mina-nar

O Allah! I beg You for that which incites Your Mercy and the means of Your forgiveness, safety from every sin, the benefit from every good deed, success in attaining Jannah and deliverance from Fire. (Al-Hakim)

Though we don’t deserve it, we ask Allah from His generosity to grant it to us.

We ask Allah for Jannah with humility, because we know that even if Allah was to accept our deeds, we still would not deserve Jannah. We know this from the famous hadith of Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) who reported:

 The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, “Follow the right course, seek nearness to Allah, and give glad tidings. Verily, none of you will enter Paradise by his deeds alone.” They said, “Not even you, O Messenger of Allah?” The Prophet said, “Not even me, unless Allah grants me his mercy. Know that the most beloved deed to Allah is that which is done regularly, even if it is small.”  (Bukhari and Muslim)

We ask Allah to grant us what is good for us, grant us the will to what is good and inspire us to please Him.

Ameen.

Shaykh Haytham Tamim – Thought for the Week 5th March 2021

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Shaykh Haytham Tamim is the founder and main teacher of the Utrujj Foundation. He has provided a leading vision for Islamic learning in the UK, which has influenced the way Islamic knowledge is disseminated. He has orchestrated the design and delivery of over 200 unique courses since Utrujj started in 2001. His extensive expertise spans over 30 years across the main Islamic jurisprudence schools of thought. He has studied with some of the foremost scholars in their expertise; he holds some of the highest Ijazahs (certificates) in Quran, Hadith (the Prophetic traditions) and Fiqh (Islamic rulings). His own gift for teaching was evident when he gave his first sermon to a large audience at the age of 17 and went on to serve as a senior lecturer of Islamic transactions and comparative jurisprudence at the Islamic University of Beirut (Shariah College). He has continued to teach; travelling around the UK, Europe and wider afield, and won the 2015 BISCA award (British Imams & Scholars Contributions & Achievements Awards) for Outstanding Contribution to Education and Teaching.