Ramadan 2025 | The Power of Prophetic Prayers | Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed | 03/03

Opening Supplications

We ask Allah to allow our sitting here at the end of our day of fast to become a means of our forgiveness. We ask Allah to inspire us with the best of words that will become a source of getting all of us motivated to turn to Allah in earnest du'a throughout the day and throughout the night. We ask Allah that He make du'a a part of our daily life and for the rest of our life.

The Hadith of the Bedouin's Du'a

Today we will be covering a du'a of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم — or rather, a du'a of a companion, a Bedouin, and the conversation that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم had with him. This is a beautiful, beautiful hadith. This du'a is mentioned in Majma' al-Zawa'id of al-Haythami, and is also found in Munajat al-Maqbul (the Accepted Whispers), and also in the Hizb al-A'zam.

Anas ibn Malik narrates that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم passed by a Bedouin who was making du'a in his salah. Before we get into the translation of the du'a itself, let me tell you what the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم then did.

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم passed by this Bedouin, and he heard this Sahabi making this du'a. He was so impressed by this Bedouin's du'a that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم appointed a man. And what was his job?

When this Bedouin finishes his du'a and completes his salah, bring him to me. Bring this Bedouin to me.

When the Bedouin completed his salah and was informed that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was waiting for him, he came to him. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم had been given a gift of gold from one of the mines — someone had given a gold bar. And when the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم saw this Bedouin who had made such a du'a, he gifted him with this bar of gold.

He said, "Where are you from, O Bedouin?" He replied, "From Banu Amir ibn Sa'sa'a, O Messenger of Allah." The Prophet said, "Do you know why I gifted you this gold — this big bar, this brick of gold?" He said, "Because of the relationship between you and I. We are relatives." The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said, "Indeed, blood ties have their rights." Then he said, "But I have actually given you this gold because of how beautifully you have praised Allah."

The Importance of Blood Ties

Indeed, being a blood relative means you have a right upon me — that's why I could possibly have given you a gold bar. One scholar made an interesting point. He said, if we were true Muslims, or if this entire country were Muslim, you should not have the homeless crisis. Earlier this week, I was in San Francisco — you know, it's in the news all the time, it's a horrible, horrible situation there. The L.A. situation here as well. Tons of people homeless.

And if you think about it — are these homeless people without a single blood relative? There might be a few whose every family member has died. But many of them naturally have cousins, aunts, uncles, extended families. But when deen is not followed, whether you're Muslim or not Muslim, you have a situation like this. It is not possible that a person says, "I have a blood relative," and allows him to sleep outside for the rest of his life. Not possible. You cannot allow your blood relative to be homeless. If I were to say this — your relative, would you allow that? You would say, "No, how can I even allow him one day to sleep outside like that? He has to be in some home." So when relationships are not taken care of, you have this issue — one of many issues, homelessness being among them.

The Structure of Du'a: Praise Before Request

This du'a is such a beautiful du'a because it is based on praising Allah. Yesterday we mentioned as well, the du'a of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and the du'a he taught the Sahaba — it is not about just ask, ask, ask. Rather, we first spend time with Allah, praising Him, thanking Him, acknowledging our endless mistakes. And then, after we have built up that relationship, only then we request for something.

That is what is happening in Surah Al-Fatiha:

More than half of the Surah — four verses — what is it? Praising Allah, acknowledging Allah's greatness and grandeur and might, making it very clear: I'm not knocking on every door and then knocked at your door too. No, You are the only door that I knock at. And then we make the ask. And what is the ask? اهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ — O Allah, please guide me to the straight path.

That's why it comes in hadith — that when a person says الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ, Allah says, حَمِدَنِي عَبْدِي — "My servant has praised Me." When he says الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ, Allah says, مَجَّدَنِي عَبْدِي or أَثْنَى عَلَيَّ عَبْدِي — "My servant has glorified Me." When he says مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ, similarly, Allah responds that My servant has praised Me, My servant has glorified Me. Then, إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ — He says, "This is between Me and My servant." Because the عِبَادَة part is for Allah, and وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ — it's Me giving back to you. So He says, "This is half for Me, half for you." But then when he reaches اهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ onwards, He says, "This is all for My servant."

This is profound. When you read Surah Al-Fatiha, Allah is interacting with you. Allah is responding to you at every word. And this Fatiha al-Kitab — the key opening chapter of the Quran, so powerful — yet even in this, every word is so measured, every ayah is counted. More than half of it, we are speaking to Allah about our relationship with Him, how great He is. We are not asking anything. The du'a is about gaining Allah's trust — or if I can use that word — building a relationship with Allah, bringing this credibility with Allah that you mean it. And then at the end, finally making the ask.

Notice this Bedouin — did he hear this from the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, these exact words? Probably not. Why would the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم give him a huge bar of gold if he were simply repeating a known hadith? It's because he decided to, and Allah inspired him to praise Allah in such a manner. And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم loved it — that's why he gave him this gift.

The Du'a of the Bedouin: Line by Line

(Majma' al-Zawa'id of al-Haythami; also found in Munajat al-Maqbul and Hizb al-A'zam)

The Praises of Allah

يَا مَنْ لَا تَرَاهُ الْعُيُونُ — O the One whom eyes cannot see. As the Quran states, لَا تُدْرِكُهُ الْأَبْصَارُ وَهُوَ يُدْرِكُ الْأَبْصَارَ — the eyes cannot encompass Him, while He can encompass all eyes and all the people who have those eyes.

وَلَا تُخَالِطُهُ الظُّنُونُ — And who the imagination of the human being cannot properly comprehend and mix with. Because Allah is above logical comprehension. Allah is above the ability for the eye to see.

وَلَا يَصِفُهُ الْوَاصِفُونَ — Those who are expert at describing things — that's their job, to sit and describe a scene. They are not able to describe Him. They are out of words.

وَلَا تُغَيِّرُهُ الْحَوَادِثُ — And the incidents of this world — حَادِثَةٌ، حَوَادِثُ — issues, events, natural disasters — do not change Him. You look at a person who is 30 or 35 years old and he looks old. What happened to him? Difficulty in his life has aged him. Listening to the stories sometimes of people just within our own community — heart-wrenching stories. We don't know; they're praying right next to us. What's going on in their home? Disabled children, disabled parents, people who are sick, those who have fallen ill, lots of debt, financial constraints, family members who are psychologically ill, people who are on drugs and addicted. What type of stress do people come to the house of Allah with? SubhanAllah. May Allah alleviate their sources of pain and suffering, and may Allah bring sukoon and itmi'nan — peace — in their lives, and may Allah protect us all from that as well.

وَلَا يَخْشَى الدَّوَائِرَ — And He is not afraid of any type of calamity. Who would Allah be afraid of? Because everything is under His control.

يَعْلَمُ مَثَاقِيلَ الْجِبَالِ — Allah knows the weight of the mountains. وَمَكَايِيلَ الْبِحَارِ — And the volume of the oceans. He knows the weight of the mountains, the volume of the oceans, and He knows the number of raindrops that fall.

وَعَدَدَ وَرَقِ الْأَشْجَارِ — And He knows the number of leaves on any given tree.

وَعَدَدَ مَا أَظْلَمَ عَلَيْهِ اللَّيْلُ وَأَشْرَقَ عَلَيْهِ النَّهَارُ — And He knows the number of things upon which the night sets and upon which the sun rises. All of those things upon which the night sets and upon which the sun rises — Allah knows how many they are, what they are, where they are.

وَلَا تُوَارِي مِنْهُ سَمَاءٌ سَمَاءً — No sky is able to hide what the sky above it holds. No lower sky is able to block off what is in the sky above it from Allah. وَلَا أَرْضٌ أَرْضًا — No earth is able to block off what is below it. وَلَا بَحْرٌ مَا فِي قَعْرِهِ — And no ocean is able to hide from Allah what lays below in its craters. وَلَا جَبَلٌ مَا فِي وَعْرِهِ — And no mountain can hide from Allah what lies deep, deep inside it.

All of this, up to this point, is nothing but the praises of Allah. Such beautiful, amazing praises. This man did not sit and memorize this du'a from Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم. But he understood who Allah is. And he is a Bedouin in the desert — so he speaks to Allah the way a person working in nature will speak. He is reflecting on Allah's greatness through nature.

Just now someone messaged me: "SubhanAllah, I had a near-miss — a horrible car accident. Allah saved me." And then they mentioned that they had given sadaqa that morning, and they know it is through the barakah of that sadaqa that Allah saved them from having a horrible accident. My friends, to be able to reflect on your surroundings and connect it back to Allah — this is the real deal. There are many who have near-miss accidents and they say, "That was close," and then what? Just move on. Or they may even curse or make some exclamation. Where are you connecting the dots back to Allah? That is what is supposed to happen. Any incident that occurs in your life — good or bad, expected or unexpected — we attribute it back to Allah.

And this Bedouin — he is reflecting on nature and his surroundings, and connecting it back to Allah. When Hudhud came back to Sulaiman (peace be upon him) and told him about Bilqis and all the other incidents, the Quranic verse mentions that Hudhud is saying: why, O people, are you not worshiping Allah?

That Allah who takes out the seed — the hidden thing — in the heavens and the earth. The germinating of the seeds. The seeds coming out of the fruits, the seeds falling into different parts of the earth and beginning to plant another tree. The seed becoming a means of many animals eating from it. And of course the seed — also the sustenance of the birds. Look at how smart this bird was, that it was able to understand and connect Allah through its own prism, through its own vision and outlook at life.

All of us have our own jobs, our own education, our own set of eyes. We should be focusing on Allah in our surroundings, in our field of work, in our field of study. Try to see how you can find Allah there. If you find Him, you will be overwhelmed with joy — alhamdulillah, I see the signs of Allah right here.

The Three Requests

Then the Sahabi goes on and says:

اجْعَلْ خَيْرَ عُمْرِي آخِرَهُ — O Allah, make the best of my life the last of it. What does that mean? End in a good way. How we start doesn't count — it is our ending that matters. So scary. No matter what we have done throughout life, how we end is what counts. And the Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم has said in various ahadith:

Indeed, a man may do the deeds of the people of Paradise in the eyes of people, while in reality he is headed towards the Hellfire. And indeed, a man may do the deeds of the people of Hellfire in the eyes of people, while he is actually destined toward Paradise. And indeed, actions are judged by their endings.

SubhanAllah. The Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم says there are people who perform actions such that people would definitely think they are going to Jannah — but unfortunately they are actually headed towards Hellfire. And there are others who do the actions of the people of Jahannam in the eyes of others, but they are actually destined toward Paradise. إِنَّمَا الْأَعْمَالُ بِالْخَوَاتِيمِ — Indeed, actions are judged by their endings.

Sometimes in the eyes of people, this man was going to Jannah. But then something happened towards the end. You know when I talk about atheism and these things, some of you think I'm just making things up. I got a message just a couple of hours ago — I'm not going to read the whole thing, it's long — but it is a message from our community. Some person, maybe one mile, half a mile, one and a half miles away, who I don't know. He obviously knows me, so he messaged me. He said, "I need some advice for a friend of mine who left Islam a couple of years ago, but his mom still doesn't know. His mom still makes him fast. And he says if he were to tell his mom, he fears she might kick him out." He says, "I feel bad since I'm obviously Muslim and I haven't done anything to get him back to Islam. I feel he's gotten too far away from the deen — from drinking alcohol to eating pork, and making fun of the deen as well. His friend group is all non-Muslim. They might be respectful to Islam, but this guy himself makes fun of the deen." And the list continues. Both the brother texting me and the one he's asking help for are from our local neighborhood.

This is just endless. When we look at this Ramadan crowd right now, there is no place to stand for Taraweeh — everywhere is full, alhamdulillah. But this is still the top 5%. The vast majority of the Ummah are not here on the first night of Taraweeh. They are not here on the 27th night. They are not here on the 29th night. They are never here. They are lucky if their janazah is brought to the masjid by some relative. The janazah — to be performed in the masjid — they'll come for that. Besides that, they won't come here alive.

I was speaking to another very influential person within the tech world, and he was sharing the same thing — that from his experience, people are simply just not getting it. People think that the average Muslim comes to the masjid, sits in a dars, in a bayan, comes for Taraweeh. These are not average Muslims. These are really pious, conservative, practicing Muslims — and they are definitely not the norm. The average person, unfortunately, is very, very far away from the deen. But we are so focused on this group that we don't realize how many are actually falling apart, leaving the deen. How many of those who come to the masjid have their own immediate siblings completely not just in sin but, unfortunately, in disbelief.

So where do we start from, where do we end up? This is my point — why it is so important for us to focus on the ending, not just on where we start off from. He said: O Allah, make the last portion of my life the best.

وَخَيْرَ عَمَلِي خَوَاتِيمَهُ — And O Allah, make the best of my actions the last of them.

وَخَيْرَ يَوْمِي يَوْمَ أَلْقَاكَ فِيهِ — And O Allah, make the best day of my life the day I meet You. The day I die, O Allah, make that the best day of my life.

Why so? You have a stock and you want to cash it out — you naturally want to cash it out when it reaches the highest, after which it will never go back up again. If you had a way to know that the stock is at $330 today, and from tomorrow it will become $327, and then $320, and on and on going downhill until you die — then which person would not want to sell right now? We would sell at that same moment. You want to cash out when it is at the highest level. This is what is being said here: O Allah, allow my best deeds to be my final deeds, and O Allah, make the best day of my life the day I meet You.

Reflection on the Three Requests

Notice all three requests have to do with the same thing. Aakhir al-'umr — O Allah, allow the best part of my life to be the latter one. Aakhir al-'amal — O Allah, let the final deeds be the best. And aakhir al-yawm — O Allah, allow me to die on the best day of my life.

So we see — when fahm and understanding comes into a person, even if he is a Bedouin, he will make a du'a that baffles us. We ask Allah to grant us all His attachment. Ameen. Grant our loved ones, our elders, and our youngsters — O Allah, grant us the ability to know You the way You ought to be known, and to reach out to You and pray to You the way You ought to be prayed to. Ameen, Rabbil Alameen.