Ramadan 2025 | The Power of Prophetic Prayers | Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed | 03/11

Ramadan 2025 | The Power of Prophetic Prayers

By Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed | 03/11

Recap: Adam's Tawbah and the Lesson of Iblis

Yesterday, we started off with the ayah from Surah al-Baqarah:

This ayah speaks of Adam (peace be upon him) receiving specific words of tawbah from Allah, and then using those words — and Allah accepted his repentance. We shared with you the du'a from the Quran:

We talked about the method of how Iblis acted when he got into trouble, and how Adam (peace be upon him), his response was when a mistake was made. And so we need to choose the Adam (peace be upon him) method when we make mistakes — and not the method of Iblis, of being stubborn, adamant, finding an excuse for everything, and not bowing our head down and saying, "I made a mistake."

We then mentioned a du'a of Adam (peace be upon him) making du'a through the waseelah of the Prophet ﷺ — لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ being written on the Throne, and he knew hence that that being — that Nabi — whose name is written alongside Allah's name, has to be someone super special. So he made du'a through the waseelah of the Prophet ﷺ. And we talked about the benefits of that as well.

Allah Inspires the Sincere Heart to Ask

فَتَلَقَّىٰ آدَمُ مِن رَّبِّهِ كَلِمَاتٍ — Adam (peace be upon him) received words of tawbah from Allah. What comes to mind right now is that when a person is sincere, and is in trouble, is in a situation — Allah will inspire you how to ask from Him.

There are certain words to be used, to be able to knock on Allah's door. And when a person is sincere, hopefully, and he asks Allah — "Ya Allah, You put the words in my mouth. Because I don't even know how to ask from You. I am completely zero in front of You. So even what needs to be asked, I don't know. How to ask it, also I don't know."

Priority wise, what's the most important thing for me to ask on this 11th day of Ramadan? I don't know. I've got tens of things in my mind. Allah knows exactly what is going to happen tonight after Maghrib, what's going to happen after Isha, what's going to happen tomorrow morning. He knows all those things — in your family, in your business, in your home. And hence, Allah can inspire us to start making the appropriate du'as.

How many times has it happened? I'm sure you've seen that you thought of something — "Ya Allah, I wish I could meet someone" — and lo and behold, the person is there. It happens to me many times as well. And you say, SubhanAllah, the fact that Allah made you think of that person, or made you make du'a for something, and then within a minute or two, you cross paths — that seems to be clearly a gift from Allah that in His infinite knowledge, He knew this was going to happen in the near future, and He inspired you to make that du'a.

So these special days that we have of du'a — one of the first du'as we should say to Allah is: "Ya Allah, inspire me to ask You what I need to ask." There are all the things that we want to ask. But if you ask a child, he wants to make du'a — "Ya Allah, give me a thousand lollipops, a thousand Snickers, a thousand candies, a thousand Coke." That's what he's going to ask. That's not what he needs, but he wants that.

But an innocent child — how many du'as of his, SubhanAllah, can hit the Throne of Allah and become a means of bringing sukoon and itminan to thousands of people, if that innocent child starts making du'a. There are some kids — you come across them once in a while — who sit in a corner, eight or nine years old, SubhanAllah, and they raise their hands in making du'a so earnestly. And you just say, as a human being, this is so touching. Imagine how beautiful this must be to Allah — that this innocent child is sitting here, making du'a.

So, فَتَلَقَّىٰ آدَمُ مِن رَّبِّهِ كَلِمَاتٍ — the point is that we also should ask Allah to inspire us with the best du'as. Whenever we sit for our khatm al-Quran du'as, and when we are sitting together, always make du'a: "Ya Allah, inspire the person who is making du'a with the du'as that need to be made at this moment."

The Du'a of Adam from Tabarani and Ibn Asakir

I said there was one more du'a mentioned in Durr al-Manthur — the du'a that Hazrat Adam (peace be upon him) made. Let me share it now.

(Tabarani, Al-Mu'jam al-Awsat; Ibn Asakir — with a weak chain, on the authority of Aisha, radiAllahu anha, from the Prophet ﷺ)

Imam Tabarani mentions in his Mu'jam al-Awsat and Ibn Asakir — although with a weak chain, on the authority of Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) — that the Prophet ﷺ said: when Allah sent down Adam to the earth, Adam (peace be upon him) stood up in front of the Ka'bah — the spot where the Ka'bah is. He stood in front of that.

فَصَلَّى رَكْعَتَيْنِ — He performed two rak'aat of Salah. فَأَلْهَمَهُ اللَّهُ هَذَا الدُّعَاءَ — And then Allah inspired him with this du'a.

The Virtues of This Du'a

Let me tell you the fadail (virtues) of it before we go through the du'a itself, so you'll focus more on it.

As Adam (peace be upon him) made this du'a, after he made it, Allah responded and said:

1. قَدْ قَبِلْتُ تَوْبَتَكَ — "I have accepted your tawbah."

2. غَفَرْتُ ذَنْبَكَ — "I have forgiven your sins."

3. And no one will ever supplicate to me with this du'a, except that I will also forgive his sins. Whatever his worries — muhimm — whatever things are a source of worry and stress for him, I will take care of them. I'll come between him and his worries.

4. وَزَجَرْتُ عَنْهُ الشَّيْطَانَ — "And I will push away Shaytan from him." زَجَرَ — to push away. I'll push Shaytan away from him.

5. وَاتَّجَرْتُ لَهُ — "And behind every businessman, I will be doing the business for him." You will not benefit from any business dealing as much as you will benefit by Me working behind the scenes to make sure all your deals come fruitful. Your rizq increases, basically.

6. وَأَقْبَلَتْ إِلَيْهِ الدُّنْيَا رَاغِمَةً — "And then the dunya will come to you disgraced." وَإِنْ لَمْ يُرِدْهَا — even if you do not ask for it, even if you do not want it. SubhanAllah.

Is there something here that brothers don't like? Is there something here that you don't want? Allah has given us the best of dunya and the best of akhirah.

Learning the Art of Making Du'a

We have to learn how to ask Allah. And you're going to learn that by listening. First of all, growing up, we listen to our parents making du'a. Then when we were in madrasa, every single morning after Salatul Fajr, the whole madrasa would recite Surah Yasin. And our principal, Muhazzab al-Shabir Sahib, would make du'a — he still does, may Allah grant him siha and 'aafiyah. And then on Thursday nights, Mufti al-Haq Sahib would make the du'a after Durood Sharif. These are the two weekly du'as, minimum, that were happening.

When you hear these du'as, you realize — whoa, I never even thought about asking these things. The comprehensiveness of it is something I don't have. A to Z, covering as many bases as you can. You cannot make a 50-minute public du'a every day after Fajr. Not possible — everyone has to go to class, everyone has to go somewhere. You can make your own individual du'a as much as you want. But within 7-8 minutes, how can you make a comprehensive du'a that benefits everyone? That's what I got to learn — what I got to hear — from my teachers.

One of the most beautiful du'as I recall: he was first making du'a for the protection of the deen institution. But the levels and the degrees he took it — I had never heard it. Wherever he goes, naturally, he makes du'a for protection of deen institutions he visits. It was so multi-layered and so comprehensive — all the various possible pitfalls, all the various possible attacks, all the various possible assaults from shayateen, from humans, from jinn. He covered those bases. And then at the end, when he said: "Ya Allah, grant us death with iman, raise us with iman..."

And then: "Ya Allah, allow us to drink from the Hawd al-Kawthar." Okay, some of us say that. But the way he said it in such beautiful, eloquent Urdu was: "Ya Allah, allow us to drink from the blessed hands of the Prophet ﷺ at the Hawd al-Kawthar, from a cup that he has already drunk from. And then allow us to have our lips touch the very same spot on that cup where our beloved Habib Mustafa ﷺ's lips were."

Who thinks like that? Who thinks like this — that I allow my lips to touch the same spot where the Prophet ﷺ's lips were touching on that cup? You cannot make a du'a like this until your mindset is like this. You have to be thinking about the akhirah. You have to have gone through the stages of the akhirah so many times in your own muhasabah and muraqabah that as you're making du'a, it's like you're looking at the Day of Judgment. You are weaving through the crowds, trying to get to the front. And then, from a million miles away, you see where Rasulullah ﷺ is. And you're making your way up.

It might take a thousand years to get there. It might take five thousand years. It is a long day — a fifty-thousand-year-long day.

Every single day is a thousand years. But the Day of Judgment — fifty thousand. خَمْسِينَ أَلْفَ سَنَةٍ. Fifty thousand years. Since the Prophet ﷺ passed away — from the Hijrah we are not even fifteen hundred years away. So what is fifty thousand years? You can see from far where Rasulullah ﷺ is. You cannot imagine what type of special nur must be on that spot.

And imagine you make it up there. And then SubhanAllah, the Habibullah ﷺ recognizes you. He recognizes you as an ummati of his — from the athar and the effects of wudu' on your face, from the effects of wudu' on your limbs. And he calls you forward. What honor of this world could compare to that? All the stuff that we're running after in this world — how can it compare to the Prophet ﷺ saying, "Come, come"?

And then the Prophet ﷺ giving us from his blessed hands at the Hawd al-Kawthar:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6579; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2292)

Whoever drinks from it once will never become thirsty for eternity. And you're pretty much guaranteed Jannah after that. And then to be given from his hands after he has drunk from that same cup.

Is that off limits for us? No. The problem is — how many times did we make du'a for this? That is the question. It's all open. The place is open. You can compete. But we have to compete. We have to have the desire. But our mindset doesn't even go to the akhirah. We're just going round and round in circles here.

Creating an Environment of Akhirah at Home

When are we going to get the mind to think about the scenes of the akhirah and say, "Allah, I want that"? In this dunya, we have these goals that we make for ourselves — five-year goal, ten-year goal. A child, even a 4th grader, will tell you not only what kind of doctor he wants to become, but what specialist. That's goal-driven thinking. When you create that environment at home, even a 9-year-old will start thinking 20 years in advance.

When is the discussion at home about Jannah? The discussion of Jannah is gone. The discussion where excitement is created about the akhirah. Excitement of Jannah. Excitement of the levels of Jannah. Excitement of the luxuries of Jannah. When there's no discussion, naturally the excitement is not going to be there. Naturally the niyyah is not going to be there. Naturally the du'a is not going to be there. Naturally the effort is not going to be there.

Effort is a distant thing. Before the effort comes, Du'a. Before the Du'a comes, Niyyah. Before the Niyyah comes, Desire. Before the Desire comes, Discussion. So if we have the discussions, then we can hopefully one day get where we need to. This is how our environment at home has to change — amongst our family and friends.

The Prophet ﷺ Redirecting Attention Toward the Akhirah

One day the Prophet ﷺ was wearing a nice, beautiful kurta. As Anas or Jabir (may Allah be pleased with them) narrated, one day there was a fully lit, full moon. And the Sahaba said: we were looking at Rasulullah ﷺ, and we were looking at the moon — the badr — back and forth. Full moon and the face of the Prophet. And they said: most definitely, the face of the Prophet ﷺ is far more beautiful than the moon.

Such a beautiful face, such a beautiful personality — and he's wearing a beautiful gift that was given to him, a kurta. The Sahaba who loved him more than they loved themselves said: "Ya Rasulullah, so beautiful you look today." They started complimenting his physique, his kurta, his new clothes. The Prophet ﷺ did not like this — that his Sahaba should even for a moment be infatuated by what he was wearing. And he didn't want them to feel for one moment that they were being left out.

So immediately the Prophet ﷺ said — Sa'd (may Allah be pleased with him) had already become a shaheed:

— or words to that effect. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3802; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2469)

"Indeed the handkerchief that Sa'd is using in Jannah is far superior than everything you can see." He shifted the attention of the Sahaba towards one of their companions who had already become shaheed. He said: don't look at me, don't look at anyone.

If the Prophet ﷺ did not want his Sahaba to look at his kurta, how could he possibly want them to look at anyone else's shirt, anyone else's horse, anyone else's house — and especially that of a disbeliever? See how quick he was to change the conversation. That's important for us to do — for our own benefit and for our home — to channel the direction towards the akhirah.

Anytime someone says, "Can we have a nice car, a nice home?" — of course you can. But use and throw. Use, enjoy, thank Allah and move on. Dunya is like toilet paper — you need it, you have to have it, but no one sits there and adores it. It's a utility. Use and throw. All the wealth, all the homes, all the cars, all the businesses, everything — a utility. We need it, but we don't love it. It fulfills a great need for preparing for the akhirah — that is what the dunya is for. But beyond that, we should not be attached to it.

One of the ways to ensure we do not become attached to the dunya is to constantly speak about the akhirah. This is where the ta'leem comes in, where the discussions come in. A person speaks about all sorts of things of the akhirah. And anytime you notice people speaking about the dunya with infatuation — "Did you see what he's got?" — we change the discussion. Talk about what you need, what I need, what are you doing for that. That is the main discussion.

The Du'a Itself: Text and Explanation

Now, Adam (peace be upon him) is standing in front of the Ka'bah after he came down, and Allah inspired him with this du'a. This du'a you will find in Khizr al-A'zam and Munajat Maqbool. Let's go through it:

Line by Line Explanation

اللَّهُمَّ إِنَّكَ تَعْلَمُ سِرِّي وَعَلَانِيَتِي — "O Allah, You know my secrets and You know my external life." You know my private life, You know my public life. You know that which is hidden, and You know that which is apparent. This is the first thing we say to Allah.

So — please accept my excuse. Please accept my excuse for my mistakes. When a person comes visibly bleeding, we don't wait for him to explain the whole story before we start patching him up. Similarly, we say: "Ya Allah, You already see me. You see exactly what my needs are. So before I even utter what I need, please start tending to me."

وَتَعْلَمُ مَا فِي نَفْسِي فَاغْفِرْ لِي ذَنْبِي — "O Allah, You know what is inside my nafs, so please forgive my sins."

So there are three things so far:

1. O Allah, You know my public life and private life — so accept my excuse.
2. O Allah, You know my needs — so grant me what I'm asking for.
3. O Allah, You know what's inside my nafs — so please forgive my sins.

Our job is to express to the best of our ability — not because Allah doesn't know, but because Allah asked us to do so. By speaking to Allah, our relationship with Allah becomes stronger, and our conviction in Him becomes stronger. Otherwise Allah already knows exactly what we need.

اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَسْأَلُكَ إِيمَانًا يُبَاشِرُ قَلْبِي — "O Allah, I ask You for such iman that will literally be connected and sandwiched into my heart." مُبَاشِرَةً is when two things are attached to one another, lying next to each other, sitting on top of one another. You are asking for iman that's not a veneer — iman that goes deep down into the deepest crevices of the heart.

وَيَقِينًا صَادِقًا — "And O Allah, grant me such level of conviction." صَادِقًا — true conviction — in all the promises of Allah, in all the warnings of Allah, in the wa'adas and wa'eeds of Allah, true conviction in the ayats of the Quran, true conviction in the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ.

حَتَّى أَعْلَمَ أَنَّهُ لَا يُصِيبُنِي إِلَّا مَا كَتَبْتَ لِي — "Until I begin to know, and begin to realize, and begin to feel convinced, that nothing will afflict me except for that which You have already ordained for me."

This is الرِّضَاءُ بِالْقَضَاءِ — to be pleased with Allah's decree. This is part of our iman. A person can be sad and ask Allah for something better, but you cannot be angry at Allah. "Why are all their affairs getting taken care of, and my first affair is still stuck? Why is his business continuing to increase, and my one store is also closed down? Why are all his children getting married to such amazing people, and I can't even get one of my children married?"

The way to channel this is sadness towards Allah — in front of Allah — not frustration and anger at Allah. That doesn't get us anywhere. Instead, it makes us in an even more pitiful state.

وَارْضِنِي بِمَا قَسَمْتَ لِي — "And O Allah, make me pleased with whatever You have distributed for me — whatever You have allotted for me." Allow me to be happy with whatever I did get, and do not allow me to be angry at what I did not get. Allow me to be happy with the blessings I have, and allow me not to be angry at whatever difficulties I'm going through.

This is the du'a of Hazrat Adam (peace be upon him), after he was sent down from the heavens, in front of the Ka'bah, after performing two rak'aat of Salah. Allah inspired him with this du'a. And then Allah said: "I have accepted your tawbah, forgiven your sins, and whoever supplicates to Me with this du'a — I will also forgive his sins, remove his worries, push away the Shaytan from him, make sure all his business deals become fruitful, and the dunya will come to him disgraced, even if he doesn't want it."

And the example we've seen with our teachers and scholars — the more they run away from it, the more it comes to them. They say, "We don't want it." And it says, "No, it's coming to you." Like the shadow — when you walk away from the sun, which is the source of that light, the shadow is in front of you. You'll never be able to catch it. Your whole life you'll never catch it, because you turned your back to the sun. But as soon as a person turns his face towards the sun and runs towards it, the shadow keeps on chasing him. He doesn't want it. He says, "Go!" But the shadow keeps on chasing him.

This is the dunya. When a person makes his tawajjuh towards Allah truly — while still making his hands do the business, but his heart is connected to Allah — Allah will make that dunya fall to his feet. May Allah give all of us the reality of this. And may Allah make it easy for us to supplicate to Him in an accepted manner with this du'a.

Reading the Du'a Together

Ameen. Ya Rabbal Alameen.

Closing Du'a

However our days may have been spent in the past, allow every remaining day and night to be far better than any previous day and night. Ya Allah, allow us to have the ability to manage our time properly. Allow us to take care of all the obligations that we have on our plate, along with taking out adequate time for reciting the Quran and doing dhikr and du'a.

Ya Allah, put barakah in our time. Ya Allah, put barakah in our time. Put barakah in our time. Ya Allah, put barakah in our time.

O Allah, grant us physical health. Ya Allah, please grant physical health to all of us. O Allah, there are many who are under the flu and other types of sicknesses. O Allah, in this blessed month of Ramadan, they feel very sad that they are not able to fully benefit from the blessings of Ramadan because they are not able to come to the masjid, or they are not able to fast. Ya Allah, allow them to enjoy the full blessings of accepted fast and accepted qiyam for those who are absolutely sick and cannot fulfill these obligations. And Ya Allah, we ask You to grant shifa to all of them as well. O Allah, allow the sickness to become a means of purification of sins, a means of elevating their status.

O Allah, we have one of our local musallis, and a very close relative of a staff member as well. O Allah, we just found out that they possibly have a type of cancer. O Allah, this news just came in. O Allah, we ask You to grant them complete shifa. O Allah, we ask You to grant them complete shifa. O Allah, anyone and everyone who is suffering from cancer — O Allah, we ask You to allow this disease to be regarded as a plague. O Allah, grant them all the blessings of a plague. O Allah, allow it to become a means of complete forgiveness for them. O Allah, allow it to become a means of their status being elevated. And allow every single one of them who is suffering from cancer or any other disease to be granted complete shifa. O Allah, grant them complete shifa. O Allah, grant us all complete shifa. O Allah, whatever is causing these sicknesses, allow us to be protected from it, Ya Allah.

O Allah, we ask You to grant respite — and grant respite to the Ummah. Allow the Ummah to fully repent, Ya Allah. O Allah, our brothers and sisters in Sudan and Gaza and Palestine. O Allah, in Syria, in any and all areas of Bilad al-Sham. O Allah, in India and Pakistan and Afghanistan and Iraq and all other parts of the world as well — wherever the Ummah is going through difficulty and being butchered — we ask You, Ya Allah, to bring an end to this butchering. We ask You to bring an end to this suffering. Ya Allah, allow the Ummah to collectively repent to You, Ya Allah. Allow the Ummah to collectively repent to You, Ya Allah. Allow the Ummah to collectively repent to You, Ya Allah.

O Allah, please allow every one of us to make long, beautiful du'as on our own. And inspire us with the du'as that we need to make, Ya Allah. Inspire us with the du'as we need to make.

Ameen.