Ramadan 2025 | The Power of Prophetic Prayers | Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed | 03/15

أَمَّا بَعْد — Recap: The Tasbih Fatimi

Yesterday we covered Tasbih Fatimi — reciting 33 times سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ, 33 times الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ, and 34 times اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ after every salah and, as the hadith mentioned, before we go to bed. Through the barakah of that, Allah will give us blessing in our life, blessing in our time, and give us strength.

The goal — and one of the main things we focused on — was how Nabi صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ raised the Sahaba and, of course, his own family, to turn towards a'mal and turn towards good deeds to be able to get their needs fulfilled. And that's the difference between us and the rest of the people. Honestly, that's the difference. The rest of the people are completely process-driven, and we're also process-driven — fine — but in our process we have something called a formula that includes dhikr.

Sadaqah, Du'a, and the Power of Public Supplication

I asked a brother — he said he wanted, alhamdulillah, to sponsor a portion of the iftar. So I told him, and he told me: "Please make du'a for me, I've got a lot of stuff going on." I said, "You want me to tell you a secret? On the odd nights — the 27th, the 29th — when you have a fundraiser here, whatever amount you want to give, whether it's a hundred, whether it's a thousand, whether it's a hundred thousand, you send that pledge or that check, and you send me your du'a request anonymously. Insha'Allah we'll make du'a, and you'll have 1,500, 2,000 people — or 4,000 if it's a khatam night — insha'Allah saying ameen to your du'a."

My experience has been, repeatedly, that those duas that have been made publicly, and ameen has been said publicly on these special occasions — when coupled with sadaqah — those duas, I don't say it, they themselves come and say: "Sheikh, we can't believe what just happened — within one month, within one week." Those people who didn't have children for 10 years, Allah has blessed them. Those who weren't able to get married for years, their kids weren't able to get married, those who are going through green card issues, passport issues, job issues, and their children being misguided — alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah, we've seen so many amazing stories of duas being accepted.

So the brother said, "Oh, I can do that — but I feel bad." I said, "What do you feel bad about?" He said, "It's like I'm buying a du'a. Is this appropriate with Allah?" I said, "You have a wrong understanding. What I'm talking about — you're not buying anything. Call it buying a du'a if you want, Allah loves good deeds, and when Allah loves something of someone, then He fulfills their need." And that is why we make du'a when we think Allah is happy with us — we make du'a at the end of any good deed.

Hence we make du'a after salah every single time. Even if we are not sitting because we have to run somewhere, we're still saying:

And whatever other duas we have memorized and recite in the Tashahud — we say them at the end of our prayer. Why? Because hopefully through the barakah of our salah, Allah will give us what we're asking for. And that's why Nabi صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ said that the time for the acceptance of du'a is dubura kulli salatin maktuba — after every fard salah. Whatever du'a you make is accepted. And what is the second time? Tahajjud time.

The Yaqeen of the Companions: Waiting for the Next Salah

That is why the Companions, whenever an issue would arise — some of the Companions mentioned in Hayatus Sahaba — when an issue would arise in their home, someone would say, "We have a big problem. Can you address it? Can you solve this?" They would say, "Okay, wait." Wait till when? Till the next salah. If the next salah happens to be Tahajjud, then Tahajjud. Otherwise, the next salah.

So it's 1pm, we've got an issue that comes up. "Okay, insha'Allah, 1:40 we'll take care of this." But what's going to happen at 1:40? 1:40 is when you're going to finish your Salatul Dhuhr. And then after that — Allahu Akbar. This was the yaqeen they had. The duas after salah get accepted. So if we have an issue, just wait till the next salah opens up — after the 5 fard salah and Tahajjud. Because Nabi صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ said these duas do not get rejected.

The Last Minute Before Iftar

Similarly, du'a gets accepted when you break the fast. Shaykh Zakariyya al-Kandhalawi, alhamdulillah — what he said. He said, "My experience has been, the last 30 seconds to a minute before you break your fast, whatever du'a you make, Allah accepts that." Just think about how many thousands of people — Allahu Akbar — are being misled on this point. Because till the last minute, they're making the fruit chaat and making the Rooh Afza. Those of you who are doing khidmah, even the people downstairs doing khidmah — you can make the fruit chaat, make the Rooh Afza. But your heart should be focused on du'a. The du'a should not be, "Ya Allah, please make this Rooh Afza sweet enough." No. Along with that, make big duas for yourself, for the world and humanity. That one minute before iftar — alhamdulillah — du'a is accepted.

When people go for Hajj, when people go for Umrah, they come up with a list of duas. A lot of people do that. Similarly, now we are done with halfway — today is the 15th day. We may have only 14 days left if we have 29 days. So now, in this time, we should write down: what are the duas we need? These three things, I have to get before Eid. Write it down today. That these are things that every single time before iftar, I'm going to make this du'a. And amongst those things, of course, is the general plight of the Ummah. Even the New York Times today reported that even after the truce is signed, Israel continues to bombard Gaza, killing people. What's happening in other parts of the world — subhanAllah — that should definitely be part of our duas.

Sadaqah Extinguishes the Anger of Allah

So what I explained to the brother is that du'a gets accepted when you do it together with a good deed. And one of the most powerful good deeds is sadaqah. The Prophet صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ said:

Indeed, charity extinguishes the anger of the Lord. (Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 664; also reported in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat of al-Tabarani)

Itfa' means to extinguish — literally. Itfa' is a firefighter. So it extinguishes the fire of the anger of Allah. When Allah is angry at someone, by giving sadaqah, you reduce and remove that anger. Allah has made it such that sadaqah makes Allah happy. So when you give sadaqah and then Allah is no longer angry at you, and then you present your du'a — that's not being incorrect. That is exactly what we're supposed to do. You're supposed to do tawaf and make du'a. You're supposed to do Umrah and make du'a. You're supposed to give sadaqah and fast and make du'a. So this is why, if we want our needs to get fulfilled, couple it with good deeds — and amongst them is sadaqah.

So during the last ten nights, this is something we can try our best to do: make niyyah and say, "I have something going on in my life — and I'm speaking to the lawyers, I'm speaking to the real estate agent, I'm speaking to the doctor, whatever the issue is." But then, my beloved friends, the difference between a Muslim and a non-Muslim is that we believe in this formula of dhikr and du'a that other people don't have.

That's why anyone who's running for any office — Muslims, you all know anyone running for Muslim office personally — you need to tell them: along with putting yard signs out there, along with doing mailers, along with doing canvassing, you need to have your campaigners and yourself have a regimen of dhikr. That every single day, we are going to do, insha'Allah, 10,000 Salat al-Nabi or 10,000 istighfar. And as the days get closer to the election day — April 1st — what do we do? We start increasing it. That's the difference between us and all the other non-Muslim candidates. We have something called dhikr. We have something called a'mal. And if we don't use this, then what's the difference between us and everyone else?

The Lesson of Uhud: What Sets the Believers Apart

Allah speaks about the Battle of Uhud. The Sahaba got hurt, the non-Muslims got hurt. 70 shaheed on the Muslim side, and 70 killed from the kuffar in Badr. Many injured, lots of issues happening. Allah consoles the Sahaba. You know what He says?

He said — don't worry. You all are in pain, 70 Sahaba have been killed, many have become prisoners of war, and pretty much everyone is wounded. You're not alone.

Indeed the disbelievers also suffer the way you suffer — we're both suffering. But what's the difference? Allah says:

وَتَرْجُونَ مِنَ اللَّهِ مَا لَا يَرْجُونَ — You have expectations from Allah for reward that they do not have. Because they have nothing. They've got nothing coming. This ayah, I think, is such a beautiful and powerful ayah to give to anyone, to console anyone — that we all suffer in this world, but the difference in a Muslim's suffering is that he is gaining huge rewards through his patience, in this world and the next.

And similarly, on the flip side — we both are in a race. But the difference between us and a non-Muslim is that we resort towards a'mal and good deeds as well, and we do not just leave it up to our effort alone.

Barakah in Sleep: A Personal Madrasa Memory

Why did I say all this? I connected it to yesterday's hadith — saying سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ 33 times, الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ 33 times, and اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ 34 times — as the way to make sure you're physically strong to take care of your needs of the day.

I remember when in madrasa, during exam week — you all still have those, mashallah. Exam week, we don't sleep much. Sometimes we sleep two hours before Fajr. And after Fajr, of course there's no sleeping. And the exam starts after that. How are you going to go write an exam when your brain is fried and you've only slept two or three hours? And I tell you with experience — you know what got us through those exams? The dhikr I just mentioned. Before you go to bed at 3:30 a.m., Fajr is at 5:30 — you're studying — and you say: "Ya Allah, You are the Creator of me, You are the Creator of the night, and You are the Creator of sleep. Everything and everyone is Your creation. I only have an hour and a half to two hours of sleep now. I have a big day tomorrow. You are capable of putting barakah in this sleep, such that my one and a half to two hours gives me the energy of eight hours."

Just like we say: "Brother, sadaqah does not diminish your wealth." And similarly, earning money from haram — Allah Himself says:

Whatever money you give in haram investments — with riba — Allah says: فَلَا يَرْبُو عِندَ اللَّهِ — it will never increase in the sight of Allah. Money, in your bank account it says, "I got a thousand dollars of interest, a thousand dollar return from an investment that was haram." Watch — Allah will not only minus that, you'll end up with a loss of five thousand somewhere. When you leave the parking lot, or you're on a highway, just one second that a person is looking at his phone and he did not put his brakes on quick enough — done. You cannot walk away from a small fender-bender without a ten thousand dollar cost between you and the person in front. Many times you don't even involve insurance — out of pocket, three weeks without a car, all that crazy stuff. One second — ten thousand dollars. You talk about a thousand dollars of interest? Allah within less than a second can make you lose ten thousand. Just to get the ball rolling. One night in the hospital — what are we looking at? Fifteen thousand? Easily. Without any big procedures. Add the procedures and an extended stay — subhanAllah — you're looking at 70, 80, 90, 100, 150 thousand dollar bills. So don't mess with Allah.

Allah says: whatever money you give away as zakah and sadaqah, seeking the pleasure of Allah — فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُضْعِفُونَ. What does mudh'ifun mean? From ad'afa yud'ifu id'af — to increase, to multiply. These are the actual multipliers, the actual investors. Allah is saying haram investment is going to destroy your money. And the most halal investment is what? Sadaqah. Give sadaqah and you'll see. So a Muslim is being taught: if you want to reach the top, don't just depend on your MIT degree. Don't just depend on your MBA from Harvard. Actually use the good a'mal and things that Allah has given us — dhikr, du'a, istighfar, asking other people to make du'a for us and all those things. We'll get the work done.

A Quick Hack: Four Names of Allah for Every Big Task

So as I was telling you — one and a half hours of sleep, we would have, but we'd read this du'a, and I promise you, you'd wake up and go mashallah. You'd do well on the exam because of this dhikr. So use that.

Another quick hack — what is it? Four names of Allah:

You have a big task in front of you. All of a sudden you've got guests coming to your home. At least this used to happen before, when I was young — we didn't have caterings and restaurants and all that. So someone would call: "We came to Chicago, can you please give us your address? We're on our way." How many people? "Oh yeah, husband, wife, six kids, four grandkids — we'll be there in an hour." Now there's no catering, no restaurant. And you've got to cook. I've seen this in action with this dhikr I'm telling you:

You have a huge monumental task to take care of at the office. There are expectations. What do you do? Roll up your sleeves and start doing the dhikr while you get to work. And it is like Allah has sent you hidden helpers. And your work that might take three hours will end up being done in two.

Did you all memorize what I just said? If not, write it down. If you don't write it, if you don't memorize it, how are you going to benefit from this? This is not for me to just say it and for you to say, "Oh, we heard it." Practice on it. Because if you believe in Allah, you believe in the names of Allah, you should have this trust that the names of Allah will actually take care of all your needs. Because you're supplicating to whom?

Ya Wadood — O the Loving One. Ya Ghafoor — O the Forgiving One. Ya Aziz — the All-Powerful, the Overwhelming. Ya Jabbar — the One in front of Whom nothing can stand, the One who breaks apart every single enemy of His, and every single enemy of ours — if we become Allah's. Al-Jabbar is a very powerful name. In front of the Jabbar, nothing stands. A barking dog will also run away.

Can we read it together?

Four names of Allah. You connect this with any big task you have. First do your Tasbih before you go to bed and you will have the physical energy for yourself. And then, when you start the task, begin reading this dhikr, and you will see how Allah will take care of your needs.

The Hadith of Surah al-Fatiha as Ruqya

So similarly, let's share another du'a. This is the du'a — rather, this is the story — of when a person gets sick, and the power of Surah al-Fatiha as a cure. From Abu Sa'id al-Khudri رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 5736; also Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2201)

A group of the Prophet's صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ Companions came to a tribe from the Arabian tribes. Those tribe people did not welcome or be hospitable to these Companions. They didn't open the doors and say, "Oh, you're here — we have to feed you." And this was — subhanAllah — the trait of the Muslims of the past and even of the recent past, before hotels and restaurants became super popular.

The Prophet صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ said:

Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, let him honor his guest. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6018; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 47)

Honor is just not — "here's the food in the kitchen and here's the Uber Eats phone number." That's not honor. Honor means not only do you serve, but you go out of your way to make a person feel special, to make a person feel wanted, to make a person feel that they should come back again. This is called ikram. The Prophet tied honoring the guest with believing in Allah and the Day of Judgment. That's a pretty serious thing — meaning, the one who does not honor his guest, his belief in Allah and the Day of Judgment needs to be checked again.

The Hospitality of the Nomadic Arabs

I was listening to a talk of Mawlana Manzoor Naumani recently. He was talking about when he was studying in Medina University — that must have been the early 1980s. After he finished his Alim course in India and studied probably in a number of other places. He said: on one of those dawah trips, a khuruj trip from Medina, they traveled days through the desert and through small roads, going to a far corner of Saudi Arabia. He said they were sitting in the car and they entered a village. They saw children — little boys and girls — with freshly squeezed milk from the goat and some buttermilk, offering it to anyone on the street.

One of the brothers said, "Look at these poor kids — it's a hot summer day, they're standing outside. How about we buy from these kids and we can all drink it?" So they stopped the car and said, "Come here, kid — we'll buy your milk and buttermilk." The kids were so happy and gave it to them. Then they pulled out riyals to pay. The kids said, "What is this for?" "We're buying it." The kids said, "Astaghfirullah — absolutely not. Our mothers sent us to stand on the street and give this to any person who passes by, all the guests entering our town." So all these kids would stand on the side of the road, and their mothers would send them with fresh milk to simply give it to the wayfarers and travelers.

So Mawlana was saying: this is the hospitality of the original nomadic Arabs. It's like an insult to pay for food. You are a guest in our town — how dare we allow you to pay for something? Even if you're just driving by, we have to honor you.

So these villagers in the hadith — they did not honor or give any hospitality to the Sahaba. فَبَيْنَمَا هُمْ كَذَلِكَ — while they were in that situation, with no food, no hotels, depending on the local people — إِذْ لُدِغَ سَيِّدُ أُولَئِكَ — the leader of that entire tribe was bitten by a scorpion.

They started looking for an antidote, for treatment. They had nothing. So they went to the Sahaba — their uninvited guests — and said: هَلْ مَعَكُمْ مِنْ دَوَاءٍ أَوْ رَاقٍ — "Do you have any medicine? Or do you have a raqi?" — a spiritual doctor, the one who does ruqya. Some sort of incantation or recitation that can treat our leader.

The Sahaba said: إِنَّكُمْ لَمْ تَقْرُونَا — "You did not host us. We're here, you didn't give us a single meal. So we won't help now — وَلَنْ نَفْعَلَ حَتَّى تَجْعَلُوا لَنَا جُعْلًا — unless you give us compensation."

Much can be said on this topic. A lot of work can be done voluntarily in the community on the condition that the needs of those volunteers are being fulfilled. You cannot expect someone to leave his job and come volunteer in the masjid for twelve hours a day. Yes, someone with a full-time job giving half an hour or an hour to the masjid — that's possible. But many times we say, "Do it for the sake of Allah," while the person doing the work has real needs.

So — فَجَعَلُوا لَهُمْ قَطِيعًا مِنَ الشَّاءِ — the tribe said fine. A master of the tribe is going to die. We need treatment. You've got treatment? Fine. We will give you a flock of sheep — not one sheep, a flock — if you can cure our leader.

فَجَعَلَ يَقْرَأُ بِأُمِّ الْقُرْآنِ وَيَجْمَعُ بُزَاقَهُ وَيَتْفِلُ — What did the Sahabi begin to do? Ummul Quran — Surah al-Fatiha. He started reading Surah al-Fatiha. And then he gathered his saliva and he spat — like when you have a bad dream and you're supposed to read أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ and spit to your left. This is called tafl. So he gathered his saliva and he spat. فَبَرَأَ — What happened to the leader? He got cured.

MashaAllah, they're walking away with a whole flock of sheep. And think about it — in five minutes, your leader would have died. They said: لَا نَأْخُذُهَا حَتَّى نَسْأَلَ النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ — "We are not going to use these sheep until we go ask the Prophet — is this permissible or not?" That's exactly what you're supposed to do — I just made a huge amount of money on this deal, let me first ask the sheikh whether I can use it.

So he said — they went to ask. فَضَحِكَ — the Prophet laughed. وَقَالَ: وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ أَنَّهَا رُقْيَةٌ؟ خُذُوهَا وَاضْرِبُوا لِي بِسَهْمٍ — "What did you know — that this is ruqya? Did you even know?" He never took a ruqya course. The Sahabi used logic: Surah al-Fatiha is the mother of the Quran. If the Quran is shifa, Surah al-Fatiha is going to be shifa. Bismillah, let me read. And so he just read Surah al-Fatiha. But he didn't just read it — what did he have? Yaqeen and ikhlas. Conviction and sincerity. That's what is the actual power behind it.

If you take a bullet and you place it on someone, nothing is going to happen. The pressure by which it exits the barrel — that's what gives it force. The effort behind the dhikr is ikhlas and yaqeen. The same surah that someone else reads and nothing happens — someone else reads it with ikhlas and yaqeen, and amazing things happen.

The Prophet صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ said, "Who told you this was ruqya? You didn't even know it. But subhanAllah, the effect happened. Go ahead and take these animals — وَاضْرِبُوا لِي بِسَهْمٍ — and I want a share of this as well." I want a share of the flock of sheep. So the Prophet became a shareholder in the payout. So how can you say you're more pious than the Prophet and the Sahaba, and claim that payment for ruqya is wrong?

This is very clear — Quranic ruqya is established right from this hadith. And it is for physical issues too. Because this was not some jinn or shaitan — what was it? A scorpion bite. And what did he use? Quranic ruqya. So if you have a headache or a stomach ache, and you say Surah al-Fatiha — I ask you: if Surah al-Fatiha cannot remove your headache and stomach ache, how is it going to get you over Jahannam and to Jannah? Which one is a bigger task?

But all of a sudden people become allergic. "Brother, headache — I want my Tylenol. Stomach ache — I want my Pepto." Brother, what I started my talk with today — we're not like the non-Muslims, we're different. We will take the medicine, but before we take the medicine, we use our a'mal first. And that's the tarbiyah of our Rasul صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ to the Sahaba — use the means, but before the means, use the a'mal.

And from amongst the a'mal is Surah al-Fatiha. And:

And Ayat al-Kursi. And the various different verses of the Quran. And as we talked about earlier — يَا وَدُودُ يَا غَفُورُ يَا عَزِيزُ يَا جَبَّارُ — whenever you want to get your needs done and you've got a big task, read these. Read Tasbih Fatimah. And Surah al-Fatiha — I encourage you to use it.

How to Use Surah al-Fatiha for Headaches and Pain

Whenever you have a stomach pain, a headache, or other issues — before you grab your medicine cabinet, first put your hand on your head. If you're near your sibling, your spouse, your child — put your hand on their head. For the worst headache as well, put your two fingers on the temples, your thumb on one side and the index finger on the other side. Hold it tight. And read Surah al-Fatiha. Read it as you slowly close in on both sides of your hand — your thumb and your index or middle finger — across the forehead of the person. And if there's no one around you and you have a headache, then do it to yourself. Slowly, slowly read Surah al-Fatiha — one, two, three, four, five, six, seven — while you're still holding on, until the end. Then release your hand and blow on the head. Do it with conviction. Insha'Allah, you will see that the pain will be gone.

And then after that, if you need to take medicine, if you need to see a doctor, if you need to get a blood test, a CT scan, an MRI — do everything else, whatever you need to. But utilize the power of Surah al-Fatiha for that treatment as well.

And for fever — put your hand on the person who has a fever and recite:

يَا نَارُ كُونِي بَرْدًا — "O fire, become cool." And your niyyah is the heat and the fire of the fever. So alhamdulillah — these are verses of the Quran and names of Allah, when read with concentration, that will have a massive effect.

The Lesson from Deoband: Conviction in the Quran

I remember when we had our first batch of first-year students — one of our brothers, Ibrahim, you remember this? We had a jamaat that came from England, and they spoke to our students. One of the elders was from Deoband Markaz. He said — he spoke to our students and said: students come to the office and say, "I have a headache. I have a stomach ache. Can I go home?" And he said, "I tell them, 'Beta, do you want me to read Surah al-Fatiha for you? Insha'Allah.'" And they'd say, "No, Uncle, it's okay. Just give me the medicine." He'd say, "No — I'm for free. I'm not charging you anything. Let me just read Surah al-Fatiha." They'd say, "No, it's okay. Just give me the tablet and we'll go."

And subhanAllah — the advice he gave our students. He said: "You as students of the madrasa, students of the Quran — if you do not have conviction on the very verse of the Quran that you are memorizing, how in the world do you expect to convince the world to believe in this? How can you convince the world when you yourself do not have full conviction in Surah al-Fatiha?"

Removal of a headache or stomach ache is the smallest issue. We say the Quran has the answer to the biggest century-long problems of the world. But we can't start there. You first start off with your basic small physical, spiritual, psychological, emotional issues in your life. Begin to use the dhikr, du'a, and verses of the Quran to solve those. And it will build you up to such a degree that — subhanAllah — a day will come when you'll be able to use this to solve the problems of the world.

May Allah grant myself and all of us 200% conviction on every single verse of the Quran and every single authentic hadith of the Prophet صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ. And may He allow us to differentiate ourselves from the disbelievers by involving dhikr and du'a in every single thing that we do. Ameen.

Insha'Allah, if the brothers can proceed downstairs for iftar. And I would like to welcome all the Glenbard students, alhamdulillah, who have come for the iftar — they can go to the banquet hall. Insha'Allah, the special iftar arrangements for the Glenbard High School students — please make your way to the seminary banquet hall.

Closing Du'a