Ramadan 2025 | The Power of Prophetic Prayers | Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed | 03/19

Opening Supplications

The Three Stages of Ramadan

Yesterday, we spoke about the hunath nazilah — when difficulties befall the ummah — and the du'a that's supposed to be recited in asking Allah for protection. The prayer during calamity. So we read one of the du'as there.

Today, another topic: the first 10 days of mercy, the second 10 days of forgiveness, and the third 10 days of emancipation from Jahannam. We should not think of this to be such a hard-line difference between each of the three, that if I have entered the second 10 days, that means I'm not going to get the mercy of Allah. I've entered the third 10 days, so I'm not going to get the forgiveness of Allah. This is not how it's supposed to be.

The fact is that we need to simply focus on one thing. Most of us can focus on one thing at a time. So now — what should I be focusing on in these 10 days? It's supposed to be focusing on seeking forgiveness from Allah. And the first 10 days, we're asking Allah for lots of mercy. That's all interconnected. If you're forgiven, you're going to enjoy mercy. You're not going to get mercy if you're not forgiven. And the last 10 days is the emancipation from Jahannam — emancipation from the fire of hell.

Sayyid al-Istighfar — The Master Prayer for Forgiveness

So from the types of istighfar that we can read, let us go through one of them. We'll start off with Sayyid al-Istighfar — the leader of istighfar.

The Prophet ﷺ has mentioned in a hadith of Sahih al-Bukhari that this is Sayyid al-Istighfar. He said:

Shaddad ibn Aws رضي الله عنه narrates this statement from the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, who said that the leader of istighfar — the master way of seeking forgiveness from Allah — is the following. And then he said: whoever recites this supplication in the morning, during the day, مُوقِنًا بِهَا — while he has conviction in it — that's a key point, conviction in the prayer, conviction in the du'a — فَمَاتَ مِنْ يَوْمِهِ and then he dies that same day, قَبْلَ أَنْ يُمْسِيَ before nightfall, فَهُوَ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْجَنَّةِ then he is from the people of Paradise. That's it. You recited it with conviction, and then you pass away before nightfall — you're going to go to Paradise. And whoever recites it at night while he has conviction in it and passes away before the morning, he will be from the people of Jannah.

The Text of Sayyid al-Istighfar

Now what is that amazing supplication that is so powerful?

• اللَّهُمَّ أَنْتَ رَبِّي — O Allah, You are my Lord.
• لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا أَنْتَ — There is no God but You.
• خَلَقْتَنِي — You have created me.
• وَأَنَا عَبْدُكَ — And I am Your servant.
• وَأَنَا عَلَى عَهْدِكَ وَوَعْدِكَ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُ — And as far as possible, I abide by Your promise and covenant which I made with You.
• أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ شَرِّ مَا صَنَعْتُ — O Allah, I seek Your protection against the consequences of my wrongdoings.
• أَبُوءُ لَكَ بِنِعْمَتِكَ عَلَيَّ — I fully acknowledge the grace You have bestowed upon me.
• وَأَبُوءُ بِذَنْبِي — And I confess also of my faults.
• فَاغْفِرْ لِي — So pardon me.
• فَإِنَّهُ لَا يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ إِلَّا أَنْتَ — For indeed, no one can pardon sins except for You.

Whoever recites this during the day and the night with firm belief, then happens to pass away before the next evening or morning, he will be counted amongst the dwellers of Paradise.

Reflecting on the du'a

Couple of points here. Number one: in this du'a, 90% of it, you're not asking Allah anything. You're speaking to Allah. Ya Allah, You're my Lord. None worthy of worship besides You. You created me. I'm Your servant. I try to remain as steadfast as possible on the covenant and the promise I made with You. I seek refuge in You from the evil I did — which could be called a du'a definitely. Then moves on to something else.

أَبُوءُ لَكَ — I acknowledge the blessings You have upon me. I acknowledge the sins I have committed. Now, فَاغْفِرْ لِي — so there's a build-up happening to the du'a that we see here.

أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ شَرِّ مَا صَنَعْتُ — I seek refuge in You from the consequences of what I have done. Many times our lives go in a downhill direction. All of a sudden, lots and lots of issues and problems. Left and right you have fires. Allah protect us. But there are some people who say — when it rains, it pours. Sometimes it happens. When people share with me their stories, I say, Allahu Akbar — every nook and corner, something is happening.

We don't know why that's happening. Maybe that's happening simply to elevate our status. Could be. But we want to make sure it's not because Allah is angry at us. So we need to start immediately seeking forgiveness from Allah when things do not happen the way we want them to. Ya Allah, I'm sorry. Because it could very well happen that this is a repercussion of my sins. Oh Allah, I seek refuge in You from the repercussion of my sins.

The repercussion of the sin does not only come in the hereafter. It comes in this world. Allah says in the Qur'an:

The evil plotting and planning — when someone commits it — like they say, if you dig a hole for your brother, you'll fall in it yourself. مَنْ حَفَرَ لِأَخِيهِ حُفْرَةً وَقَعَ فِيهَا. So the verse of the Qur'an is saying: whoever has an evil plot for someone else, at the end of the day, that evil plot will surround the person who started it. What goes around, comes around.

So what we need to realize is that a lot of times the difficulties we're going through are because of our own sins and flaws and faults — that Allah wishes to awaken us to repent. And Allah also wishes that those sins should be forgiven through this small difficulty instead of the big difficulty of the hereafter.

That's why there is one narration: the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 4022)

A person is sometimes deprived of sustenance because of a sin he has committed. How many people in the past 24 hours have told me that they have lost so much income, that they have financially suffered? Now you could say, brother, the markets are like that — it's true, the past two weeks. People have lost millions. Institutions have lost millions. You could say, brother, it's the economy. It's inflation. It's this, it's that. Why should I repent?

You see it's raining outside. I could say it's raining. Why is it raining? Because it's clouds. If there's thunder, lightning, there's the scientific phenomena behind all of this. The Prophet ﷺ — my dear brothers — it is our belief that he was the most intelligent of people, the most knowledgeable of people. No one spoke to Allah the way he did. He received revelation from Allah. Yet when he would see any type of natural phenomena — rain, sleet, snow, storm — he would run towards prayer, run towards the masjid.

Why? Because this same phenomena — yes, it could just be the normal cycle of rain — and it could be like another hundred places in the world where the same sky that's above you and I, and the same clouds, and the same wind around us, is being used to unleash horrific catastrophes. SubhanAllah, when it happened, 35 people were killed immediately. Multiple states were devastated. SubhanAllah, Allah is capable of sending such calamities.

How do you know the rain outside — is it coming to prepare for spring, April showers to bring May flowers? Or is it actually a tornado, a storm that's going to be destructive, that's going to cause a mudslide, cause flooding, cause the breaking of a levee or a dam? How do you know that? You don't know. So what are you supposed to do? Whenever you see something that has multiple things behind it, immediately we resort to seeking forgiveness from Allah and running towards Allah.

So now, someone who is financially not doing so well this year — it could be for a bunch of factors, but there is definitely one factor which is disobedience to Allah, which causes that. Like the hadith I mentioned: a man at times is deprived of sustenance because of a sin he commits. So how often, when we lose a job — those who lost their jobs recently, or those who are losing money in their various investments — how often are we standing up in prayer, performing two rak'at of salat al-tawbah? Ya Allah, I seek forgiveness from You for every single sin of negligence I have committed in the past months and years for which I am now being punished. This tawbah and istighfar may well change the course.

Istighfar, Rizq, and Salah

Surah Nuh — we read it the other day — we are asking where are the promises of Allah? Allah says in Surah Nuh:

Seek forgiveness from Allah. He is most definitely willing to accept your repentance. Allah will send down the rain, and Allah will send you wealth and children. So Allah is tying wealth with istighfar.

Another place in the Qur'an, Allah says — again, people are worried about the economy, you should be, fine:

Order your family to perform salah. And remain firm on the salah. We are not asking you for sustenance — rather We are the ones who will give you sustenance. And the end result, the good result, is for the people who have God-consciousness and fear of Allah.

So one of the scholars I just recently heard speaking was reminding that in this economic downturn, as we choose various methods and ways to push ourselves back and to improve our financial condition, let's not forget performing salah — وَأْمُرْ أَهْلَكَ — and asking your family to also be consistent with salah. This has a huge effect on our rizq as well.

So he says in the du'a: I seek refuge in You from the evil I've done, because the evil effects of it not only come in the akhirah, but come in the form of this dunya — including economic and financial loss, as well as physical. Physically, a person is being punished for his sins — and of course, spiritually.

Next: أَبُوءُ لَكَ بِنِعْمَتِكَ عَلَيَّ — Ya Allah, I acknowledge I am laden with the debt of Your blessings. I come back acknowledging all the blessings You have bestowed upon me. And so I am what we call a sinner who is open about his sins, who is willing to come clean about his or her sins. أَبُوءُ بِذَنْبِي — I acknowledge my sins. I'm not going to hide it. I have a lot of blessings of Yours that I'm enjoying, but I also have a lot of sin. فَاغْفِرْ لِي — Ya Allah, so forgive me. Ya Allah, who else am I supposed to ask? لَا يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ إِلَّا أَنْتَ — there is no one besides You who can forgive anyway. So I'm asking You to forgive me, knowing that no one else besides You can forgive me.

This is called Sayyid al-Istighfar. Every day we should memorize this. Every day here at Dar-ul-Salam after Fajr we recite this, alhamdulillah. And you should get any du'a book — you can look, you'll find Sayyid al-Istighfar. Make a habit of reading this morning and evening.

The Du'a of Travel — A Story of Ali رضي الله عنه

Ali رضي الله عنه — that was the story, right? He sat on his conveyance, his horse, put his foot in the stirrup, and said: Bismillah, alhamdulillah, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar — three times. And then he read another du'a:

Glory be to You, O Allah. I have oppressed myself — فَاغْفِرْ لِي — so forgive me. فَإِنَّهُ لَا يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ إِلَّا أَنْتَ — No one can forgive me besides You.

Ali رضي الله عنه — what did he do? He looked up, and what did he do? He smiled. And then he looked at his companions, and he smiled. The student said, O Ali رضي الله عنه, what are you doing? We've never seen you do this. You look up, you smile. You look at each other and smile. What's going on? He said, I'm doing it because I saw someone else doing it. Who did he see doing it? He saw the Prophet ﷺ doing it. The Prophet ﷺ recited this du'a, then looked up and smiled, and then looked at the companions and smiled. And I asked the Prophet ﷺ the same question you're asking me: O Muhammad ﷺ, why are you doing this? And he said, the reason I'm doing this is because Allah is also smiling.

SubhanAllah. Obviously, Allah smiles — تَعَالَى اللَّهُ عَنْ مُشَابَهَةِ الْخَلْقِ — Allah is above and beyond any resemblance to His creation. So we should not let our mind go in that direction. Allah smiles — so now whatever "smiling" means for Allah, I know what it means for me as a human. So I'm smiling.

Why is Allah smiling? It comes in the hadith. He says, Allah is happy because the human being يَعْلَمُ أَنَّهُ لَيْسَ لَهُ رَبٌّ سِوَايَ وَلَيْسَ أَحَدٌ يَغْفِرُ لَهُ سِوَايَ — he knows that there is no one besides Me who can forgive him, and he knows there is no Lord besides Me for him. What is the du'a? لَا يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ إِلَّا أَنْتَ، سُبْحَانَكَ إِنِّي ظَلَمْتُ نَفْسِي فَاغْفِرْ لِي فَإِنَّهُ لَا يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ إِلَّا أَنْتَ. No one can forgive the sins besides You. Allah loves this.

When you say, Ya Allah — I got my hands below my navel in front of me, I got my head tilted downwards, I'm walking humbly — I'm a sinner. I made mistakes. I made lots of mistakes. And Ya Allah, on this occasion, no one can forgive me besides You. No one can help me besides You. No one can change my feelings besides You. All these mistakes I have done — I'm sorry, I'm very sorry — please forgive me. Allah loves the moment when someone acknowledges the fact that no one can forgive him besides Him. And that no one can help him besides Him. SubhanAllah, you have the forgiveness of Allah coming, but before that, what have you got? The smile.

So Rasulullah ﷺ is saying, I'm smiling because of Allah. And Ali رضي الله عنه says, I'm smiling because of the Prophet ﷺ. So now, dear brothers — when you sit in the car, memorize this: Bismillah, alhamdulillah, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar. And then the du'a I just read — سُبْحَانَكَ إِنِّي ظَلَمْتُ نَفْسِي فَاغْفِرْ لِي فَإِنَّهُ لَا يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ إِلَّا أَنْتَ. It's similar to the du'a you read at the end of salah: اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي ظَلَمْتُ نَفْسِي ظُلْمًا كَثِيرًا, like that.

And then you should look up, and then look at your kids, look at your spouse, look at your parents, look at your siblings, and give a nice big smile. And they're going to say, what's wrong with you? And you're going to say, no, I heard the hadith in the masjid. And I saw the speaker smiling also.

You know how I remember this — may Allah reward our brothers. When I was in South Africa studying, on the weekends we'd go out in khuruj, in dawah, once in a while. Optional — madrasah, jama'at, we used to go. May Allah reward some of the upper classmen — many of them, Mawlana Munshi, Mawlana Jawed, and all those who were not Mawlanas at that time, they were just one or two years senior to us. But they would take us out. And my classmate Abbas — may Allah be pleased with all of them. And those we remember, and those we don't remember, and those who have passed away — they would make sure that we followed the Sunnah in every single second. From the time we'd sit down for mashwarah, to the time we'd sit in the car.

Honestly, I don't remember learning this from class — no one taught me in class. I learned it from jama'at. I learned it from sitting in the back of a cramped pickup truck. But subhanAllah, this is the benefit of jama'at. One of the big benefits of khuruj is where you get a chance to learn these basic Sunnah. Sometimes a person will graduate from the alim course and he won't know — not that he didn't pay attention — he just wasn't focused on it. Now when you go for three days, subhanAllah — from every single Sunnah of eating, to drinking, to while you're sleeping, to while you're greeting — all those things, subhanAllah, are taught. And naturally, if you go with more knowledgeable people and more experienced people, then you'll have a better experience.

Sometimes people say, brother, I went and I didn't learn anything. You did learn something — most definitely you learned something. It's like you come to the masjid and there's no talk happening. Are you going to say you wasted your time? Of course not. You're surrounded by angels. Do you see them? No, you don't. But you're in the house of Allah — how can you say you're wasting your time? But if there's a lesson going on, that's even better. So when you go out, it depends on who you go out with. But if you go out with a scholar or a student of knowledge, you'll learn all these things from hadith. And so mashaAllah, they are getting the reward for that — for teaching me when I was in second or third year — and it has stuck with me.

So that is one du'a that we connect with here. And it's called Sayyid al-Istighfar. We should be memorizing this, or reading it from somewhere, every night and every day — in Ramadan and outside Ramadan. As tomorrow night will be the first of the odd nights — the 21st night of Ramadan will be here. Definitely we need to spend time just reading this du'a — maybe 50 times, 10 times, as much as you can, maybe 100 times. And your tongue is saying the du'a, and your heart is speaking in your own language, asking forgiveness from Allah.

Prayers for Forgiveness — Introduction to the Book

I have a book here called Prayers for Forgiveness — a most amazing book. Published by White Thread Press, sold here in the Dar-ul-Salam bookstore and online at various places. It probably costs 8–9 dollars. It is a collection of 70 prayers for forgiveness compiled from Hasan al-Basri, who is known as Sayyid al-Ta'ifah — the leader of the Tabi'een.

This is a collection of different ways of seeking forgiveness from Allah. I'm going to read the foreword here.

Reflecting on our deeds in light of Allah's greatness, one can only wonder how anything we do could ever be worthy of presentation before such an exalted being. What could we present to the owner of all? What could we offer to the one who simply says, كُنْ فَيَكُونُ — Be, and it is. What could we place before the one whose status is so exalted that it is neither diminished nor strengthened by the quality of what we present? Despite our imperfections, it is only by the infinite mercy of Allah that we are rewarded for the minute gifts we place before Him.

SubhanAllah. Minute, small little gifts. And He is قَدْرِدَان — He is Shakir, appreciative of whatever we do.

Casting aside the issue of whether our deeds are worthy of presentation before our Creator, the reality is that each of us carries a load of sin and disobedience upon our shoulders. By design we are imperfect creatures, prone to making mistakes. The Prophet ﷺ said: every descendant of Adam is a sinner, and the best of the sinners are those who frequently repent.

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2499; Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 4251)

The mercy of Allah is so greatly infinite and its position so grand that rather than immediately punishing us, He has granted us a grace period in which to seek forgiveness for our sins. And as if that was not already enough, Allah then gave us the means by which to wipe away our sins and their negative effects. These supplications of forgiveness are called istighfarat.

Perhaps the most simplest form of istighfar is to reflect on our daily routine and to seek forgiveness for the errors that are apparent. This was the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ and has been the way of the righteous who follow in his footsteps. However, just as with any art, time spent in the company of those who are deep in their repentance provides an apprenticeship in how to sincerely turn with a lowered head towards our Sustainer.

Such an important thing — how to seek forgiveness from Allah. A man is not going to know unless he sees someone doing it, unless he hears someone doing it. That's why today our du'a is very weak — because we don't know how to make proper du'a. Because we didn't spend time with people who make du'a. A pious scholar from the past was once asked, what should we do to rectify our connection with the Lord? He said, seek the company of the righteous. He then asked, what if the righteous are no longer present amongst me? He said, read their books. Reading the books of the pious is the closest you can get to being in the company of the pious.

It is through the mercy of Allah that you have this work here in front of you. And the process of istighfar goes hand in hand with deep self-reflection. We do not consider seeking forgiveness for a misdeed unless we see the act as a sin. Perhaps such a lack of insight is the greatest tribulation of our time. I pray Allah opens our eyes to the reality of His grandeur, the reality of our servitude and the power of returning to Him.

The problem, as he says, is that the majority of people simply don't recognize and realize the mistakes they're making. And if you don't realize the mistake you're making, what's going to happen? You're not going to seek forgiveness from Allah for it.

In the present age of computers and technological gadgets, it is generally considered a good practice to routinely clear unused and temporary files from one's computer. And we do that from our phones — delete the apps that are not being used. This keeps the machine running smoothly and decreases the chances of malfunctions and crashing. Similarly, we delete unimportant messages from our email inboxes — or at least we used to, before you could just buy more gigs of memory — to keep them uncluttered and open to receiving new incoming messages. Though we spend time routinely cleaning up our machines, our phones, our emails, we often do so while neglecting our hearts, which are far more worthy of our careful attention, since they become spiritually malnourished and burdened by the overwhelming weight of sin.

The companion Abu Hurairah رضي الله عنه narrates that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: when a believer commits a sin, a black dot appears on his heart. If he repents and seeks forgiveness, his heart becomes purified. If he advances in sin, the black dot increases until it overcomes his heart.

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3334; Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 4244)

These black dots constitute the encrusted pollution — raan, or رَيْن — the Arabic word — that Allah refers to in the verse:

No indeed — encrusted over their hearts is what they have earned. So he is saying that from time to time, we have to do a deep cleaning of our soul — by deleting our sins and seeking forgiveness from Allah.

If one allows sin to accumulate on his or her heart in the form of inner rust, the heart gradually becomes blind and unreceptive to spiritual remedies. One example easily observed of this inner lack of spiritual cognition is when a person yawns at the mention of the hellfire and its severity, whereas another faints upon the hearing of the same. Two different people.

Four Things That Cleanse the Heart

We are thus in need of a reliable method and a rigid routine for cleaning our hearts of the pollution they accumulate from frequent sinning. Cleansing the heart is achieved through:

1. The remembrance of Allah — dhikr
2. Tawbah — repentance
3. Istighfar — seeking forgiveness
4. Inabah — humbly turning one's direction to Allah

Allah says:

Turn your attention towards your Lord and accept Islam before it's too late. So four things clean the heart: dhikr, tawbah, istighfar, and inabah — turning to Allah.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ did this 70 to 100 times a day — despite being guarded from sin, ma'sum. He sought forgiveness from Allah how many times? 70 to 100 times every day. He also said, every descendant of Adam is a sinner, and the best of sinners are those who repent. When a person makes sincere repentance for his sins, no matter how severe they are, Allah purifies his heart and treats him as though he has never committed a sin.

A New Muslim and the Power of Tawbah

We have a new Muslim brother today who took shahada today at dhuhr, recently — two weeks in — mashaAllah, in Ramadan. What are the glad tidings?

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 121)

Indeed, Islam wipes away whatever came prior to it. So in reality, accepting Islam is a form of what? Istighfar, tawbah. That's what it is. That's why we are supposed to all say — جَدِّدُوا إِيمَانَكُمْ — renew your iman. Say أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا رَسُولُ اللَّهِ on a regular basis. And along with that, do istighfar. So a non-Muslim becoming a Muslim is the highest form of istighfar, because all his sins are being forgiven.

The Burden of Sin and the Relief of Tawbah

Why is it such a bounty that we are able to turn to Allah and seek His forgiveness? Because turning to Allah in repentance and seeking His forgiveness provides us the release we need when feeling overwhelmed by the burden of sin. This is such an important point — especially amongst a lot of people today who feel burdened by sin. And because of that, they don't want to do anything — they actually sin more. Because they say, I already sin so much, what's the point? There's no hope for me. And they stop. Even in the month of Ramadan, they don't want to come to the masjid, they don't want to pray in the masjid, because they say, I've sinned so much, there's no way I'm going to get forgiven.

Tawbah and istighfar — once you finish repenting in front of Allah, you cried in front of Allah, you raised your hand and you begged — alone or together — once the 10–12 minutes are done, the adhan is given, a person should feel, alhamdulillah, light. As though you have put off a burden from your chest. You need to. Because we need to make du'a with the conviction that our du'a is being accepted.

Tawbah and istighfar give us a way out. They give us another chance. They give us a sense of lightheartedness — hope and inspiration needed to turn a new page in life and start afresh. It is through forgiveness that we gain so much hope in our religion that there remains no reason whatsoever for us to despair of Allah's mercy. Allah advises us to not run away from Him in fear, but to run towards Him — like a child running into the mother's lap.

So lovingly does Allah address His sinful servants by saying:

Say, O My servants — أَسْرَفُوا عَلَىٰ أَنفُسِهِمْ — who have oppressed themselves, who have caused harm to themselves by sinning — لَا تَقْنَطُوا — do not become despondent of the mercy of Allah. إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ جَمِيعًا — Indeed, Allah will forgive all the sins. So basically, Allah is telling us: if you come clean, I'm ready to meet you halfway. You simply have to say, Ya Allah, I made mistakes and I'm ready to come through — no matter what a person has done.

So now — if we have misled our children and now they are off track, we have to make tawbah and istighfar on their behalf, that may Allah guide them. We are living in a state of heedlessness and we allowed our children to not be guided properly.

InshaAllah we will stop here at the introduction of this book. I haven't finished the introduction — we'll finish it up tomorrow. And we'll share with you some du'as from Prayers for Forgiveness by Shaykh Hasan al-Basri. InshaAllah we can proceed downstairs for the dhikr and du'a.

Closing Du'a

Oh Allah, we ask You to accept our 19th fast. Oh Allah, we ask You to accept our 20th taraweeh. Oh Allah, how quickly this month has gone by. Ya Allah, forgive us for not making the most of it. Ya Allah, forgive us for not making the most of it. Ya Allah, forgive us for not making the most of it.

Oh Allah, we ask You to grant us the tawfiq to be able to spend the remaining days and nights in a much more productive manner. Ya Allah, allow these remaining 11–12 days to be spent in the most productive manner. Oh Allah, allow our nights to be spent in the most productive manner. Ya Allah, save us from wasting our time. Save us from doing anything that will be counted towards heedlessness.

Ya Allah, create an awakening within the ummah. Create an awakening within our spouses. Create an awakening within our children. Create an awakening within us. Oh Allah, guide us. Hold our hand and guide us to that which is in our benefit.

Oh Allah, the ummah that is suffering across the globe — especially in Gaza — we ask You Ya Allah to grant them complete protection. Ya Allah, grant them protection from the front, from the back, from the center, from the right. Oh Allah, accept the martyrdom of all those who have been martyred. Oh Allah, accept the shuhada. Oh Allah, we ask You Ya Allah to allow the innocent children to be welcomed in paradise at the highest levels. Oh Allah, allow them to be able to enjoy the luxuries of paradise.

Oh Allah, we ask You to unite us and unite our nation, our ummah. Oh Allah, remove any and all discord from our deen institutions. Ya Allah — from masajid, from madaris — oh Allah, allow us to work together. Ya Allah, allow us to work together for the betterment of the community.

Oh Allah, we ask You Ya Allah to grant us the ability to give up any and all bad addictions that we have. And oh Allah, we ask You to allow us to do such good deeds that will make us worthy of enjoying Your mercy. Oh Allah, we ask You to make us all lovers of the Qur'an. Allow us to spend the remaining days and nights excessively reciting the Qur'an — more than we have ever done so.

Ya Allah, make this remaining 10 days a time of Qur'an, a time of du'a. Oh Allah, we ask You Ya Allah to allow us to be gifted with the ability to speak with You in seclusion. Oh Allah, when we are in seclusion Ya Allah, make us better than what we are in public. Make our secluded lives better than what they are in public. Oh Allah, make each and every one of us from amongst those who can spend a good amount of time away from the bed, in front of You Ya Allah, seeking Your help.

Ya Allah, make every one of us amongst those who are regular in tahajjud salah. Oh Allah, we ask You to guide our sons, guide our daughters, guide our grandchildren. Oh Allah, we ask You Ya Allah that whatever good and khair we have learned from our previous generation, allow us to be able to impart it to the future generation. And allow them to follow in the footsteps of their elders, Ya Allah.