Explanation of the Prophets Du'a - Sheikh Aqeel Mahmood

Explanation of the Prophet's Du'a

الحديث كتاب الله وخير الهدي هدي محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم وشر الأمور محدثاتها وكل محدثة بدعة وكل بدعة ضلالة وكل ضلالة في النار

One of the greatest blessings of Allah upon us is that He has told us specifically how we can please Him and what acts of worship we can do to please Him. And on top of this blessing of Allah — of being able to know how to worship Allah — which not everybody has. Meaning other groups and other nations or sects or religions, they want to worship a God. But they don't know exactly how to worship Allah, even though they have this need, they have this want. They know there's this void in their souls where they need to fill it up by worshipping Allah. And they don't know specifically how to worship Allah Himself — in what way, in what manner.

And Allah blessed us by telling us exactly how to worship Him. Furthermore, on top of this brothers and sisters, an even greater blessing is the fact that Allah has told us which acts of worship are better than others. And which acts of worship are more beloved to Allah. And which things, if we did them, Allah would be happy when we do them. And this is why one of the companions, when he went to the Messenger of Allah and he said, "Which of the actions are most beloved to Allah?" — and he said, "Prayer at its appointed time." And he mentioned other things. But the point is that even in Islam we know which things, which acts of worship are better than which, and which are more beloved to Allah than others.

Du'a: The Essence of Worship

One of the acts of worship — in fact, the essence of worship itself — as the Messenger of Allah himself said, is the act of supplication, the act of du'a. The Messenger of Allah said:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3371)

He said, du'a, supplication, is the essence of worship. And Allah in many places in the Qur'an talks about the virtues of du'a and calling upon Him.

Allah says: "Let them respond to Me and believe in Me" — let them make du'a to Me, supplicate to Me so I can respond to them.

"I respond to the caller so long as he makes du'a and supplicates to Me."

In another narration, the Messenger of Allah said:

(Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 1479; Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2969)

That supplication in and of itself is worship. And the reason why it's worship, brothers and sisters — even though we're asking Allah continuously, non-stop for many things, in this dunya and in the akhira — a person may ask Allah for wealth, for improvement in his health if he's sick. He may ask for family, or for protection. He may ask for success in his career. He may ask for many things in the dunya. Or he may ask for things in the akhira — that Allah gives him ease on that day, and that Allah admits him into the highest parts of Jannah. So a person is continuously asking Allah.

One may wonder: how is this an act of worship? Because when a person first of all asks Allah, he's asking knowing that Allah is listening. And many times when we supplicate to Allah, we supplicate quietly. And even though we supplicate quietly, we know for a fact that Allah is listening and He's going to respond. And this is the other benefit — the other reason why du'a is an act of worship — because we're asking someone knowing for a fact that he's going to respond and reply to our supplication. Otherwise we wouldn't make du'a in the first place.

And this is why it's even more of a puzzle and it's even stranger when a person makes du'a to Allah and then he stops making du'a. And in fact when a person does this, it's a reason for his supplication not to be responded to by Allah. As the Messenger of Allah said, one of the reasons why a person's supplication isn't answered is when he makes du'a and then stops, saying:

"I made du'a and I wasn't responded to." And so he stops making du'a. As a result of him stopping, his du'a isn't going to be responded to because he never made the effort.

The Du'a of the Prophet After Fajr

Umm Salama رضي الله عنها said that the Messenger of Allah عليه الصلاة والسلام, after salatul subh, after the Fajr prayer, he would make a specific du'a. And this is a narration which is sound and authentic. This du'a which he would make is very short. And maybe some of us have heard this du'a before, but I wanted to go over the things which the Messenger of Allah asks Allah for in this specific du'a. He asks for three things.

Umm Salama رضي الله عنها said that he would make du'a after salatul subh and he would say:

(Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 925; classified as sahih)

"Oh Allah, I ask you for beneficial knowledge, and for pure provision, and for actions which are going to be accepted — accepted actions."

This is a supplication, brothers and sisters, which is very short. And he's only asking for three things عليه الصلاة والسلام. But if we look at this hadith and this du'a specifically, we can take away so many fawa'id and so many benefits from this simple du'a.

First Lesson: The Nature of Asking Allah

First of all, the Messenger of Allah made du'a and he's asking Allah for specific things — اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَسْأَلُكَ — I ask you, I implore you, I'm requesting from you. And this is the first lesson we take from this supplication, brothers and sisters. Whenever we make du'a to Allah, whenever we supplicate to Allah, it's simply a request. It's simply a question. We're putting forward something that we would like Allah to respond to. We can't demand anything from Allah. Allah gives to whomsoever He wishes to give. And He withholds from whosoever He wishes to withhold from.

And so when we make du'a, we realize — when we're making this request, this su'al, إِنِّي أَسْأَلُكَ, I request, I ask from you — we realize from this our position compared to the position of Allah. Meaning we're not entitled to anything. And anytime we ask Allah and Allah gives us, this is a blessing from Allah. And so when a person makes du'a, a person realizes and knows he's in a state of weakness. And he's not in a position to demand anything or expect anything. But at the same time, he has the hope from Allah — being the One who responds to supplications — that He's going to give him.

Second: Beneficial Knowledge — عِلْمٌ نَافِعٌ

اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَسْأَلُكَ عِلْمًا نَافِعًا — Oh Allah, I ask from you beneficial knowledge. And we see from this supplication that knowledge is of different types. You have knowledge which is beneficial and then you have knowledge which isn't beneficial — meaning people aren't going to benefit from that specific knowledge in this life nor in the hereafter.

And it's unfortunate today that many of us fall into this trap of the Shaytan where we end up involving ourselves in things which aren't going to benefit us at all — neither in this life nor in the Akhirah. A person will end up sitting down having discussions with certain individuals — his friends, his family members even — and those discussions or conversations are of no benefit. In fact, he may be sinful for the things he says in that specific conversation. He may talk about other individuals — what the neighbours were doing, what these individuals were doing at work the other day. And so he ends up talking badly about other individuals. And this is a situation where the things you're sharing and learning from one another are things which aren't of any benefit — neither to you nor to those you're sharing it with.

And at the same time, especially in today's time, we end up wasting much of our time on social media. Where we end up just opening Facebook and sometimes it's like a habit — we're not even looking for anything specific. But we end up spending five or ten or fifteen minutes, or half an hour, or maybe hours going through things on Facebook or on other types of social media with no real objective, no real goal. There's no real reason why we're looking through it. It's become a habit that we end up doing these things and we end up wasting time. Or we end up reading certain things which are of no benefit. No doubt there are some things which are beneficial, but a lot of the time it's things which we didn't need to know, and things that ultimately don't benefit us. And it's not from ilm an-naafi'.

And when a person learns something which is maybe not Islamic, but it's academic — meaning he's going to benefit himself, he's going to develop himself as a human being, learn certain skills, benefit himself and his family financially — then that type of knowledge is knowledge which is good because it's beneficial in one way or another. But even greater than this is ilm an-naafi' — beneficial knowledge which is Islamic knowledge. When a person learns about Islam, he's going to benefit in one way or another if his intention is sincere. And this is why Allah says:

"Remind, for indeed the reminder benefits. He who has khashiyah — those who have fear of Allah — will take heed." If you remind another individual of a specific act of worship or give him some Islamic advice, he's going to benefit in one way or another. There's going to be some kind of benefit. If you're sharing knowledge amongst yourselves, you're making it into a gathering of benefit, a gathering of barakah, where Allah will send down tranquility in that specific gathering because His name is mentioned.

And the Messenger of Allah mentions beneficial knowledge first and foremost before anything else. Because without knowledge, brothers and sisters, our actions won't be correct. Our actions won't be complete. When a person doesn't have knowledge about how to pray to Allah, how to fast the month of Ramadan, how to do other acts of worship — when he doesn't know these things, those actions themselves won't be accepted by Allah. And this is why knowledge for each and every single one of us is an obligation up to a certain point. Acts of worship that we do on a day-to-day basis — we have to know how to do them.

And this is why knowledge is mentioned first — because without knowledge, one's actions won't be accepted. And this is why the scholars would say:

They would say knowledge is the tree, and actions are the fruits of that tree. Meaning if the tree itself is fasid — if it's corrupted, if it's bad — it's not going to provide any beneficial or good fruit. So you have to have a solid foundation. The tree itself needs to be strong. And then, and only then, can a person truly benefit from the fruits of his knowledge, which are his actions — his salah, his zakah, his fasting, and so on and so forth.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ emphasizes the importance of knowledge because, as I mentioned, without knowledge your actions aren't accepted. And Allah mentions this in many places in the Qur'an, including in Surah Al-'Asr:

"By time, mankind is at a loss — except for those who believe and they do righteous deeds." Meaning you have to have both. And knowledge comes before action. Otherwise, your actions may or may not be accepted by Allah because your knowledge was incomplete or incorrect.

Third: Pure Provision — رِزْقٌ طَيِّبٌ

The Messenger of Allah continues and he says: وَرِزْقًا طَيِّبًا — "And I ask you for pure provision. Halal provision." And this shows, brothers and sisters, that knowing certain things, having knowledge of certain things isn't enough for a person's actions to be accepted by Allah. But his income also needs to be pure. First of all, because there won't be any barakah in that income. Secondly, because it may harm the acts of worship that you do. Meaning you may have done many acts of worship but they're tainted because your income wasn't halal, your wealth wasn't pure.

And so as a result of this, a person may have knowledge. We may come here for the Jumu'ah prayer knowing it's an obligation upon us. But there are certain things we're doing when it comes to our businesses, or when we're buying and selling, or whatever circumstance it may be — things which are financial in nature that are actually harming our ibadah and our acts of worship. Because we're involved in riba, we're involved in mortgages, we're involved in usury and interest.

And it's not just those types of things. When we think of purity in finance, purity in wealth, many of us tend to think about interest or mortgages. But it's also on a smaller scale. When an individual, for example, takes the bus and he doesn't put the right fare in — knowing that he has to put a specific amount to get from one place to another, and he intentionally doesn't put the correct amount in — this is something which will affect your ibadah because now your rizq is something which is impure because you're lying and you're being deceitful.

An individual goes to a shop to buy something. The shopkeeper gives him change but gives extra than what he was supposed to get. You go out of the shop and you see you have more than you were supposed to actually get from the shopkeeper — and you keep it. You think this is a blessing from Allah. But it's not a blessing from Allah. This is a test on you from Allah to see what you're going to do. To see whether you want pure provision, or whether it's something which will cause certain acts of worship not to be accepted by Allah.

So pure provision, brothers and sisters, is something which each and every single one of us needs to be careful about. We need to think and contemplate what we do with our wealth. Where are we spending our money? How do we spend it? Are we spending our money where it should be spent — with regards to giving in charity, giving it to those that we're responsible for, our family members? Are we spending that money we have to give on behalf of our spouses or on our children?

And when an individual doesn't have pure wealth, this is one of the reasons why du'a in and of itself won't be accepted by Allah. The Messenger of Allah told the companions about the man who was wandering in the desert and was desperate for help. And so he raised his hands into the sky and he was saying, "Rabbi, Rabbi — my Lord, my Lord."

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1015)

"His food is haram, his clothing is haram, everything about him is haram — so how is he going to be responded to?" Meaning because of your provision, because of what you're doing with your wealth, how you're spending it — buying things which are haram, paying for things which are haram in nature, like music and other types of things. Smoking. When a person buys cigarettes or drugs or alcohol or things like this — you don't think this is going to affect your ibadah? You don't think it's going to affect your relationship with Allah? It's going to have an effect. فَأَنَّى يُسْتَجَابُ لِذَٰلِكَ — how will this individual's du'a and supplication be responded to by Allah when he's not paying attention with regards to his wealth and how he earns and spends it?

Fourth: Accepted Actions — عَمَلٌ مُتَقَبَّلٌ

And then the Messenger of Allah finishes off this du'a and he says: وَعَمَلًا مُتَقَبَّلًا — actions which are accepted by Allah. "Oh Allah, I ask you for accepted actions." And this is the Messenger of Allah making this supplication. And we know there was no one greater than the Messenger of Allah — no one greater in worship and in sincerity and in ikhlas — and yet even he is asking Allah for actions to be accepted, for his deeds to be accepted by Allah.

And this shows us, brothers and sisters, that there may be acts of worship which we do and we think we perfected those acts of worship. And we think it's money in the bank — for sure Allah is going to reward me for those acts. And we become overconfident as a result. But ultimately, a person has no guarantee that those acts are going to be accepted by Allah. There is no guarantee. And this is why we make these supplications — that Allah accepts our actions. Because there may have been certain moments when we had riyaa — showing off in our acts of worship — which caused that act of worship to become tainted. And so a person asks Allah to make his actions accepted.

Also, the Messenger of Allah leaves this final part of the du'a at the end — "actions which are going to be accepted" — because one of the reasons why actions won't be accepted ultimately could be his knowledge, and it could also be his wealth. Meaning because of your wealth, other acts of worship which you do may not be accepted by Allah. So having the right knowledge and the correct understanding, and also being careful with one's wealth, is in fact a reason why your acts of worship will be accepted by Allah.

Actions Are What We Are Responsible For

Actions, brothers and sisters, are the only thing that we are ultimately in control of. The things that we do on a day-to-day basis, every single day — those things are what we are held to account for and it's those things that we are in control of. And that's why when we talk about other individuals or we criticize the actions of other individuals, we have to be very careful, because ultimately we're not going to be responsible for their actions or what they say. A person may have deficiencies himself. He's living in a glass house and he's criticizing others.

We don't have control over other people's actions. We don't have control over what other people may say. But we do have control over the things we say and the things we do. And this is why Allah says — tell them, O Muhammad:

"Just do the actions and Allah will see them." And those who were around the Messenger of Allah when he was alive — the believers will see it. Meaning it doesn't matter what other individuals do. An individual has to focus on his own actions. And ultimately when we do acts of worship, we're doing them purely for the sake of Allah.

There may be some of us who are involved in charitable projects — things which we're doing not for any financial gain but for the pleasure of Allah, things that we're doing to benefit and invest in the Akhirah. What we have to remember, brothers and sisters, when we are involved in these types of projects and charitable organizations and initiatives, is that we're not doing it for other people's sake. And we're not doing it as a favor to the masjid or the institute or the organization or that specific charity. Whether we're there or not, the work of Allah will continue. When you do certain things for the sake of Allah, you're not benefiting Islam — Islam is benefiting you. Allah opened that door for you to be able to do good deeds.

Signs of Accepted and Rejected Deeds

When we talked about the importance of doing actions and the importance of Allah accepting our actions — and not knowing whether Allah will accept our actions or not — the scholars say one of the signs of an action which is accepted by Allah is when a person continues to do that specific act of worship. When he continues to do that specific good deed — because Allah never closed it for him. And it may be that a person does an act of worship and Allah opens other doors of good for him. So you give charity to one family because they're poor. That family mentions another family and you end up giving to two families. They mention two more and you have four or five families. You ask other people for help, and you end up helping a whole community, and you open a charity. This is a sign from Allah that He accepted that first act of worship when you gave charity for His sake.

And the opposite is also true, brothers and sisters. When a person commits a sin, when we do something which is evil, when we do something haram — and Allah maybe doesn't punish us as a result. Meaning we don't fall sick, we're not exposed, nothing happens to us where we think twice before committing that sin again. But instead what happens is we continue doing that sin over and over again. And this is why Allah says: do not think that when a person isn't being punished, or when a person is an oppressor and he's harming the Muslims and there's no harm coming to him, and We have given him wealth, status, or power — do not think this is something good for him. Rather, it's something harmful and evil for him.

Meaning when a person does a sin and he continues to commit that haram — that in itself is a punishment from Allah, because he wasn't stopped. He continued. Other doors of sin opened up as a result of that first sin. And so this isn't something which a person should think is fine because nothing happened to him, there were no negative consequences from Allah. But this in itself may be a test — to see whether or not a person will refrain and stay away from that specific sin. And he may end up committing that sin until he dies, and Allah is saving his punishment for the Day of Judgment. And on the Day of Judgment, no one wants to have his sins exposed. No one wants to be punished for a sin on that day because the punishment of that day compared to this world is incomparable. There's no comparison.

We ask Allah that He gives us the ability to do as many good deeds as we can while we're alive.

Closing Du'a

Indeed, Allah commands you to uphold justice and excellence, and to give to your relatives, and He forbids immorality, wrongdoing, and oppression. He admonishes you so that you may take heed. So remember Allah, the Magnificent — He will remember you. And be grateful to Him for His blessings — He will increase you. And the remembrance of Allah is the greatest of all things.