The Opening Supplication in Voluntary and Obligatory Prayers

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Question:
Honorable Shaykh, this questioner asks: Is the opening supplication recommended in all prayers, both voluntary and obligatory?

Answer:
Yes, the opening supplication is recommended in every prayer, whether voluntary or obligatory. When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would rise for the night, he would open his tahajjud with the well-known supplication: “O Allah, Lord of Jibril, Mikail, and Israfil,

Say, "O Allah, Creator of the heavens and the earth, Knower of the unseen and the witnessed, You will judge between your servants concerning that over which they used to differ."

فَاطِرَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ عَالِمَ الْغَيْبِ وَالشَّهَادَةِ أَنتَ تَحْكُمُ بَيْنَ عِبَادِكَ فِي مَا كَانُوا فِيهِ يَخْتَلِفُونَ

[Az-Zumar 39:46]

guide me to the truth in which there is disagreement, by Your permission. You guide whom You will to a straight path.”

I have turned my face as a hanif * towards Him who created the heavens and the earth, and I am not a polytheist. My prayer and my devotion, my life and my death belong to God the Lord of the universe, who has no partner. That is what I have been commanded, and I am a Muslim.

وجهت وجهي للذي فطر السماوات والأرض حنيفا وما أنا من المشركين إن صلاتي ونسكي ومحياي ومماتي لله رب العالمين لا شريك له، لذلك أمرت وأنا أول المسلمين

Mishkat al-Masabih 813

Then he would seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Shaytan, then recite, then say the name of Allah and recite al-Fatihah, and after that he would recite from the Qur'an. This is in the night prayer. So the opening supplication is prescribed in the night prayer, in the voluntary prayer and in the obligatory prayer.

The presenter:
May Allah reward you

Source 75-اللقاء الأسبوعي مع الشيخ صالح الفوزان - 31 — archive.org (21:09)

The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.

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