The Imam's Supplication on Friday
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : … . Now, specifically regarding the supplication that says: “O Allah …” ?
The Shaykh : Absolutely not. This is not established except in the case of a pressing need.
The questioner : In all its forms … ?
The Shaykh : In all its forms. We have said repeatedly: The Friday sermon was legislated for the remembrance of Allah and reminding people, not for supplication. I see no difference between an imam who is known to supplicate in the Friday sermon, which is common, and one who is not known to do so but may become known for it. Instead of supplicating in the second part of the sermon, he sits and remembers Allah, sends blessings upon His Messenger, glorifies Him, and praises Him, and so on.
He makes it a sermon of what? Remembrance. It was not legislated for this purpose. Strive for the remembrance of Allah, meaning that he does not remind you of Allah the Mighty and Majestic, and this is the imam who is preaching to you.
Therefore, making supplication a fixed part of the sermon is like making any of the known sets of dhikr outside or inside the prayer a fixed part. I have said repeatedly that supplication is only prescribed because it is a day of occurrence, as came in the authentic hadith of al-Bukhari from Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was delivering the Friday sermon when a man entered through one of the doors of the mosque and said: “O Messenger of Allah, the wealth and the families have been destroyed due to the scarcity of rain, so supplicate to Allah for us.” He raised his hands until his armpits were visible and said:.
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had not finished his supplication before the sky churned with rain like the mouths of water skins. Anas said: “We rained for a sabbat, meaning a Friday, meaning a full week.”
In the second Friday, while the Messenger was delivering the sermon, a man, him or another, came and said: “O Messenger of Allah, the wealth has been destroyed due to the abundance of rain, so supplicate to Allah for us.” He said (peace and blessings be upon him):Sahih al-Bukhari 1013.
The sky cleared and it was like a shield, meaning it stopped raining around the city. This is because a pressing need occurred, so the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) supplicated, then he supplicated with concise words, meaning.
The questioner : … Was it a supplication for a specific incident?
The Shaykh : There is a similarity. Some scholars, you hear, regarding the prayer for rain. There is disagreement among scholars about its legislation. Some imams deny its legislation and say: “There is nothing in seeking rain but supplication.”
They cite this hadith as evidence, and indeed this hadith is seeking rain, meaning asking for rain. As for the scholars who, of course, do not cling to an opinion but follow what came from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), they say: Seeking rain can be done with prayer and can be done with supplication without prayer, because all of this is established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).
The point of the previous hadith of Anas is that it is evidence that it is prescribed for the imam on Friday to supplicate for a pressing need. As for making it a fixed part of the Friday sermon, this is undoubtedly from the innovations of matters.
And it is regrettable that supplication for kings is not a new matter, as some people may think. It is very old, from centuries ago, because this is the custom of kings, as Allah the Exalted said:[An-Naml 27:34].
This is the nature of kings. Very few of them fear Allah and adhere to the legislation of Allah. So supplication for kings on the pulpits is an old innovation. We preceded them, and praise be to Allah, in specifying its innovated nature, so we had predecessors in our statement about its innovated nature, and praise be to Allah. Therefore, we are Salafis, and we are not like the Salafis.
The questioner : Is there any objection if the imam supplicates for the congregation behind him in the plural form in the prayer, “O Allah, forgive us what we have done before and what we have done after,” for example after the prayer in prostration, and so on, after the prayer following the tashahhud?
The Shaykh : If they are supplications, he must adhere to the text … If it is in the singular form, he does not make it plural. And if the supplication is from his own mind, he supplicates for himself …
The Shaykh : Absolutely not. This is not established except in the case of a pressing need.
The questioner : In all its forms … ?
The Shaykh : In all its forms. We have said repeatedly: The Friday sermon was legislated for the remembrance of Allah and reminding people, not for supplication. I see no difference between an imam who is known to supplicate in the Friday sermon, which is common, and one who is not known to do so but may become known for it. Instead of supplicating in the second part of the sermon, he sits and remembers Allah, sends blessings upon His Messenger, glorifies Him, and praises Him, and so on.
He makes it a sermon of what? Remembrance. It was not legislated for this purpose. Strive for the remembrance of Allah, meaning that he does not remind you of Allah the Mighty and Majestic, and this is the imam who is preaching to you.
Therefore, making supplication a fixed part of the sermon is like making any of the known sets of dhikr outside or inside the prayer a fixed part. I have said repeatedly that supplication is only prescribed because it is a day of occurrence, as came in the authentic hadith of al-Bukhari from Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was delivering the Friday sermon when a man entered through one of the doors of the mosque and said: “O Messenger of Allah, the wealth and the families have been destroyed due to the scarcity of rain, so supplicate to Allah for us.” He raised his hands until his armpits were visible and said:
O Allah, give us rain. O Allah, give us rain. O Allah, give us rain.
اللهم اسقنا اللهم اسقنا اللهم اسقناThe Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had not finished his supplication before the sky churned with rain like the mouths of water skins. Anas said: “We rained for a sabbat, meaning a Friday, meaning a full week.”
In the second Friday, while the Messenger was delivering the sermon, a man, him or another, came and said: “O Messenger of Allah, the wealth has been destroyed due to the abundance of rain, so supplicate to Allah for us.” He said (peace and blessings be upon him):
O Allah! Round about us and not on us. O Allah! On the plateaus, on the mountains, on the hills, in the valleys and on the places where trees grow.
اللهم حولينا ولا علينا اللهم على الآطام والآجام والظراب ومنابت الشجرThe sky cleared and it was like a shield, meaning it stopped raining around the city. This is because a pressing need occurred, so the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) supplicated, then he supplicated with concise words, meaning
O Allah, rain upon us. O Allah, rain upon us. O Allah, rain around us and not upon us. O Allah, upon the highlands, the thorny bushes, and the rocky areas.
اللهم اسقنا اللهم اسقنا اللهم حولينا ولا علينا اللهم على الآطام والآجام والظرابThe questioner : … Was it a supplication for a specific incident?
The Shaykh : There is a similarity. Some scholars, you hear, regarding the prayer for rain. There is disagreement among scholars about its legislation. Some imams deny its legislation and say: “There is nothing in seeking rain but supplication.”
They cite this hadith as evidence, and indeed this hadith is seeking rain, meaning asking for rain. As for the scholars who, of course, do not cling to an opinion but follow what came from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), they say: Seeking rain can be done with prayer and can be done with supplication without prayer, because all of this is established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).
The point of the previous hadith of Anas is that it is evidence that it is prescribed for the imam on Friday to supplicate for a pressing need. As for making it a fixed part of the Friday sermon, this is undoubtedly from the innovations of matters.
And it is regrettable that supplication for kings is not a new matter, as some people may think. It is very old, from centuries ago, because this is the custom of kings, as Allah the Exalted said:
She said, "Indeed kings - when they enter a city, they ruin it and render the honored of its people humbled. And thus do they do.
إن الملوك إذا دخلوا قرية أفسدوها وجعلوا أعزة أهلها أذلة وكذلك يفعلونThis is the nature of kings. Very few of them fear Allah and adhere to the legislation of Allah. So supplication for kings on the pulpits is an old innovation. We preceded them, and praise be to Allah, in specifying its innovated nature, so we had predecessors in our statement about its innovated nature, and praise be to Allah. Therefore, we are Salafis, and we are not like the Salafis.
The questioner : Is there any objection if the imam supplicates for the congregation behind him in the plural form in the prayer, “O Allah, forgive us what we have done before and what we have done after,” for example after the prayer in prostration, and so on, after the prayer following the tashahhud?
The Shaykh : If they are supplications, he must adhere to the text … If it is in the singular form, he does not make it plural. And if the supplication is from his own mind, he supplicates for himself …
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.