Some of the common people say, “We do not memorize any of the transmitted supplications, so with what do they supplicate in their prayers?”

The questioner : The common people, O honorable Shaykh, may say: “We do not memorize any of the transmitted supplications, so with what do they supplicate?”

The Shaykh : We say: Supplicate with whatever you wish. It is narrated from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that a Bedouin man said to him: “O Muhammad, I do not know how to do your chanting or the chanting of Mu'adh, but I ask Allah for Paradise and seek refuge in Him from the Fire.” He said: So every Muslim knows how to say: “O Allah, forgive me.” That is, if one repeats “O Allah, forgive me” throughout the entire tawaf, that is sufficient. People’s needs are different; one says: “O Allah, forgive me, O Allah, have mercy on me, O Allah, make me rich from poverty, O Allah, pay off my debt, O Allah, provide me with a righteous wife, O Allah, improve my offspring.” Everyone knows this. But unfortunately, people have been afflicted with things for which Allah has not sent down any authority. Among these are the supplications recited during tawaf, where in every lap you find most of the circumambulators—and praise be to Allah, they have started to decrease in number—most of them have a booklet with the supplication for the first lap, the second, the third, the fourth, and so on. They even say: “This is the station of the one who seeks refuge in You from the Fire,” intending the Station of Ibrahim, while they are on the western side; the Station of Ibrahim is far from them. But it is something memorized and... And even if one of them finds the tawaf crowded and finishes the supplication for the lap, he stops and says nothing. And if the tawaf is spacious and he finishes the lap before completing the supplication, even by a single sentence, he stops and does not complete it. If he were saying: “Our Lord, give us,” and the lap ended, that is it; he does not say: “In this world, good, and...” You also find some of them distorting the supplication. We heard them saying: “O Allah, make us rich with Your Majesty from Your disgrace,” intending “with Your lawful from Your unlawful,” but there may be a point of mispronunciation. Yes, and some of them say: “Our Lord, give us in this world good, and... in the Hereafter good, and...,” intending to say: “And save us from the punishment of the Fire.” It is something strange.
So the conclusion is: Every person has a need for which he supplicates to his Lord, and needs are different. All people want these two things: that Allah protect them from the punishment of the Fire and admit them into Paradise. We ask Allah for that for us and for you.

The questioner : O Allah, amen. May Allah reward you with good, O Shaykh.
May Allah reward you, O honorable Shaykh, and may Allah bless you and your knowledge, and benefit the Muslims through you.