What is the ruling on praying two rak'ahs specifically for supplication?

The questioner : May Allah preserve you and reward you with good, of course.

The Shaykh : May Allah preserve you.

The questioner : May Allah bless you, my uncle. That is how you pray two rak'ahs and make du'a for him.

The Shaykh : As for praying two rak'ahs for the sake of du'a, this has no basis in the Sunnah.

The questioner : I pray.

The Shaykh : As for the du'a, that is the obligatory part.

The questioner : Yes, yes.

The Shaykh : Especially the du'a of an absent person for another absent person; this is among the supplications that are answered, if Allah wills, by Allah.

The questioner : I mean, we benefited from you. May Allah bless you, my uncle.

The Shaykh : May Allah preserve you.

The questioner : May Allah keep you safe and reward you with good.

The Shaykh : Welcome.

The questioner: Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh : And upon you be peace and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. May Allah be pleased with 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, al-Faruq. The people knew him to be truthful and worthy of the best opinion from everyone. He was al-Faruq, about whom the Messenger (peace be upon him) testified by saying: . Despite this, he was fed up with the people when they would ask him for du'a. We might express it in the Levantine dialect as "he lost his patience" because of how much the people would ask him for du'a. What did he say to them? "Are we prophets?!" He stopped them. It is a fitnah. This is regarding al-Faruq, and where are we compared to him? Allah is the Helper. I have seen some of the Sufi shaykhs in Damascus who follow a tariqah. They would be walking on the road, and when the people who knew them saw them, they would rush at them to seek blessing from them, so he would not make them feel they had to hold his hand against his will; he would extend it! And then in their turn, they would ask him for du'a. He would stand on the side of the road—what a strange sight—I do not know how these people viewed themselves, in a way that entangled people with them, if they were not already entangled with them. He would stand in the middle of the road and raise his hands and make du'a for whom? For the one who asked him for du'a. Where is this compared to our prophets? Allahu Akbar.

The questioner : Like the Sufis, I seek refuge in Allah... regarding Shaykh Nasser, he served the Prophetic Sunnah and fought against innovations.

The Shaykh: Allah is the Greatest!

The questioner: Glory be to Allah!

The Shaykh : May Allah protect us from the evil of fitnah, what has appeared of it and what has remained hidden.

The questioner : So there is no objection to asking him for du'a. It is permissible for the superior to do so for the inferior, as you know.

The Shaykh : Yes, but it should not become a habit and become a fitnah for the superior from the inferior. Therefore, al-Hafiz of Andalus, Ibn 'Abd al-Barr, Abu 'Umar, said: "Lowering the hand is the small prostration." And he said: "It is a fitnah for the one followed and a humiliation for the one following." It is true, it is true.

The questioner : But there is no harm, if Allah wills, in kissing the hand of a scholar, as long as it is not a habit.

The Shaykh : Sometimes.

The questioner : Sometimes, not as a habit, I mean.

The Shaykh : Sometimes, but the scholar does not do this. We had one here—something unbelievable—because of how much the people would rush at him, he would extend his hands like an amulet.

The questioner : Fine, he does not sit and raise his legs either.

The Shaykh : This is what we said. Subhan Allah. Allah is the Helper.