77 — Those Whose Supplications Are Answered
We previously mentioned times and circumstances in which supplications are answered. These are blessed times and circumstances in which a servant draws nearer to his Lord, pleads with Him more earnestly, and turns to Him with greater devotion, closeness, and sincerity. The blessed Sunnah of the Prophet contains numerous references of this kind, in which the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, explains that the supplication of someone in such a state will not be rejected. Here, I shall mention a number of texts from the Sunnah concerning those whose supplications are not rejected.
Among those whose supplications are not rejected, as related in the Sunnah, are the fasting person until he breaks his fast, the traveler, the parent who supplicates for or against his child, and the oppressed. In al-Sunan al-Kubrā of al-Bayhaqī, Anas—may Allah be pleased with him—narrated a hadith traced back to the Prophet: “Three supplications are not rejected: the supplication of a parent, the supplication of a fasting person, and the supplication of a traveler.”1.
Al-Tirmidhī, Abū Dāwūd, and Ibn Mājah narrated from Abū Hurayrah—may Allah be pleased with him—that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: “Three supplications are undoubtedly answered: the supplication of the oppressed, the supplication of the traveler, and the supplication of a parent for his child.”2 It was also narrated by